Helene K. Peirce

Helene K. Peirce, 92, of East Greenwich, passed away peacefully at home, as she had wanted, on March 26, 2019, surrounded by her loving family.  She was the wife of the late Thomas J.H. Peirce, Jr.  Born in Providence, she was the daughter of the late John J. and Katherine (Burns) Hughes.

Helene attended Blessed Sacrament School and St Xavier Academy, graduating in 1944.  At age six she met her closest friends, the seven “First Graders” as they later called themselves, whose enduring friendships she cherished always. As a teenager she worked in the reference section of the Providence Public Library after school every day for 13 cents an hour; she was never without a book, or several, for the rest of her life.  After graduation she worked at the New Method Loan Company, where she acquired a keen sense of the value of money. At twenty-three she married her love, Tom, in 1949.  Together they had a son, also named Tom, in 1956.  Beginning in 1970 she worked as a teller for Hospital Trust Bank in Wickford and later Wakefield and, after retiring, volunteered at Women and Infants Hospital for several more years.  She possessed a natural charm and a soaring and effortless sense of humor through which she continued to meet and befriend new people throughout her life.   And she loved her two grandchildren, Tristan and Kiri, beyond anything she could have imagined.

She is survived by a son, Thomas J.H. Peirce, III and his wife Tanja Ryden and grandchildren, Tristan and Kiri Peirce.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrate Monday, April 1 ^st at 10:00am at Our Lady of Mercy Church, 65 Third St., East Greenwich.  Burial will be in Highland Memorial Park, Johnston.  Calling hours Sunday, March 31 ^st 3-5pm at the Hill Funeral Home, 822 Main St., East Greenwich.  In lieu of flowers, memorials in Helene’s name may be made to a charity of your choice.