Carmen Santana

August 21, 1926 - December 6, 2017

After a lifetime of adventure and love Carmen Aida Osorio Santana, of Manchester, NJ, passed away peacefully on December 6, 2017. Carmen was born in Corozal, Puerto Rico on August 21, 1926. She came to the mainland in the early 50's to start her independence and pave the way to bring over her 3 sisters. She started her new adventure working in a factory making party hats and favors. Faithfully she saved money and brought her sisters over one by one. They worked at the factory together, taking great pride in building a good life in their new homeland. After a couple years, Carmen found a pen pal through a church paper. Her pen pal was Felix Santana who was serving in the Korean War. They married in 1951. Together they had 3 daughters: Ruth, Carol and Diana. Carmen and Felix began a new adventure by opening a hair salon in Brooklyn, NY. They named the salon “Ru-Car-Di Beauty Salon” after their girls. After several years of owning this business, they bought a house in Queens, NY. It was there where Carmen started working as an aide in the Elementary school system where she could be close to her daughters. After living in Queens for 11 years, Carmen's husband got “the calling” to become a Pastor. Carmen, along with their youngest daughter, packed the car and moved to Maine where he would study at Bangor Theological Seminary. Always open to a new adventure and keeping busy, she worked in the Seminary Cafeteria where she was known for baking great cookies. In 1976 after her husband’s graduation, they moved to Eatontown, New Jersey. She and her husband were embraced by the First Presbyterian Church of Asbury Park, where Carmen served as an elder. In addition to Asbury Park, Carmen and her husband also served churches and communities in Plainfield, NJ; Ossining, NY and Jersey City, NJ. Throughout her life Carmen had an unwavering faith in God and a love for the church. She enjoyed traveling and courageously welcomed new adventures. The spirit of adventure and faithfulness that framed Carmen’s life will be missed by all who knew and loved her. Carmen is survived by her daughters Ruth Santana-Grace married to Edward Santana-Grace of Flourtown, PA and Diana Santana Marsden married to John Marsden of Oakhurst, NJ. She is also survived by 5 grandchildren that she adored. Alana Piselli, Dakota Santana-Grace, Luke Marsden, Mark Marsden and David Grace and his daughters Mia (7) and Sophia (3). Visitation will be held from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on Tuesday, December 19, Bongarzone Funeral Home, Tinton Falls, NJ. Funeral Service will be held at 11:30 AM on Wednesday, December 20 at Presbyterian Church on the Hill in Ocean, NJ. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to continue the hurricane recovery effort in Puerto Rico through the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program at: Presbyterian Church (USA), P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. On Memo Line - please designate "DR000194 Puerto Rico" – in memoriam of Carmen Santana.