Obituary of Carmen Melamed

Carmen was born on May 11th 1937 in Hamburg, Germany. Life had a grim outlook for a Jewish girl in a city and a country under firm and barbaric national socialist rule. Thanks to luck, tenacity and ingenuity Carmen and her family survived the horrors of these truly dark times. 

Spring of 1945 brought a new dawn as British soldiers liberated Northern Germany. Carmen entered school and found comfort and support in a decimated Jewish community. The Jewish community in Hamburg was also were she met a Hebrew teacher named Nathan Kellmann, who would soon depart for the United States. Carmen however decided not to follow him and stayed on her side of the Atlantic (for the time being). Instead she met and married Moishe Lazarovic, became a mother and moved to Israel. As her marriage faltered she came back to Germany a single mother to her daughter Hanka and found work at the Jewish Community Center. A workplace she would keep for almost forty years, representing the interests of the Jewish community in Hamburg and managing the communities’ own retirement home.

Carmen married again in 1972. She and her second husband, Gilel Melamed, stayed together for more than twenty years before being divorced in 1995. Retiring in 1997 she found the time to pursue her passion of traveling the world with even greater zeal. Carmen visited all continents and found joy in expanding her horizon, her pallet and her wardrobe. Being a retiree also gave her the opportunity to renew her connection to a certain Nate Kellman, aforementioned Hebrew teacher, who had found a life and a home in Denver, Colorado. Ocean crossing reciprocal visits ensued and finally led to Carmen's third and final marriage. A marriage that came with a change of domicile as Carmen adopted Denver as a new home and took up American citizenship. It was impressive to all that knew Carmen and Nate how destined their relationship was. As both found in one another a great and final love, that began in the 1950's on the old continent and found it's fulfilment after an almost 50 year hiatus.  

It was in Denver and alongside her husband Nate, who passed in 2021, that she lived out her life. Travelling whenever she could, thriving in new friendships with Sheila, Shane & Chris (and their children) and never relinquishing a fierce sense of independence, that made her special to all those who cared about her. Carmen, now a great-grandmother, passed peacefully on August 31st 2023 surrounded by caring family, devoted caregivers, and close friends.

Graveside, Thursday, 9/7 at 11:45am at Emanuel Cemetery. Reception afterward at Polo Club, 3131 E. Alameda Ave.

Donations in her name to JFS Holocaust Program