Leading by Example: Virginia Neves Gonsalves

Virginia Neves Gonsalves (1939-2023) was an educator and community leader whose life was rooted in her faith, family and Cape Verdean heritage. Born in Brava, Cape Verde Islands, she immigrated to RI with her mother at age nine and joined her father and brother in Newport.

A 1958 graduate of Rogers High School, Virginia obtained a BA in 1962 from Salve Regina University and established endowed scholarships at both schools. After earning two master’s degrees, one in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin and another in Portuguese from Marquette University, Virginia became a bilingual resource teacher and later, headed the language department at Hope High School.

Fluent in Cape Verdean Creole, Spanish and Portuguese, Virginia also served as a translator for visiting dignitaries from Cape Verde and for courts, medical clinics, family members and friends.

“Virginia was proud of her Cape Verdean ancestry,” says Linda A'Vant-Deishinni, executive director of the Diocese’s St. Martin de Porres Senior Center. “She wanted Cape Verdeans to appreciate their distinctive identity, language and culture. On one trip home, she located my grandmother’s birthplace, found my uncle, gave him money and took his picture so I could see him in old age.”

A founding member and first vice-president of the American Association for the Development of Cape Verde, Virginia organized Cape Verdean educational conferences at Brown University and donated her materials on Cape Verde and Cape Verdean Americans to Rhode Island College. A board member of the Cape Verdean Museum in Pawtucket, RI, Virginia volunteered weekly as a docent, leading school tours and guiding visitors. “She enjoyed engaging viewers’ memories,” says fellow board member and longtime friend Yvonne Smart. “Some had known people like those in the photographs, including longshoreman, cranberry pickers and members of Cape Verdean mutual aid societies.”

Noting that Virginia was the 2018 honoree of Poderosa, an annual conference on Cabo Verdean women held at Providence College, Yvonne says, “Virginia has been a role model for many, especially young Cape Verdean women.”

Discrimination that Virginia encountered as an immigrant and as a person of color informed her activism, including her service on the boards of the Senior Agenda Coalition and the George Wiley Center. “Virginia led with quiet dignity and strength,” says Bill Flynn, formerly executive director of both nonprofits. “When she had something to say, everybody listened.”

Single throughout her life, Virginia cherished her many family members and friends. “Titi had a flip phone and hardly used it,” says her niece and goddaughter Aurendina Veiga. “She wanted to talk with people in person.”

Virginia influenced many young people to further their education and participate in the liturgy. “Titi led by example,” says Aurendina. “Her faith was her rock. She went to Mass every day. She lived the works of mercy. She fed the hungry; funded clean water projects, housing, clothes and schooling for people in Cape Verde; brought the Eucharist to people in nursing homes; visited the imprisoned; and placed flowers on gravesites of family and friends.”

Virginia was a long-serving volunteer with the Diocese’s St. Gabriel’s Call program, which helps mothers in need during and beyond pregnancy. On the advisory committee of its Black Catholic Ministry, she represented the Diocese at the National Black Catholic Congress and coordinated its yearly leadership retreat for youth of color. “With her warm and calming voice,” says Linda, “Virginia would bring people together to meet a need and make things better.”

Virginia continues to better her community through her endowed scholarships; her bequest to her parish, Our Lady of Loreto Church in East Providence; and her gifts through the Catholic Foundation of RI to the Anchor of Hope Endowed Fund, which provides tuition assistance to students at Catholic schools.