Olivia Marie Curran

Her parents, Joseph and Sandrina (Souza) Fernades welcomed their daughter into the world on December 31, 1927, in Benicia, CA.

Olivia’s parents, being Portuguese immigrants, inspired her sense of meeting a challenge head on, taking risks and dreaming large. Moreover, never being known to run away from a challenge, Oliva knew how to make the seemingly impossible happen, as she was able to see the vision before her.

She and her husband, Harold, who was known in the Benicia community as "Specks", owned and operated the Corner Restaurant and Bakery in Benicia for several years before moving to the Keene area in 1977.

She had a deep abiding faith, a personal relationship with Jesus, and in her last weeks expressed her desire to go Home to Him. At the time of her husband, her mother, and her three best friend’s final hours of their lives, Olivia was with them, praying with them. She was very active at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Benicia, volunteering, and also cooking at the church’s rectory. As part of her volunteer ministry at St. Dominic’s, she helped families prepare funeral rosary and mass services for their loved one.

She was very giving, and always gave back to her community as an active volunteer.

In February of 1977, Olivia packed up the family and headed from California to NH, settling first in a home in Spofford, NH. In exploring Keene, Oliva found a quaint home on the Main Street of town, saw the vision for something great, and renovated and opened the Carriage Barn Guest House in Keene, providing a place for many travelers to the area to stay, for fifteen years.

Olivia’s core value was love of family and she expressed that devotion through her open arms, her open door, her party planning, and her generous gift of her time.

She will be greatly missed by her family, her children, Diane M. Warring and her husband, Bill, of Benicia, CA, Janet C. Richards of Keene, Teresa A. Burnett and her husband, Irish, of Henniker, NH, David J. Curran and his wife, Penny, of Keene, Daniel C. Curran and his wife, Becky, of Keene; nineteen grandchildren; twenty-two great-grandchildren; and a sister, Helen Sapp, of Benicia. Her husband of 46 years, Harold E. Curran, died in 1995.

A memorial mass for Mrs. Curran will be celebrated on Saturday, February 10, 2024, at 11:00am in St. Dominic’s Church, 475 East I Street, Benicia, CA.

A mass of Christian burial will also be celebrated on Saturday, April 6, 2024, at 11:30am in St. Bernard Church, 185 Main Street, Keene. Burial with committal prayers will follow the mass, in the St. Joseph Cemetery, Lower Main Street, Keene.

In lieu of flowers, for those who wish, donations may be made in Mrs. Curran’s memory to the Resident’s Activity Fund at Keene Center Genesis, 677 Court Street, Keene, NH 03431.