Carmen Peláez Massey

Carmina was born Carmen Teresa González Herreros to Antonio González and Josefa Herreros in Santiago de Cuba. Her formative years were spent in Cuba, where she met Orfilio Peláez in secondary school. They married in Santiago and lived in Cuba in the early years of their marriage, where their first two daughters were born. In the 1950s they moved to Puerto Rico, where they lived for six years and had a third daughter. A return to Cuba was short lived, and the family left their native home permanently in the wake of the Communist revolution on the island.

The family arrived in Nassau, Bahamas in December 1960, with the addition of a newborn baby boy. Carmina and Orfilio were to make their home in the Bahamas for life, Orfilio continuing his work with the Bacardí company there post-Cuba, and Carmina building a new life, learning to speak English and settling into a very different British Commonwealth culture and way of life than her country of origin.

She ran a busy household, raised her children, and spent countless hours in volunteer service to her church, her children’s school, and a host of charitable organizations. Her upbeat and positive character endeared her to all who knew her. She had friends of all ages and backgrounds. Her endless energy and stamina were legendary, and she led a busy calendar always. She was an avid bridge player and teacher, engaged in a variety of arts and crafts, and was a bibliophile who read constantly. She loved entertaining and bringing people together socially. She also loved traveling and was fortunate to do so across the globe well into her late 80s.

Carmina and Orfilio grew to love their adoptive nation and acquired Bahamian citizenship. After her husband’s untimely death in 1984 she remained in the Bahamas, where she continued to pursue old interests and develop new ones. In 1991 she married Ralph Massey in Lyford Cay, Bahamas. They enjoyed a comfortable life there until their medical needs became more pronounced and they moved to The Palace in Coral Gables, Florida, where she spent the last eight years of her life.

Carmina was a loving wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother, stepmother and friend. She lived an exemplary life of kindness, gentleness, selflessness and was most often described by those who knew her as “gracious” “giving” “elegant” and “classy”. She was a loyal friend to many and was truly loved by all who knew her.

She was pre-deceased by her husband Orfilio Peláez; daughter Carmen (Picki) Peláez; sisters Mary Betancourt and Raquel Dean; and husband Ralph Massey. She is survived by daughters Maria Antonieta (Toni) Campisi and Natacha Peláez-Wagner; son Orfilio I. Peláez; son-in-law Angelo Campisi; daughter-in-law Camille Peláez; grandchildren Tonia Lupa and spouse Jason; Alexa González Wagner and spouse Arohan Dutt; Orfilio E. Peláez and Francisco Peláez; great granddaughter Blake Lupa; brother Jorge Luis González and spouse Agueda Fernández; stepchildren Elizabeth Massey Seligman, Catherine Smith, Barbara Massey, Thomas Massey, James Massey, Mary Kay Massey, and Carolyn Brock, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

A memorial mass will be held at Our Lady of Mercy Chapel, 11411 NW 25th Street, Miami, Florida 33172 on Thursday, September 5th at 1:00 p.m. immediately followed by interment on site.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggest memorial donations to the MIND Institute for Alzheimer’s research and care of Miami Jewish Health, at https://secure.qgiv.com/event/mjhinnovators/account/1809254/

or by check made out to Miami Jewish Health (memo line: In memory of Carmina Peláez-Massey)

Mailed to:

Attn: Aimee Siegel-Harris

6815 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 103, #299

Miami, FL 33138