Obituary of Carmella R. Dougherty

Carmella Dougherty of Blue Anchor passed away peacefully on Saturday, August 8, 2020. She was 79 years old. Born and raised in Waterford, she and her husband Tom built their house in Blue Anchor where they raised their family and lived for 52 years. After high school, Carmella worked in the office at HIMCO in Hammonton. She moved on to work as a secretary for RCA in Riverton, and was part of the team working on the BMEWS project. After that she worked as a shipping coordinator for Johns Manville in Berlin until she and Tom had their kids. She returned to the workforce as a production line worker at Whitehall-Robins in Hammonton, retiring in 1996 after the plant closed. This allowed Carmella to enjoy her passion – collecting. She and Tom would spend hours together looking for treasures at auctions, yard sales, estate sales, and expanding their search to weekend trips. She specialized in pottery and dinnerware and had an amazing eye for the perfect piece. Carmella developed this hobby into a business, starting Carmy's Collectibles and selling her finds online and at antique shows long before it was fashionable. Carmella is predeceased by her parents, Austin Midili and Silvia Midili-Rizzo, her sisters Jenny Lacy and Rita Girgenti, her daughter-in-law Marcy Dougherty and her son-in-law Allen Littlefield (AJ). She is survived by her husband of 58 years Thomas P Dougherty and their four children, Thomas Dougherty, Karen Littlefield, Colleen Dougherty and Kevin Dougherty. She will be dearly missed by her eight grandchildren: Austin, Matthew, Michael, Rachael, Andrew, Donovan, Chloe and Connor. She is also survived by her sisters Marie Pearson and Theresa LoSasso (John). A visitation will be held Wednesday, August 12 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Carnesale Funeral Home, 202 S. Third St., Hammonton, where funeral services will be held at 12:00 pm. Interment will be private. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 concerns, the family will not be hosting a luncheon following the service. In lieu of flowers if you would like to make a donation in Carmella's name, please consider the Hammonton Cancer Foundation, PO Box 1066, Hammonton NJ 08037. (www.carnesalefuneralhome.com)