Patricia A. McDonald Luca

She attended St Mary Academy Bay View in East Providence. In 1970, at the age of 14, she moved with her family to Tenants Harbor, Maine. Though she left Tenants Harbor when she graduated high school, the area, with its rugged coastline and rustic beauty, remained a spiritual home for her throughout her life and continues to be a touchstone for a large part of her family.

In 1974 Patricia began classes at Providence College, where she started a lifelong love affair with the theatre, appearing in shows such as The Fantasticks and Pippin at the Friar's Theatre. She earned a degree in Special Education and spent her junior year abroad in Fribourg, Switzerland, another place that occupied a special place in her memory.

In 1978 Patricia married Thomas Joaquin with whom she had three children, Kendra, Lucas, and Jessica.

The family moved around the country due to Thomas's military career, traveling to Manchester, New Hampshire; Athens, Georgia; San Diego, California; Groton, Connecticut and on to Springfield, Virginia. The marriage ended in 1988 and Patricia returned to Providence, Rhode Island to be with loved ones, settling with her children on Methyl Street on the city's East Side.

In Rhode Island she began working in the office of Dr. John O. Eastman where, in 1988, she met and fell in love with John Luca, the man who would eventually become her second husband.

In 1990 she moved to North Providence and began a long and fruitful working relationship with Community Preparatory School in Providence.

During this time she continued to perform. Over the years she worked with several theater companies in Rhode Island –including The Players at The Barker Playhouse in Providence, and the Community Players and City Nights theaters in Pawtucket. She appeared in leading roles in plays including The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild, A Christmas Carol, Our Town, Same Time Next Year, A Little Night Music, The Bad Seed, and Working.

In 2000 she married John Luca. With John she traveled extensively. The two became avid SCUBA divers, earning certification as rescue divers, and diving sites from Rhode Island to the Caribbean Sea.

Over the years, she and John welcomed 6 grandchildren - Sean, Sky, and Johan, the children of John's daughter, Melissa; Kalyn and Jared, the children of John's son, John; and Simon PeloJoaquin, the son of Patricia's daughter, Kendra and her husband Zak.

Once they became adults, Patricia's children remained very close to her despite their distance; Kendra PeloJoaquin moved to Seattle with her husband and became an educator before she returned to New England in 2008; her son, Lucas, moved to New York City in 1999 where, inspired by her love for the dramatic arts, he has worked to become an independent film producer and lives with his girlfriend Alexandra in Brooklyn; her daughter, Jessica, perhaps inspired by her mother's stories of her year abroad in Switzerland, moved to Zurich in 2006 where she works as a translator and teacher and married her Swiss husband, Ivo Mijnssen.

In 2010 Patricia was diagnosed with cancer. In the years following her diagnosis she was surrounded by loved ones and remained joyful and fearless in the face of her disease, continuing to live life as she had before: persevering in her job at Community Prep; riding her bike with her grandchildren; visiting the beaches of Rhode Island, Northern California and Maine; and enthusiastically welcoming her grandson, Simon, into the world.

On March 13th, 2014 she died at her home in East Providence, surrounded by her husband and children. She touched so many throughout her life, and will be missed immensely.

Visitation will be held Monday, 4-7 p.m. in the PONTARELLI-MARINO Home, 971 Branch Avenue, Providence. Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in St. Sebastian Church, 67 Cole Avenue, Providence. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Community Preparatory School, Patricia Luca Remembrance, 126 Somerset Street, Providence, RI 02907.