Carmen Margarita Quinones

She was born to Tomas and Herminia Torres on September 6, 1940 in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. She grew up in a large family consisting of 5 boys and 6 girls. After graduating from high school, Margarita chased her dreams by leaving Orocovis to obtain her associate’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico thus becoming the first of her family to graduate from college and paving the way for her siblings. After college, she started her career being a schoolteacher in her hometown. Just a short time after in 1963, she met her future husband of 59 years, Isaac Quinones and the two married on July 1, 1964. After Isaac was drafted in the US Army, for the first time in her life, she left her beloved island, the only home she ever knew as a young girl to move the United States. While stationed in Fort Hood, Texas in 1965, they started their young military family with the birth of Isaac Jr. They moved from Texas to New Jersey and took an adventurous drive from the US east coast to the last duty station of that decade in Fort Richardson, Alaska. At the of end of Isaac’s enlistment in the US Army, they moved back to Puerto Rico in 1970 and shortly welcomed their second child, Leslie, into the world. In 1971, Isaac re-enlisted in the US Army, and they relocated to Fort Bliss, Texas, where they purchased their 1st home. Just as they settled, Isaac was called to serve 2 tours of duty in Vietnam and Carmen Margarita parented her 2 children alone. After Isaac’s return from Vietnam, they would move from duty station to duty station to California, South Carolina and even back to Puerto Rico, where in 1976 they celebrated the birth of their 3rd child, Isa Marie. In 1980, they relocated to the last duty station in Jacksonville, Florida. Every time they moved, she set up a warm home, helped her family get settled, and always had a positive spirit. Since she had previously worked various retail jobs, while in Jacksonville, Carmen Margarita pursued her professional career further by obtaining her bachelor’s degree from Nova Southeastern University, which led to a job with the Internal Revenue Service and later with a large regional bank as a supervisor. Isaac and Carmen would relocate for the last time to Pembroke Pines, Florida where she would continue her banking career with Bank of America until her retirement in 2009.

Carmen Margarita loved shopping, especially for antiques. She collected vintage dishes, tapestries, coins and nativity scenes. She loved to cook and was very proud of her traditional Puerto Rican ‘arroz con gandules’ and homemade holiday rum cake. She was very crafty and knew how to knit, sew and macramé. She had a flair for making things stylish and special.

Carmen Margarita loved spending time with her family and her grand kids. She celebrated her grandkids in every endeavor they pursued, and they all adored their abuela. Coming from a large family, she deeply cherished and was proud of her relationship with her siblings while they were always a distance away in Puerto Rico. She will always be remembered as the strong, independent, and loving mother, cool abuela and wonderful wife, sister, aunt and friend who lived life to the fullest.

Carmen is survived by her husband Isaac, and her three loving children, Isa Marie, Les, Isaac Jr and his wife Melinda, and her 6 grandchildren Rosali, Cherish, Isaac Gabriel, Devyn, Ivan and Isaius; her 4 brothers Tomas, Ismael, Alfredo, Pablo and her 2 sisters Francisca and Raquel, precious cousins, nieces and nephews.