Author

Kathleen Piñon–Cassidy

Kathleen Piñon–Cassidy was born in Providence, RI, on September 28, 1938. She was raised in an Irish neighborhood, attended Catholic schools and graduated from University of Rhode Island in 1960. She spent the summer of 1960 traveling and working in Switzerland, France, Italy, England, and Ireland (cared for her paternal grandmother in County Mayo until she died). Upon her return she enrolled in the Social Work Program at Fordham University in NYC and worked in the foster care department in NYC, and later in Providence after she married in 1962. She was the mother of 10 children—6 by birth and 4 by adoption, and worked as an emergency foster care mother for several years taking care of over 100 foster children. Over the years she has written a number of what she called her ‘mini stories’ about her family, and growing up in Providence, and short memoirs about the loss of 4 of her children. Memoirs of a Spanish Duck was based on her efforts to take care of the duck that one of her sons bought at a pet shop in Madrid, and secure a safe place for him.