Isabel Montenegro

Isabel Montenegro was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico.  She came to the continental U.S., as did so many others, including many of her siblings, nieces and nephews, in the late 1930's.  She married in New York, had children and grandchildren and lived a long life.  She died in 2001, about a year and a half after suffering a debilitating stroke due to unregulated diabetes.

Her family wanted her buried at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, or Calverton National Cemetery with her husband, but her unscrupulous son, who was her next-of-kin and had an axe to grind, refused to allow her family to claim her body.  She stayed at the morgue at the Mount Sinai Medical Center for as long as they could hold her before being transferred to the NYC Morgue and ultimately buried in Potter's Field on Hart Island.

Her son has since died, but she remains, seemingly unloved, in a mass grave.  She was not unloved in the least.

I want to thank The Hart Island Project for providing information about the people buried in Potter's Field, my great-aunt and godmother Isabel in particular.  My heart broke when we were not allowed to give her a proper burial, but at least now we know where she is.  It's the closest to closure we can get, and I am forever grateful.