Josefa F. Del Carmen

DEL CARMEN, JOSEFA FLOES “JOSIE” (1935 ~ 2011)

The following obituary was taken from the Huntsville Item website, 3/5/2011.

Josefa "Josie" Flores del Carmen peacefully moved on to the next life on Feb. 27, 2011, in Houston.

Josie was born on Jan. 16, 1935, to Florencio and Josefa Saavedra Flores, in Dumaguete, Philippines. She was the ninth of 10 children. She graduated from Silliman High School and attended Silliman University, an American Presbyterian university in Dumaguete. She finished a bachelor's degree in business administration, cum laude, in 1957.

Josie served as secretary in the College of Arts and Sciences and then in the College of Business Administration, Silliman University. While a student she met Rolando del Carmen, then a law student and later a professor in the Silliman College of Law. They married in 1966.

They came to the United States a few months after their wedding because Rolando was awarded a fellowship by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia to pursue graduate studies in law at the University of California-Berkeley. Their only child, Jocelyn, was born there.  From Berkeley the family went to the University of Illinois, in Urbana, Illinois, where they stayed for two years while Rolando finished another graduate degree in law. Josie and her family then moved to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1969 where Rolando taught and Josie worked as secretary in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. In 1974, they moved to Huntsville. Josie worked for 18 years in the Philosophy Department and then in the Division of Student Life at Sam Houston.

Josie retired from Sam Houston in 1993. Throughout her years in Huntsville, she relished cheering on the Bearkats at football, basketball, and women's volleyball games; traveling with her family to six continents; and supporting philanthropic causes, both locally and in the Philippines. She enjoyed going to lunch and social events with her family, friends, colleagues and graduate students at Sam Houston.  She and her family are long-time members of the First United Methodist Church in Huntsville. Josie was an eternally optimistic and cheerful person who brightened the day of friends, students, and acquaintances.  Above all, Josie was an angel to her family – a supremely loving, devoted, loyal, and selfless wife and mother.

She is survived by her husband of 45 years, Rolando, who teaches in the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston; their daughter, Dr. Jocelyn del Carmen Tanabe; and son-in-law, Chris Tanabe, both of Menlo Park, California; siblings Bathsheba Bocanegra, Jesusita Ngan, and Cromwell Flores; and by many relatives and friends in the Philippines and the United States.

A service celebrating Josie's life will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Huntsville on Monday, March 7, 2011, at 11 a. m. Another memorial service will be held at a later time in the Philippines. She will be laid to rest in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be may be given to fund an endowment for needy and deserving students in the College of Business Administration, Silliman University, Philippines. Donations can be made through: The Josefa del Carmen Scholarships, The United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1221, New York, N.Y. 10115; http://www.unitedboard.org.

Her family and friends thank God for Josie's wonderful life.