Clare L. (Burke) Reñasco

Little Compton – Clare Burke Reñasco, 88, of Little Compton, a former Associate Professor at the Community College of Rhode Island, died Tuesday, July 18, 2017, at home.  She was the wife of the late Manuel Reñasco.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, she was a daughter of the late William H. and Clara (Moore) Burke.

Mrs. Reñasco was a 1955 graduate of the former Rhode Island College of Education, now Rhode Island College, and a member of its Alumni Association for sixty-two years.  In 1963, she received a Master of Arts degree in Teaching from Brown University, and in 1972, a Master’s degree in Spanish from the University of Rhode Island.

Mrs. Reñasco taught in the Cranston and North Providence school systems, and at the Rhode Island Community College for eleven years as both an English and Spanish Professor.  She was a devout communicant of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Little Compton.

She was a member of the Little Compton Village Improvement Society, the Little Compton Historical Society, the Warren’s Point Beach Club, Friends of the Brownell Library, RIC Class of ’55 Ladies Aid and the Sakonnet Garden Club of Little Compton.

She leaves a daughter, Linda Reñasco Cadigan of DeSoto, Texas and her husband Dick; two granddaughters, Jennifer Kathryn Lee and Kerrith Lee Shulman; one great-granddaughter Delilah Shulman; and her sister-in-law Dorothy Reñasco Ocon.  She was the sister of the late William H. Burke, Jr, Edmund R. Burke, Lee F. Burke, Robert B. Burke, Philip B. Burke, Mary B. King, James Burke and Anne O’Leary.

Her daughter Linda is grateful for the loving care she received from Mabel Fleming, Tracy Couto, Donna Crapo, Ellie Turner, Ken Nosul, Dr. Brad Kney, Vicky Lederer, RN and SouthCoast VNA Hospice.

She made friends wherever she was – next door or on a cruise ship in Australia. There are many who will miss her phone calls, playing Spite and Malice and her love of sitting down to sip good JWB. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated, Saturday July 22nd at 10:00 AM in Saint Catherine of Siena Church, 74 Simmons Road, Little Compton.  Burial will follow in Our Lady of Fatima Cemetery, Little Compton.  Relatives and friends are invited.  Visiting hours are respectfully omitted.  In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142 would be appreciated.  Arrangements with Bellows Funeral Chapel, 160 River Road, Lincoln.