Tabita Elisa Camerino

Tabita E. Camerino, 88, passed away peacefully on Sunday, October 29,2017 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.

Born in Arnborg, Denmark, Tabita "Bit" was the youngest of nine children of Jes Senius Olsen Arneborg and Kirstine Mathilde Pedersen. She spent her youth helping her family run the town grain/water mill, Tornvig mølle, living through Nazi occupation of Denmark, and attending nursing school. Upon graduation, she worked as a registered nurse (RN) in various European hospitals in Copenhagen, Paris, and Lausanne Switzerland. Circa 1962, she came to the US with several nursing friends on 1 year work visas to tour the USA. After driving across country, she worked at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY, where she met her husband of 32 years, Nicholas Camerino, on the nearby beaches of Jones Beach.


Tabita had a curious mind and an independent DIY spirit. After marriage, she settled in the NYC suburbs where she helped her husband build the house in which they raised their kids, including helping to lay the foundation and brickwork, and creating the surrounding landscape complete with duck pond and garden. While raising her kids, Tabita continued to work the night shift as a RN at Brandywine Nursing Home, while managing home and family life. Tabita was a keen gardener and enjoyed listening to classical music and reading about world cultures in Smithsonian and National Geographic magazines. She spent her retirement in Virginia Beach enjoying the beach and water, and was an avid bridge player, volunteer for the Audobon Society and Norfolk Botancial Gardens, and active member in a local Danish group. She participated in the local Senior Olympics, winning medals in swimming two years in a row. After the passing of her husband in 1996, she stayed active mentally and physically, visiting friends and family, volunteering with local hospice care, and touring with Senior Hostels on bike tours in Amish Country and Denmark, and a hiking tour in the Cold Mountain Appalachian area of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She also learned to invest in the stock market and actively followed the business news. While always a Dane at heart, after residing in the US for over 30 years, in retirement Tabita also became a proud US Citizen in the late 1990s. She spent her final years in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC with her daughter's family, enjoying her grandchildren and garden.

Tabita is survived by her daughter Linda of Montgomery Village, MD, son Christian of Caldwell, NJ, and three grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother Kaj of Vancouver, British Columbia.

A Memorial Service in her honor will be held on Saturday, November 4th at Thibadeau Funeral Home, 124 E. Diamond Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. Visitation begins at 10 AM, Service following at 11 AM. Flowers are welcome as well as donations to the Wounded Warrior Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.