Carolyn M. Vieira

Tucson, AZ - Carolyn Marie Vieira, 69, formerly of South Attleboro, MA, passed away Thursday, April 1, 2021 in Tucson, AZ after struggling with cancer for the past year.

Her brother David, niece Heather and nephew Greg were by her side.

Carolyn grew up in Eastern Massachusetts where she learned to love the Red Sox, French Canadian food, and Portuguese linguica and Easter sweetbread.

She got her love of science and reading from the Attleboro School System.

Carolyn received her BS in Biology at the Lowell Technological Institute which, at the time, had only 100 women students among 3000 men.

After graduation, she worked in nuclear fuel safety for Texas Instruments in Attleboro, MA.

She learned how to drive a stick and drove to Tucson, AZ to pursue a PhD in Immunology at the University of Arizona.

After 5 years she switched careers and became Radiation Control Specialist at the University of Arizona, retiring in 2011.

Carolyn lived a full and loving life.

Until recently, Carolyn swam a mile every day except Sunday.

She attended daily mass at her beloved Saint Thomas More Catholic Newman Center at the University of Arizona where she photographed major events and was deeply involved with parish activities.

She was a volunteer at the diocese food pantry, attended the Catholic Bible Institute of Southern Arizona and was studying to be a lay minister.

Carolyn was deeply passionate about her butterfly photos, and her yard has milkweed everywhere.

She never missed a graduation or wedding to photograph family and friends.

Carolyn loved technology and was a family pioneer in the use of cloud storage for her photos.

Carolyn never missed Jeopardy and liked to compete with her brothers on the final Jeopardy question.

She used Facebook to maintain family connections and posted her family genealogy on her SmugMug website (which includes 4 Portuguese grand aunts named Mary, that she traced back to France and the Azores).

She also used the National Geographic’s Genographic Project to find her family’s migration routes back to Adam and Eve.

Carolyn has been seen driving her 30-year-old white Toyota truck all around Tucson.

She recently bought a semi-new Honda Fit with a stick and air conditioning so that she could make a grand tour of the cousins (in comfort) once this pandemic was over.

Carolyn’s parents were Alice and Morris Vieira who both resided in South Attleboro, MA.

She leaves 2 brothers: Allen Vieira (and his wife, Penny Butler) of Rockville, MD and David Vieira (and his wife, Cathy Vieira) of Marblehead, MA.

She is also survived by her nieces Heather Husain of Swampscott, MA, Ashley Vieira of Peabody, MA and Scotty Vieira of Alexandria, VA and her nephew, Gregory Vieira of Memphis, TN.

Carolyn will especially be missed by her 2 young grandnieces, Emily Husain, age 10 and Alice Vieira, age 2, as well as the many Vieira and Bouchard cousins.

We are all so fortunate to have had such a loving, generous, and intelligent champion in our family.

Carolyn’s funeral will be Friday, April 9 at 11:30 am at the Saint Thomas More Catholic Newman Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her Committal Service on Friday, April 16 at noon at Notre Dame Cemetery Chapel, 359 Daggett Ave., Pawtucket, RI.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in her name to Saint Thomas More Catholic Newman Center, 1615 East 2nd St, Tucson, AZ 85719 (or www.uacatholic.org).

Local arrangements are entrusted to WILLIAM W.

TRIPP Funeral Home, Pawtucket.

For online condolences please visit: TRIPPFUNERALHOME.com