Mary Theresa Amado

Portsmouth, RI ? Mary Theresa Costa Amado BeBe of 1Portsmouth, RI, died at the Grand Islander Nursing Home on December 18, 2007. Bebe was born in Northborough, MA on September 24, 1919, when she began her extraordinary life in service and comfort to family and friends. Her parents were Isabel Costa Andrade and Michael Andrade who immigrated to the United States from San Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands in 1915. BeBe was a loving daughter to her parents and a guiding and supportive model to her eleven sisters and brothers.Her earliest memories of life on this earth were those of an abundant and rich family life that sustained her all of her years. She was a second mother to the family during the trying years of the Great Depression. And tales of that difficult time remain family legend to this very day and continue to be spoken of with pride and honor.During World War II she worked at the US Rubber plant in Woonsocket where she fabricated life rafts for the US Navy. It is said that she and her friends would place notes in the completed rafts: ?don?t be afraid,? ?we?ll be waiting for you? and innocent teases that twenty-something year old girls are quick to tell.BeBe relocated to Newport RI in 1948 when she married Leo B. Amado, Jr., who predeceased her in 2005. She worked at the old GE Monowatt plant on Thames St. and the Strand Theatre. Throughout all of her years in Newport she remained occupied in the affairs of the larger Southern New England Cape Verdean community. She was particularly helpful, even nurturing, to young immigrant families who arrived here. There are so many young women who remember BeBe or Aunt BeBe?s kindnesses as they struggled to resettle in this beautiful country.BeBe was active with the Portsmouth Democratic Committee, NAACP, St. Barnabas Church and the Portsmouth Senior Center. For many years, she was a volunteer in the Senior Center?s consignment shop as well as serving on many activities at St. Barnabas Church. We know that she is remembered there for sweet temperament and quiet industry.During her brief time with us, she suffered many sorrows. The death of her young son Michael in 1997 caused her heart to ache; a mother should not bury her own, she said. She also laid to rest seven brothers and sisters: Michael Andrade, Alfred Andrade, Alfred B. Costa, Antonio Costa, Jeronimo Montiero, Julia Andrade and Ethelvina Lopes.She will be remembered always by her son Anthony of Rochester, NY, her adoring baby sister Rose Harris and four brothers, Jack, John, Francis and Joseph Andrade all of Woonsocket, RI, four grandchildren Anthony and Rachel of Rochester, NY, Jeremy Amado of Oakland, CA and Talon Amado of Ledyard, CT.BeBe also leaves seven beautiful great grandchildren and over forty nieces and nephews. Calling hours will be held on Friday, December 21, 2007, from 2-6pm, in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport.A presentation of music from Cape Verde will be performed at 9:30am immediately pre-ceding a 10:00 Mass at St. Barnabas Church, 1697 East Main Road, Portsmouth, on Saturday, December 22, 2007. Burial will be in Newport Memorial Park in Middletown.Memorial donations are welcome at Rhode Island Cape Verdian Association, C/O Leah Gonzales, 20 Welden Avenue, Apt. #117, East Providence, RI 02914.