Maria Montenegro's Obituary
Maria del Carmen Montenegro passed away peacefully on March 17, 2023, at the age of 96 with loved ones at her side and in her heart. Known as Nena or Nenita to family and friends, and as Yeya to her grandchildren, she was proudly una mujer de su casa y de su familia.
Maria was born on July 12, 1926, in Los Pinos, Havana, Cuba, to Manuel Sotolongo, a tobacco roller and machinist, and Maria Ledesma de Sotolongo, a housewife.
A devotee of La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre from the age of 17, Maria’s faith buoyed her throughout her life. At the age of 18, she was introduced to Domingo Montenegro, known as Papín (and later Yeyo), and they began a two year courtship. They were married on July 12th 1946, on her 20th birthday. Some years later, they moved to a house they built in the municipality of Guanabacoa, in the reparto D’Beche. In 1958, she was blessed with the birth of a son, her only child.
For most of her adult life, she was a homemaker and housewife. Following exile, like many other women, she was a garment worker in Hialeah, Florida. She prided herself in her ability to do manual labor, especially quality control of finished products, what she referred to as el finish. She later employed those skills by making hand sewn mantillas for La Caridad del Cobre each year and mending clothes for her family. She was devoted to caring for her son and later her grandchildren—with whom she loved to play.
She is survived in this life by her son Domingo Manuel Montenegro and his wife Ireana Perez-Montenegro; her granddaughter Cassandra Arissa Montenegro; her grandson Alexander Dominic Montenegro; her granddaughter Amanda Michelle Montenegro and her grandson-in-law Rob Cumby; her sister Gloria de Villavicencio and brother-in-law David de Villavicencio; her beloved nephew David de Villavicencio and his wife Marilyn de Villavicencio; her much beloved grand niece Adriana de Villavicencio and grand nephew Brian de Villavicencio; as well as her beloved nephew Manuel “Manolito” Sotolongo. She is also survived by many other nephews and nieces too numerous to mention, whose love and kindness enriched her life until the day of her passing.
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