Carmen E. Ackerman

Carmen Elvira Ackerman was born March 15, 1920 in Panama City, Panama. She died December 6, 2019, three months short of her 100th birthday. She is survived by her daughter Diane, her son Richard, her grandchildren, Rachel, Rebecca, Kathleen, Theresa and fourteen great-grandchildren.

Carmen immigrated to the United States to Philadelphia when she was eight years old to live with her older sister and brother in-law who was in the United States Navy. She left her home in Panama due to her mothers illness. In her first year in Philadelphia, she learned to speak English in a school for foreign children who came from all parts of the world. Her brother-in-law was next stationed in New York where she lived for two years. During World War II her brother-in-law was transferred to the West Coast in California. By that time her sister had two children. As a Navy family they ended up living in different places in California: Vallejo, San Diego, San Pedro, and Long Beach. Carmen attended a business college and later a school of cosmetology in San Francisco. She returned to Panama in the early 1940s and worked in cosmetology in the Panama Canal Zone.

Carmen met the love of her life Albert (Al) Ackerman when he worked for the Army AirCorps in Panama. They married in 1946. They were the parents of three wonderful children, Richard, Robert and Diane.

Carmen and Al lived together in different locations in the United States after Al joined the Navy. During the Navy years the family was stationed in Hawaii, Midway Islands, Pensacola, Florida and San Diego, California. Carmen loved the Navy life and made life-long friends during her travels.

Although Carmen was a stay-at-home mother, she still managed to work at various secretarial jobs. The one she most enjoyed was secretary for the Imperial Beach Chamber of Commerce, a job she held for 5 years.

After Al’s retirement they vacationed in Mexico, Spain, Portugal , and Morocco and made numerous trips to her native country Panama. Carmen considered her greatest accomplishments to be her three children, four grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. She was a devoted grandma, and later Nana— her granddaughters remember her spending time teaching them to speak Spanish, to crochet, to be proper, to always be generous to those in need, and especially, to enjoy fiestas of all kinds. Her granddaughters and great grandchildren could always make her laugh.

Carmen was known for her rich and long-standing friendships. She was a proud decades long member of the TOPS club and later the Red Hat Society. She enjoyed bingo and dominoes, and continued to join new clubs and learn new activities long into her elder years. She loved lunches and dinners and all types of parties with family and friends.

Carmen lived in San Diego for the last 60 years and remained very proud of her role as a Navy wife and a patriotic American.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank 1-858-527-1419