Carmela Venezia

Carmela Crocamo Venezia was born on June 19, 1927 in Jersey City.  She lived there for 95 years until she moved to Sunrise Senior Living.  Her mother came to that home from Italy in 1926 and served as a maid in that domicile.  Carmela attended PS #6 elementary school and Dickinson High School.  A very bright young woman who always had a book in her hand, she was skipped two grades and graduated high school at sixteen.  Her mother, Maria, was a staunch advocate of education for girls as well as boys and was determined that her daughter would graduate from college.  To say that Carmela attended Douglass College and graduated at 20 with a degree in journalism does not tell the story of Carmela’s determination and grit.  Getting to Douglass each day required a walk to Journal Square,  a PATH train to Newark, an  NJ Transit train to New Brunswick and a long walk to campus which she did for four years.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree, she worked as a reporter for the Nutley Sun before marrying Tom Venezia, the brother of her best friend.  The first of her five children, was born eleven months later to be followed by four more children.  Five kids did not stop her involvement with her community.  Carmela was active in St Nicholas Church serving as president of Fatima and the Home School Association, and as a Eucharistic minister.  She was always ready to lend a helping hand wherever it was needed,  and was well known to many.  If you walked up Central Avenue with her, it was as though you were walking with a celebrity.  Everyone seemed to greet her, and she would respond graciously.  

She had left work outside the home with the birth of her first child as was then customary . Her mother encouraged her to return to night school  where she earned her teaching certification and  a Master’s degree in education  stopping only after she obtained her doctorate equivalency.  She taught elementary school  in Jersey City at PS 17 # for 27 years.  After she left the public school system, she became the director of religious education at St Nicholas, a position she held for twelve years.  Upon retirement from that position, she brought comfort and Communion to the sick at Christ Hospital leaving this endeavor well into her eighties.  

Carmela was a devoted mother of five, grandmother of eight, and great grandmother of four with one more on the way.  Her children and grandchildren adored her.  Carmela had a wide circle of friends most of whom have departed this world.  None who have met her and basked in her light will ever forget her.