When my grandmother passed away I inherited a collection of funeral cards. Most were for family members, a few were for friends. I thought I would post them here on Fridays.
In Loving Memory of Carmine Bocchinfuso, August 24, 1988. Â (L.A. DiGiacomo, Funeral Home, Inc., 1055 Southampton Road, Philadelphia, Pa. 19116, 677-9300)
This is the first card I’ve transcribed that does not have the twenty-third psalm. Instead it has this:
Father we entrust our brother to your mercy.
You loved him greatly in this life: now that he is freed from all its cares, give him happiness and peace for ever.
Welcome him now into paradise where there will be no more sorrow, no more weeping or pain, but only peace and joy with Jesus your Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
 
Carmine Bocchinfuso was the husband of my grandmother Naomi Carman’s youngest sister Alice Ellen Carman. He was born on 29 October 1908 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Santo Bocchinfuso & Teresa Mauro.1 He died 24 Aug 1988 in Philadelphia.2
Not long before he passed away, Uncle Carmine drove his wife and brother-in-law Jake Carman from Philadelphia down to the Jersey Shore to visit my grandmother. They were the last three Carman siblings left, and I remember the visit mostly because Uncle Jake teased my grandmother about something and it was the first time it sunk in that my grandmother had had a childhood, including brothers who teased.
Of my Uncle Carmine that visit I remember him sitting on the front step when I came home and he said “Hiya” as a greeting. It was a small thing, but to this day when I hear “Hiya” or say it myself I see Uncle Carmine sitting on our front step.
Sources
- Pennsylvania, Department of Health, birth certificate 162537 (1908), Carmine Boerhinfuso [Bocchinfuso]; Division of Vital Records, New Castle.
- Social Security Administration, “U.S. Social Security Death Index,” database, FamilySearch, FamilySearch U.S. Social Security Death Index (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535 : accessed 14 July 2014), Carmine Bocchinfuso, 165-01-1957.
