Carmen Maria Varela's Obituary
It’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Carmen Maria Varela, a 72 year resident of San Leandro, who passed away at her home surrounded by family, early the morning of March 8th. Carmen was a loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother and a great great grandmother. She lived a wonderful full life during the 96 years.The youngest of 15 children, she was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on July 22, 1922. She spent her early youth hanging out at the beach, dancing and teaching at the USO during WWII, where she met Ruben J. Varela. She moved to Brooklyn, New York where Ruben asked for her hand in marriage. They shortly thereafter moved to Oakland, California to start their new life and family. She was a stay at home mom for 18 years then subsequently worked for Xerox and other companies as an electronic assembly technician until her retirement at the age of 70. She continued to dance where she met her companion John Rizzo. She loved going to the movies, walking in her San Leandro neighborhood, dancing and visiting with her friends.She is survived by her daughter, Carmen Meikle, of Reno Nevada and son, Steve Varela, of Henderson Nevada. She is preceded in death by her son, Dan Varela of San Leandro. Above all family and friends were most important to her.The family would like to thank Kaiser and Vita Hospice for their wonderful care giving.Service will be held at Chapel of the Chimes Sunday March 17th, 2019 for family at 9:30 and public at 10 am.
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