Strangers team up to pay for funeral of NJ woman, 92, who died with no living family, friends: ‘One of the saddest things’

A 92-year-old New Jersey woman died with no apparent living family or friends to claim her body — so dozens of kind strangers joined forces to help pay for her funeral, headstone and grave site, officials told The Post Friday.

Carmela Polimeni, of Leonia, wasn’t married and had no children or local surviving relatives, making it hard for the funeral home in possession of her remains to track down her next of kin.

“We put an ad in the paper because we legally had to. We didn’t think there would be this much of an outpouring,” said Gloria Booker, owner of Eternity Funeral Services of Englewood. “Complete strangers have come by — and are doing really great things for this woman.”

Last month, the funeral home ran a short death notice about her “unclaimed” body in the Bergen Record — drawing the attention of locals when it was later posted in a county Facebook group.

“This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever read,” a Bergen County resident wrote in the post earlier this week.

“This poor woman died and no one is claiming her body. How very sad… if anyone knows any family of this person please contact the number listed.”

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The funeral home soon received a flood of calls from people wanting to help pay for the late lone wolf’s funeral expenses, executive director Aree Booker told NorthJersey.com

One generous caller offered to give Polimeni an already purchased grave site so she wouldn’t have to be buried in an unmarked plot, Booker said.

Other strangers said they planned to attend Polimeni’s funeral in order to give the old gal an honorable send-off.

Booker said the funeral home has received as many as 60 calls a day about Polimeni, including from members of local churches and Italian community groups.

“A lot of people have called and said, ‘I’m of Italian descent and we have big families, I’m surprised she doest have any relatives,” Booker said.

No family or friends had ever come to visit her apartment in the 25 years she’d lived there, a housing manager told the funeral home, according to the outlet.

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But a rep for CareOne at Cresskill, the nursing home where Polimeni died, said she was well-liked after “several short stays” in recent years.

“Despite extensive efforts over several weeks, we were unable to identify next of kin,” administrator Lisa Rhoads said.

In an effort to find her loved ones, the funeral home tried calling several phone numbers possibly belonging to Polimeni’s family members, but all were either wrong or had been disconnected.

It has also been investigating tips and suggestions from the public, including from social media sleuths and genealogy buffs looking into Polimeni’s family tree.

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“Someone reached out to us, a person with that same name in Italy,” Booker said —  but the man claimed Polimeni was supposed to leave him a house and some property.

“That’s the only thing that’s hard to determine, trying to see who’s legitimate and who’s not,” he told NJ.com

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office has also joined the search effort and is trying to find possible relatives living in Italy, Booker said.

Ultimately, CareOne offered to cover “the cost of the funeral and burial” to give her a “proper and respectful” final goodbye. A date has not yet been set.

The funeral home posted a death notice and brief obituary for Polimeni on its website, which was filled with messages from strangers offering their condolences Friday.

“We honor the memory of Carmela, who has left this world to join her family in heaven,” one commenter wrote. “Though she passed away alone, we find solace in the thought that she is now reunited with her loved ones, dancing joyfully in their company.”

Several churches have since offered to host Polimeni’s funeral, which will likely be held at St. John the Evangelist Church in Leonia, where Polimeni was a parishioner.

A date for her funeral had not been set as of Friday.

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