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Services
Friends may visit with the family on Tuesday, May 12, 2015 from 7-9 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 9 AM on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 from the funeral home then to Saint Marys RC Church, 17 Pompton Ave., Pompton Lakes where a 10 AM Funeral Mass will be offered.
Interment will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa where she will be laid to rest with her husband George W. Held (1968).
Carmella M. Held, age 94, a resident of Fair Lawn for over eighty-five years, passed peacefully on Friday, May 8, 2015.
Carmella Held’s legacy begins on March 6, 1921 when she born at home in Paterson, New Jersey to Anna and Antonio DeNegri. Carmella and her family moved to Fair Lawn shortly after where she spent her childhood with brothers Fred and Sonny. Growing up, Carmella was very proud of her own father’s success in creating a special metal cloth, now known as metallic silk, and their own Paterson silk mill. Carmella will later go on to tell her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the drapes he made for the White House, the material for Eleanor Roosevelt’s inaugural gown, and the cloth used for the parachutes in World War II.
Carmella attended Hawthorne High School and while in high school, met her true love in a Hackensack candy shop, George William Held. Carmella graduated from Hawthorne High School in 1939 and ahead of her time attended the Nursing School of the then Paterson General Hospital. Carmella was one of twenty-eight women to be a part of the graduating class of the Nursing School of Paterson General Hospital in September of 1942. In December of that same year, shortly after receiving a letter from George stating, “Get the ball rolling,” Carmella and George were married on December 27th, before George was deployed to Europe where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge as part of General Patton’s Third Army.
During the War, Carmella began making a home for herself at the Paterson General Hospital as a nurse. Beginning in obstetrics and eventually making her way to the Emergency Room and then as Assistant Head Nurse, Carmella was loved and respected by all doctors and nurses that worked with her. Her patients were not only well cared for medically, but emotionally as well. Carmella’s sense of humor and love of storytelling was always a part of her nursing care. When George returned from the War, Carmella mothered three children, Patricia Ann, George Anthony and James Frederick. They continued to live in Fair Lawn on Ellis Avenue just as she did in her childhood.
Holidays for Carmella were her favorite time of year. Decorations and festivities for her children, nieces and nephews and eventually her grandchildren were a common occurrence. Carmella also loved the beach and Seaside Park quickly became a second home to Carmella and her family in more ways than one. Swimming in the ocean and sun bathing on the beach were things that Carmella did until she was ninety years old. Those times were always remembered by the amazing stories that Carmella would love to tell.
After working over fifty years for the Wayne General Hospital, Carmella retired and began working as a school nurse in Fair Lawn. Her legacy and love of storytelling lives on through her family. Carmella was the daughter of Antonio and Anna DeNegri and the sister of Frederick and Sonny DeNegri. She is survived by her three children, Patricia Ann Hilsen and her husband Vincent of Cape Coral, FL, George Anthony and his wife Patricia of Wayne, and James Frederick and his wife Paula of Fair Lawn; her grandchildren the late Brandt Hilsen (2004), Jeremy Hilsen and his wife Jenny, Dana Keane and her husband Kris, Nicole Spinelli and her husband Mark, Ryan Held, Elizabeth Held and Nicholas Held; and her great-grandchildren Kevin Keane, Kaitlyn Keane, Mark Spinelli, Jr., Gabriella Spinelli, Francis Spinelli, and Gavin Hilsen.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Immune Deficiency Foundation or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation would be appreciated.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family on Tuesday, May 12, 2015 from 7-9 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 9 AM on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 from the funeral home then to Saint Marys RC Church, 17 Pompton Ave., Pompton Lakes where a 10 AM Funeral Mass will be offered.
Interment will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa where she will be laid to rest with her husband George W. Held (1968).
Services
Friends may visit with the family on Tuesday, May 12, 2015 from 7-9 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 9 AM on Wednesday, May 13, 2015 from the funeral home then to Saint Marys RC Church, 17 Pompton Ave., Pompton Lakes where a 10 AM Funeral Mass will be offered.
Interment will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa where she will be laid to rest with her husband George W. Held (1968).
Carmella M. Held, age 94, a resident of Fair Lawn for over eighty-five years, passed peacefully on Friday, May 8, 2015.
Carmella Held’s legacy begins on March 6, 1921 when she born at home in Paterson, New Jersey to Anna and Antonio DeNegri. Carmella and her family moved to Fair Lawn shortly after where she spent her childhood with brothers Fred and Sonny. Growing up, Carmella was very proud of her own father’s success in creating a special metal cloth, now known as metallic silk, and their own Paterson silk mill. Carmella will later go on to tell her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the drapes he made for the White House, the material for Eleanor Roosevelt’s inaugural gown, and the cloth used for the parachutes in World War II.
Carmella attended Hawthorne High School and while in high school, met her true love in a Hackensack candy shop, George William Held. Carmella graduated from Hawthorne High School in 1939 and ahead of her time attended the Nursing School of the then Paterson General Hospital. Carmella was one of twenty-eight women to be a part of the graduating class of the Nursing School of Paterson General Hospital in September of 1942. In December of that same year, shortly after receiving a letter from George stating, “Get the ball rolling,” Carmella and George were married on December 27th, before George was deployed to Europe where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge as part of General Patton’s Third Army.
During the War, Carmella began making a home for herself at the Paterson General Hospital as a nurse. Beginning in obstetrics and eventually making her way to the Emergency Room and then as Assistant Head Nurse, Carmella was loved and respected by all doctors and nurses that worked with her. Her patients were not only well cared for medically, but emotionally as well. Carmella’s sense of humor and love of storytelling was always a part of her nursing care. When George returned from the War, Carmella mothered three children, Patricia Ann, George Anthony and James Frederick. They continued to live in Fair Lawn on Ellis Avenue just as she did in her childhood.
Holidays for Carmella were her favorite time of year. Decorations and festivities for her children, nieces and nephews and eventually her grandchildren were a common occurrence. Carmella also loved the beach and Seaside Park quickly became a second home to Carmella and her family in more ways than one. Swimming in the ocean and sun bathing on the beach were things that Carmella did until she was ninety years old. Those times were always remembered by the amazing stories that Carmella would love to tell.
After working over fifty years for the Wayne General Hospital, Carmella retired and began working as a school nurse in Fair Lawn. Her legacy and love of storytelling lives on through her family. Carmella was the daughter of Antonio and Anna DeNegri and the sister of Frederick and Sonny DeNegri. She is survived by her three children, Patricia Ann Hilsen and her husband Vincent of Cape Coral, FL, George Anthony and his wife Patricia of Wayne, and James Frederick and his wife Paula of Fair Lawn; her grandchildren the late Brandt Hilsen (2004), Jeremy Hilsen and his wife Jenny, Dana Keane and her husband Kris, Nicole Spinelli and her husband Mark, Ryan Held, Elizabeth Held and Nicholas Held; and her great-grandchildren Kevin Keane, Kaitlyn Keane, Mark Spinelli, Jr., Gabriella Spinelli, Francis Spinelli, and Gavin Hilsen.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Immune Deficiency Foundation or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation would be appreciated.
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