Carmen M. Diaz's Obituary
Carmen M. Diaz was born June 7, 1932 to Gabriel and Casimira Peña in Humacao, a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the southeastern region of the island. Always devoted to her family, Carmen left school as a young girl to help care for her 11 younger brothers and sisters. In the early 1950s, she met Jorge Diaz, whose family had purchased property near the Peñas in the campo of El Puerto. Jorge was enamored by Carmen at first sight. The couple married and soon welcomed their only child, Awilda. Seeking a better life, the young family joined The Great Migration of Puerto Ricans to New York City and moved to the south Bronx. Gifted with a needle and thread, Carmen worked in factories as a seamstress. For years she worked in a drapery factory, commuting daily from the Bronx to Brooklyn. She was a doting grandmother and helped to raise her two granddaughters. After she and Jorge retired from the workforce, they moved once more, this time resettling in Spring Hill, Fla. in the 1990s.
Carmen lived out her retirement doting on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, tending to a beautiful garden of orchids and occasionally arguing with her sisters over a game of dominoes. She also enjoyed traveling to her beloved Puerto Rico to visit her other remaining siblings.
After living many years with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Carmen left this earth on Feb. 19, 2018. She is survived by her husband Jorge, her daughter Awilda, her grand-daughters Alana and Bianca, her great-grandchildren Jacob and Ariana and her siblings Victor, Eugenia, Irma, Eneida, Gloria, Junior, Migdalia and Angel.
Though heartbroken by the loss of their matriarch, her family is comforted by the fact that she is now finally at peace. A viewing will be held on Feb. 22, 2018 from 5 to 7 p.m.at Grace Memorial Gardens in Hudson, Fla. The service will be held on Feb. 23, 2018 at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Spring Hill, Fla. at 10 a.m
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