Carmina Di Santo

With profound sadness, we announce the passing of Carmina Di Santo of Accord, New York. Carmina passed away on Saturday, May 13th, 2023. She was 90 years old. Carmina was born on April 15th, 1933 in the village of Sambuceto in Bomba, Abruzzo, Italy. She was the beloved daughter of the late Mauro and Santa. She is predeceased by her sister Maria, and Antonio.

Carmina has joined her devoted husband of 71 years, Raffaele, who passed away in July of 2020. Carmina is survived by her two sons, Berardo Di Santo and Domenico Di Santo, Domenico’s wife, Maria Graziella Di Santo, her mother, Jacqueline Davi and late husband Giovanni Davi, and her siblings, Vito Davi (and family), Salvatore Davi (and son), Jacqueline Davi, and her companion, Eric Clearwater.

Carmina is also survived by her loving grandchildren Carmelina Rega, and her husband Claude Rega, Jacqueline Di Santo, and her fiancé Ryan Brennan, Gabriella Di Santo, and her fiancé Cameron Meyer, and Alexandra Di Santo. Carmina adored her beautiful great-grandchildren Mason Clearwater, Cassano Rega, Luca Rega, and Seraphina Rega.

Carmina is also survived by many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Carmina came to the United States in March of 1967. She and her husband settled in Yonkers, New York before fulfilling their American dream of owning a home and land, in Accord, New York. Their stone home in Accord, skillfully built by hand by Raffaele, overlooks their lake, vineyard, farm, and gardens, filled with fresh vegetables Carmina loved to use in her cooking.

In Yonkers, Carmina worked as a seamstress, developing one of her many skills and pleasures, sewing and clothing design. She adored creating custom designs for herself and for those around her. Carmina loved performing “surgery” on clothing and always found a way to reuse any clothing item, from skirts and stockings, down to every last piece of elastic. Her granddaughters will always remember the way her face lit up when they brought over clothing to be expertly fixed or adjusted.

Carmina learned to cook back in Italy when she was just a young girl. She was known for her delicious recipes, especially her homemade meat lasagna, her tomato sauce (made from scratch), her tasty pastries, and her sweet, jarred peaches. Carmina knew that the one thing that always brings people together is a home cooked meal, filled with love. She made sure, no matter what, that everyone was able to enjoy a meal together—including always cooking a personal-sized vegetarian lasagna for her granddaughter who doesn’t eat meat! Her passion for cooking brought together her family and community for decades and will be remembered by us all.

Carmina lived a full life surrounded by her family, and built a loving foundation for her family and instilled strong values in the lives she touched. Carmina showed us all how to live courageously and how to show no fear in life. She was incredibly bright and was always there to share important life-lessons for any situation. Carmina showed us the true meaning of strength and was always resilient, even through the toughest of times. She was humble. She was kind. She was giving and loving to all.

Ti vogliamo tanto bene. Ci mancherai, mamma e nonna.