Rosa Nelly Carstens

In Loving Memory

Rosa Nelly Carstens

February 28, 1945 — September 6, 2026

Rosa Nelly Carstens, a devoted wife, loving mother and grandmother, faithful Catholic, and compassionate nurse, was called home to the Lord. She will be remembered for her quiet strength, her tender care for others, and a heart that never stopped serving.

Rosa was one of nine children born to Francisco and Emma Cadillo. With courage and hope, she was the one among her brothers and sisters who came to America in search of a brighter future. That decision became a gift not only to her own life, but to generations who followed.

She graduated in 1966 from St. Vincent Hospital School of Nursing in Worcester, Massachusetts and began her career at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Staten Island, New York. She later served patients at Richmond Memorial Hospital, known today as Staten Island University Hospital South. In the later years of her career she provided home care through SafeHarbor Healthcare Services, bringing skilled and gentle nursing into the homes of those who needed it most. To Rosa, nursing was never only a profession. It was a vocation of mercy.

Her Catholic faith was the center of her life. Rosa served her parish and community with constancy and love. She volunteered as a Spanish teacher at Our Lady Help of Christians School, served as a Eucharistic Minister, and was a Lay Carmelite of the Third Order, received into the Order after six years. She lived her faith not only in church but in the ordinary holiness of daily life. She was always serving her community, and those who knew her felt the warmth of that service.

Above all, Rosa was a loving mother. She gave her children a home rooted in faith, hard work, and care for one another. She delighted in her grandchildren, and her love for them was simple, steady, and complete.

Rosa was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Henry Charles Carstens; and by her siblings Marina Irene Cadillo Vizcarra, Ernesto Cadillo Vizcarra, Juan Marino Cadillo Vizcarra, Francisco Ciro Cadillo Vizcarra, Lidia Antonia Cadillo Vizcarra, and Elena Juana Cadillo Vizcarra.

She is survived by her children, Eileen Schirripa and her husband Giuseppe, Lisa Errigo and her husband Phill, and Paul Carstens and his wife Krissy; her grandchildren, Charley Errigo, Vienna Errigo, Luna Errigo, Evee Carstens, and Joseph Schirripa; and her siblings David Cadillo Vizcarra and Magda Mardonia Cadillo Vizcarra. She also leaves behind beloved cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors whose lives were blessed by her kindness.

The family takes comfort in the promise of the Resurrection and in the words Rosa lived by: a life of faith, service, and love.