Obituary of Carla Virginia Quijano

CARLA VIRGINIA HACKETT QUIJANO, 97 of Camden, died peacefully on Saturday, November 28, 2015 at Quarry Hill with her children by her side. Born May 9, 1918 in Genoa, Italy, Carla led a nomadic early life. Her father, Charles Hackett, a prominent American lyric tenor, sang at opera houses around the world including in Milan, Monte Carlo, London, Buenos Aires, New York and Chicago among others. He was accompanied by Carla’s mother, Virginia Zucchi, niece of the famous 19th Century Italian ballerina of the same name and also a dancer, and occasionally Carla. Carla attended various schools during this period, including a brief stint at a public school in Chicago with classmate Orson Welles and a longer stint at a boarding school for girls run by the Sisters of St. Marcellina in Milan. In 1929 at the height of Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini’s popularity, Carla’s Uncle Guido decided it was time for Carla to leave her boarding school in Italy. He sent her to join her family, which now included a younger sister, Joan, and baby brother, Charles, in Little Neck, Long Island. Her father spent six seasons singing at the Metropolitan Opera before joining the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music where he taught until his death in 1942. Carla attended Julia Richman High School in Manhattan. She spent her first two years of college at Cornell University followed by a summer at Harvard University where she studied Art Conservation. From there, she transferred to New York University to study Art History. After college, Carla worked at a department store in New York City before securing a job as a cataloguer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carla met her husband, Jose Santos Quijano, who had recently moved to New York from Bogota, Colombia, to work for CBS Radio in the winter of 1941 at a concert in Little Carnegie Hall. The couple shared a passion for art, classical music and dance. Their courtship started following the couple’s visit to Lincolnville, Maine where Carla’s family had spent their summers since the early thirties. Carla and Jose were married the following January by Carla’s Uncle Harry, a Monsignor in the Catholic Church. In 1944, their first son Carlos Jose, was born followed by their second son, Pablo Miguel (known as Paul) in 1949. The family lived first in Greenwich Village and then on West 86th Street, before moving to Croton-on-Hudson, New York in 1954. In 1960, after taking a hiatus from work to raise her children, Carla began working as a librarian for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Ossining, New York. She and her husband retired in 1978 and moved to Maine where they spent the rest of their lives. During her retirement, Carla volunteered at the Maine Coast Artists Gallery in Rockport, attended the Bay Chamber Concerts, participated in numerous local book clubs, bridge groups and knitting circles and perfected paella among other culinary delights. She loved to cook. She also traveled extensively with her husband around the world spending winters in Colombia or Florida. Carla was a devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and a beloved matriarch. She is survived by her son Carlos and his wife Jean of Cumberland Foreside and her son Paul and his wife Meg of Camden; grandchildren Lisa Quijano Wolfinger and her husband Kirk of Cape Elizabeth; Alexandra Quijano Grippando and her husband Joel of Piedmont, CA; Jennifer Quijano Sax and her husband Benjamin of Baltimore, MD; Christopher Utman of Pittsford, NY and Lisa Utman Randall and her husband Luke of Saunderstown, RI. She is also survived by 13 great-grandchildren: Asa, Ezra, Cyrus and Noah Wolfinger; Yelena and Oliver Randall; Maxwell and Madeline Utman; Owen, Elspeth and Graham Grippando; and Sarai and Avishai Sax. Carla is also survived by her brother, Charles Hackett and his wife Monica of Lincolnville. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School (http://securesite.baychamberconcerts.org/dev/contribute.aspx). A memorial service will be held this summer in Maine. Arrangements are under the care of Riposta Funeral Home, 182 Waldo Avenue, Belfast. Memories and condolences may be offered to the family at www.ripostafh.com.