Carmen Berra, the wife of New York Yankee great Yogi Berra, has died. She was 85.
Carmen Berra passed away last Thursday at an assisted-living center in West Caldwell, N.J. She reportedly
succumbed to complications from a stroke, The Washington Post reported.
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Carmen Berra had been married to the Hall of Fame Yankees' catcher for 65 years, as of this past January. The couple had three sons together.
It was "so nice always to be in her presence,"
Yankees' manager and Berra family friend Joe Girardi told the New York Daily News. "She truly cared about so many people. It’s sad. We’re really going to miss her. ... She was just a sweetheart."
Yogi reportedly met Carmen during the catcher's 1947 season while having dinner at Biggie’s steakhouse in St. Louis, Mo.,
The New York Times reported. At the time, Carmen was a 19-year-old waitress.
"I was bashful, nervous, not good-looking," Yogi Berra wrote in one of his books about the first time they met, the Times noted. "I could hardly believe my luck that Carmen liked me as much as I liked her."
Born Carmen Short, the 85-year-old was known for being inseparable from her husband. The pair frequently appeared at Yankees games and other events together over the years, particularly at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
"She died peacefully — she went the way she would have wanted to," her son Larry Berra told the Daily News on Friday. "We’re grateful that she and Dad were able to spend some good time together (Thursday). I’m not just saying this because she was my mom, but she was one of the great women of all time."
Aside from her famous husband, Carmen Berra is survived by three sons, including Dale, a former major league baseball player; 11 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
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