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Service Details

Quiet Hour: March 16, 2015, 2:00-5:00p.m.
Celebration of Life Services: March 17, 2015, 11:00 a.m.
Internment: Oakmont Memorial Park, 2099 Relieze Valley Rd., Lafeyette, CA

Funeral Company

Colonial Chapel, 2626 High Street, Oakland, California 94619

The Story

Dominga Payne was born on March 17, 1929, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the late Andreza (Ribeiro) and Candido Silva. She was the sixth of seven children. Her early years were spent enjoying time at the local library reading books with her brothers and sisters, and playing in the front yard under her mother's watchful eye. Dominga also enjoyed watching her mother cook the family meals and listening to her father tell stories.

Dominga graduated from New Bedford High School in 1947. She worked for a short time after graduating before meeting her soul mate, Samuel Benjamin Payne, Jr., an army soldier from Bronx, New York. They were united in holy matrimony, and through this union they were blessed with seven children, Patricia, Steven, Samuel III, Fredrick, Andreza, Anesta, and Tanya. Because her husband Sam was in the military, the family spent the next 20 years traveling the United States and overseas.

After settling down in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children in 1974, Dominga worked in retail for Payless Drug Stores. While working with Payless, she was known for her exceptional professionalism, customer service, and kindness to customers. She was employed with Payless for over 20 years until her retirement in 1996.

Dominga enjoyed her life to the fullest. She loved to travel, attend Cape Verdean events and conferences, listen to her favorite music, spend time with family and friends, and relax at home. In 1997, she and a friend went to the Cape Verde Islands where her mother and father were born. Upon her arrival back to the United States, she was so happy and excited about the experience that she described it as "awesome." She spent her retirement years traveling back east to her hometown to visit her siblings, nephews and nieces, and to attend her class reunions. In 2012 she attended her sixty-fifth class reunion in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Dominga became a member of the Bay Area Chapter of the Cape Verdean West Association in 1980. During her years with the CVWA, she served on the executive board both as president and as secretary treasurer. She was a loyal member of the Cape Verdean West Association for many years until her passing.

Dominga departed this life on January 27, 2015, and was preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Samuel Payne, her son Fredrick, her mother and father; sisters - Julia Fortes and Mary Ribeiro; brothers - Antone "Smoke" and Albert "Smokey" Silva, and granddaughter, Kristina Payne.

Dominga leaves to cherish her memory: her six children, Patricia, Steven, Samuel III, Andreza, Anesta, and Tanya; two sisters, Joanna Rebeiro and Louise Oliveira; her nieces and goddaughters, Janet Brito and Marsha Rebeiro; a niece in Antigua, Lynn Hendricks; nephew and godson, Jackie Riberio and godson, Arthur Perreira; 19 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, sons and daughters-in-law, and many nieces and nephews. Her loving friends are countless, in particular, her close friend, Barbara Andrade, whom she considered a loving daughter.