WPRO Newsroom and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Former Rhode Island first lady Elena Pastore will be laid to rest in Cranston this week.
Her son says Pastore will be laid to rest in Cranston on Friday after dying last Thursday at her daughter's Florida home. She was 93.
Her husband, John Pastore, was the first Italian-American elected governor and U.S. senator.
Elena Pastore grew up in Providence as the youngest of 10 children.
She was in her twenties when her husband became governor in 1945. A Democrat, John Pastore went on to serve in the U.S. Senate from 1950 until 1976. He died in 2000.
The couple had three children.
Gov. Lincoln Chafee praises Elena Pastore as an "extraordinary woman" who played a pivotal role in her husband's political career.
