On Sunday, October 22, 2017, with her husband by her side, Carmelia R. Bazin, age 81 of Warwick, NY, passed away peacefully at the Highland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Middletown, NY.
Carmelia was born on August 31, 1936, in Cuba, to the late Natalia Ferales and Tancrede Villard-Pierre.
In 1957, Carmelia met Coast Guard 2nd Lt. Paul F. Bazin, the man that she would spend the next 58 years married to. They had a beautiful life in Haiti.
In 1970, after a failed military coup by the Haitian Coast Guard against Haiti’s infamous dictator, President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, Paul Bazin and the coup participants were forced to flee to the US base in Guantanamo, Cuba. Alone in Haiti, Carmelia was forced to go into hiding with her three small children. She eluded capture on numerous occasions, and received shelter from various friends on the island. After six months on the run, she and the children were granted shelter by the Guatemalan Embassy, from which they were allowed to transfer to the United States through a grant of political asylum. She joined her husband in the US, where he and his naval cohorts had been granted refuge.
Carmelia and her family settled in Bronx, NY, where they began their new life, and where she had a fourth son. Carmelia worked as a beautician, where she enjoyed doing hair and making her clients look beautiful. She eventually established her own beauty salon at home to be closer to her children. She moved her family to Warwick, NY, in 1994.
A wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and so much more, Carmelia dedicated her life to her family. She encouraged and nourished them with her love, faith, and incredible stories of her days in Cuba, Haiti, and her many travels throughout the world. She spoke five languages, and loved to document her travels through photography.
She is survived by her husband Paul, of Warwick, NY; her four sons, Pierre R. Bazin, Karl H. Bazin, Paul L. Bazin (Atina), and Burt Bazin (Venas); five grandchildren, Jessalynna Bazin, Noelle Bazin, Nina Bazin, Hana Bazin, and Hudson Bazin; great-grandchild, Cassia Bazin-Lawrie; her brother, Rafael Villard-Pierre of the Bronx, NY, five sisters and two brothers in Cuba; and a host of nieces, nephews and other relatives.
Visitation will be on Saturday, October 28th, from 1:00-3:00 pm at Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Avenue, Warwick, NY. Funeral service will follow at 3:00 pm.