Joan B. (Chiappinelli) Sammartino

Joan B. Sammartino, a former teacher and longtime resident of Cranston, died on the Fourth of July at Sunny View Nursing Home in Warwick. She was the daughter of the late Bartholomew and Irene (Mullen) Chiappinelli and moved with her family to Cranston at an early age.

She attended Elmhurst Academy of the Sacred Heart and graduated from Brown University. She then married William F. Sammartino, also a Brown graduate, and they subsequently left Rhode Island while he pursued his medical degree in neurosurgery, the profession he practiced until his death several years ago. After a dozen years away, Rhode Island and Cranston lured them back to a residence overlooking Narragansett Bay near the Rhode Island Yacht Club. Joan, the mother of two boys, taught in Barrington, Cranston, Melrose, Mass., Broomall, Pa., and Winston Salem, N.C.

She leaves her son, Wayne, his wife Linda of Wayne, N.J. and her grandchildren Laura and Ryan. She was the mother of the late Mark Sammartino. She is also survived by her sister, Lucille Gallagher of Warwick, and brother, S. Robert Chiappinelli and his wife Margo of Providence, and was the beloved aunt of Valerie, Michael and Jennifer Gallagher,  Danielle and Chris Chiappinelli, and Nicole, Rob, Bill and Tony Sammartino.

Brought up in Cranston’s Edgewood section, she developed a love of reading, movies and film and a flair for fashion and entertaining that led her to host countless holiday dinners that left guests delighted. She had been a president of the Rhode Island Medical Society Auxiliary and a member of the Aurora Club, the Elmhurst Alumnae Association and the Brown Club of Kent County. She was a former member of the Warwick, Skyline and Kirkbrae County Clubs. She was a longtime member of St. Paul Parish.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 a.m., Monday at St. Paul Church, 30 Warwick Ave., Cranston, with burial to follow in St. Ann Cemetery, Cranston.
Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Sunday at the “WOODLAWN” Gattone Funeral Home, 600 Pontiac Ave., Cranston.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Joan may be made to the American Kidney Fund or the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University.

Please share memories and condolences at www.WoodlawnRI.com

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