Our Pageant
Carlos Riquinha
Postumo Marshal - 2022
Carlos Eduardo Amarel Tavares Riquinha was born to Jose Tavares & Virginia Amarel on September 16th 1948 in Nordeste, San Miguel, Acores. It was on that small island that he worked at his father's carpentry shop, played semi-professional soccer and studied Medicine at University before he and his family, including his brother Luis and sister Saozinha, moved to Providence, Rhode Island in search of a better life 1967
Two years after the move he enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Dix in New Jersey where he quickly made a friend in John Medeiros. On April 12, 1969 John's family paid him a visit at the Army Base and Carlos was introduced to John's older sister Cidalia. A month later he asked her out and that's when their love story began, He obviously didn't like wasting time because 1 year later on May 16, 1970 they were married by Father Joao Antao at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Newark. At that time Carlos was stationed at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona, so that's where he and Cidalia began their life together, In 1971 Carlos finished his time in the Army and they moved back to Newark, NJ so his wife, who was now pregnant, could be closer to her family. On October 1, 1971 Carlos Riquinha Jr. was born, For the next 6 years Carlos worked for Celanese Plastics Company. Electrified Water and volunteered for the Iron Bound Ambulance Squad before landing a job with the Housing Authority, City of Elizabeth, where he started off picking up garbage and by the time he retired 29 years later was the Maintenance Supervisor for all eight of their buildings.
Carlos and Cidalia were both raised with very strong Catholic values so when they moved to Elizabeth and joined that parish of Lady of Fatima Church they quickly became very involved and proudly served it for over 50 years. During that time, he ran the C.C.D, sang in the choir and was heavily involved in the Youth Group, including dressing up like Santa Claus at the Christmas parties. Carlos acted as the church Treasurer and ran multiple annual fundraising events, assisted in funeral services under Father Nuno Rocha, was a proud 4th Degree Knight in the Knights of Columbus and an honored long-time member of the Consuelo Parroquial. Carlos took great pride in many things in his life such as being Portuguese, being a member of both the Portuguese and Acores Clubs and being an American Citizen & a Veteran of the US Army... but nothing gave him as much pride as being a father to his sons Carlos Jr & Christopher and his daughter Catia and a grandfather to his granddaughter Hope and his grandsons Jeremy, Ethan, Gavin and Joseph.