A funeral will be held in early September for a 92-year-old North Jersey woman whose body has not been collected since her death last month, after the community made arrangements for her to be properly buried.
Carmela Polimeni died July 17 at the CareOne nursing home in Cresskill. Her body was turned over to Eternity Funeral Services in Englewood, but the search for her next of kin was unsuccessful. The funeral home continued its search for relatives by placing an ad about her “unclaimed” body in The Record earlier this month.
It wasn’t long after reading her story that the community began to pitch in to donate toward funeral expenses, Eternity executive director Aree Booker told NorthJersey.com last week. One even offered a plot they had already purchased so Polimeni wouldn’t have to be buried in an “unmarked” or unmarked grave.
Parishioners who wish to attend Polimeni’s funeral service may do so beginning with her visitation, which Eternity Funeral Services has scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. The funeral service will be held at their funeral home at 129 Engle Street in Englewood. Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at St. John the Evangelist Church at 235 Harrison Street in Leonia. Polimeni was a parishioner at St. John’s, Booker said.
For those who would like to attend Polimeni’s mass in person but cannot, it will be livestreamed on Facebook.
Polimeni will be buried at 1 p.m. at Rockland Cemetery at 201 Kings Highway in Sparkill, New York.
CareOne’s administrator said in a statement last week that Polimeni had been “loved” by the community after several short stays at the care facility and said they would cover the costs of Polimeni’s funeral and burial.
Although Polimeni is a stranger, people in North Jersey and beyond have paid tribute to her online with comments and even monetary donations. A memorial fund has been set up on Eternity’s website and has raised nearly $5,600 as of Friday afternoon. Donations came from 77 donors, with several $1,000 donations received anonymously. Several comments were also posted on her page, including one expressing hope that she would receive a proper burial regardless of her faith. Another said that although Polimeni had no family at the time of her death, she was loved by others and likely touched the lives of countless other people in her lifetime.
Polimeni was not married and had no children or living relatives locally. Neither relatives nor friends had ever visited her at her apartment, the property manager of her complex told the funeral home.
Various methods were tried to locate Polimeni’s family, from genealogical records to telephone numbers to contacting local police, who had tried to find possible relatives in Italy.
