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Carmen Soto, 92

On Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, the Lord called home our matriarch of five generations. Carmen Soto, age 92, went peacefully while in the care of Hospice of North Idaho, and was surrounded by loved ones.

Carmen was born on March 31, 1927, to Severo and Sabina Soto, in San Pedro, Calif. At the age of 5, Carmen and her older brother John became orphans. Carmen left the orphanage when she was 18 to be a nanny for a Jewish family.

In 1946, Carmen met Armando Garcia and they wed on March 27, 1947. In 1948 they welcomed their first-born, a daughter they named Rebecca, followed by two sons: Daniel and Victor.

From there Carmen has been able to watch her family grow into five generations. Rebecca blessed her with three grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great-grandchildren. Daniel blessed her with four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Victor blessed her with a daughter-in-law, Jasmine.

Carmen is preceded in death by her father and mother, Severo and Sabina, and her brother, John.

A rosary and viewing will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019, at Yates Funeral Home in Coeur d’Alene.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, at St. Georges Catholic Church in Post Falls. Burial and reception to immediately follow.

“I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone.”

—Henry Van Dyke