Claire M. Vendice

November 4th.

Born to the late Richard E. O’Donnell and Claire Connaughton O’Donnell in 1930, Claire was

the youngest of eight children. She had four siblings and three step-siblings. She was raised in

rural Greenville, RI, and spent her childhood summers in Pocasset, where she made lifelong

friendships and cherished memories playing on the beach or walking “downtown” for an ice

cream when her brother Jim hadn’t wrangled her into crewing for him in the weekly Wenaumet

Bluffs sailboat races.

After completing high school at Elmhurst Academy, Claire attended college at Salve Regina,

where she received her degree in education (specifically home economics) and continued to

spend her summers soaking in the Cape Cod social life: waitressing at the Park Beach Hotel

where she met her lifelong best friend Naomi, frequenting the Falmouth Heights beaches and

(to the surprise of those who only knew her later in life) enjoying a good martini… or three.

After college graduation, Claire moved to Boston and taught home economics at Everett High

School. It was during this time that she joined the Clipped Wing Ski Club. This was a move that

led to many enduring friendships; but most importantly, a move that led the “presumed spinster”

(she was over 30 at the time) to Vinnie, her lifelong love and ultimately husband of 56 years.

Claire and Vinnie were married in 1964 in Brookline, moved to Newton, and were blessed with

the birth of four daughters (including a set of twins) in two and a half years.

Claire believed raising children was the most important job in the world, and motherhood (as

well as grandmother-hood) was her true joy. She gracefully juggled the many demands of four

children and keeping a home without sacrificing friendships. Friends were welcome at any time

of day at their humble home on Manet Road. There was always an open seat at the kitchen

table and enough food for another mouth (or ten). Claire's Irish heritage was no obstacle to

mastering the finer points of Italian cooking (a prerequisite to marrying Vinnie) and her daily

homemade bread and Friday night pizzas were among the favorites of her family and guests

alike.

While she took pride in her daughters' successes, her true life mission was to raise kind,

generous and empathic children, and to that end, she led by example; opening her home to

friends and relatives in need (a meal, a couch to sleep on or long-term room and board);

dropping everything on a moment’s notice to aid a child, grandchild or friend; and devoting

countless hours to the care of her brother, Bob. In short, Claire showed up. Claire possessed a

deep and abiding faith in God. She never missed a Sunday mass; she was deeply involved in

her church communities and prayer was her super-power. If you were on Claire’s prayer list, you

were assured of a direct line to the heavens. Her strong faith guided her parenting, and she

ruled her home with a firm hand, a warm heart and a steadfast commitment to Christian ethics,

humility being one of her key tenets. In Claire’s (frequently expressed) view, "self-praise" was

"no praise".

Claire’s love of nature (particularly the mountains and the ocean) was life-long. She was a

beautifully graceful skier well into her senior years, treasured family ski trips, and delighted in

skiing with her grandchildren at age 80. Pocasset — where she returned to spend summers with

her own family and where she and Vinnie ultimately retired — was her happy place, its "salt air"

her elixir.

Claire was a New Englander through and through, hard-headed, maddeningly practical and

proudly parsimonious. She wasn’t prone to sentimentality, facing life’s disappointments with a

view that “if this is the worst thing that happens to me, I’ll be lucky”. She never shied away from

hard work (she went back to work in her 50s at the BC registrar’s office); she deplored

wastefulness; and she preferred simplicity to expensive material possessions. Claire had a deep

appreciation for life’s simple pleasures and was infinitely grateful for their abundance in her life.

Among her most coveted pleasures were having family and friends gathered around her table,

skiing in the gently falling snow, Leonidas and Neuhaus Belgian chocolates, a refreshing swim

in a crisp ocean, a Chart Room lobster salad sandwich, playing with her grandchildren and

watching sunsets from her Pocasset deck.

Claire had many adages for which she will be remembered, but perhaps the most fitting was the

response she would give when asked if she wished she were rich. “I’m rich in many ways,” she

would reply… and she was. She will be missed deeply in all her richness.

Claire is predeceased by her brothers James O’Donnell, John O’Donnell and Robert O’Donnell,

her sister Marjorie Mountford, and her half-siblings Madeline Feeley, Richard O’Donnell and

Lillian Ingham. She is survived by her four daughters and sons-in-law: Beth Vendice and Alan

Quaglieri; Jean Vendice; Jennifer and Robert Vey; and Nancy Vendice and Christopher

Southwood. She also leaves behind five beloved grandchildren: Isabel, Jessica, James and

Andrew Sondey, and Otto Vey.

A funeral mass will be held for Claire at St. John the Evangelist parish in Pocasset, MA on

Tuesday, November 21st at 10 am. In lieu of flowers, the family gratefully welcomes donations

to Alzheimer’s Family Support Center of Cape Cod (2095 Main Street, Brewster, MA 02632

508-896-5170) https://www.alzfamilysupport.org/ or Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.nickersonbourne.com for the Vendice family.