Lorraine A. (Dybala) Manchester

74, passed away on Sunday, May 9, 2021 after a brief battle with heart disease, her children, son Roman Manchester and daughter Kimberly Manchester Massaroco, and her loving family by her side.

Born in Woonsocket on August 10, 1946, the daughter of the late Edward J. Dybala Sr. and Bridget J. (Winiarski) Dybala, Lorraine moved to Cranston when she was four years old and continued to make the city her home for the rest of her life. She attended Saint Ann’s Catholic Grammar School in Cranston and spent her after-school hours assisting in her father’s soda factory, E.J. Dybala Bottling Works. A proud Thunderbolt, Lorraine was a 1964 graduate of Cranston High School East. Lorraine also graduated from Johnson & Wales, at the time a 2-year college, with her Associates Degree in Secretarial Sciences, Class of 1966, where she served as President of her sorority, Alpha Pi Kappa. She started her career working for the Providence Chamber of Commerce and remained there until the birth of her son.

Lorraine was an exceptional homemaker to her now former husband and their two children, and she kept her career skills sharp by volunteering her time to many causes in the community, most notably as the Executive Board Secretary to the Parents and Teachers of Glen Hills Elementary School (PTGH). A communicant of Immaculate Conception Church, she volunteered her efforts in event planning for numerous social events until it was time for her to return to full-time employment as a C-Suite Executive Assistant, a position she held with many Rhode Island companies, starting with the late Jeff Jacober and SGI, Inc. in 1986 and retiring from the Women and Infants Hospital Department of Medicine in 2012.

Lorraine kept active in retirement, playing Mah-Jongg with some of her closest friends, enjoying day trips with friends and family members, Sunday coffee at Honey Dew Donuts, reading mystery and thriller novels, watching Days of Our Lives, and attending daily mass at Immaculate Conception Church, her parish of 45 years. She was a member of the ICC Prayer Shawl Collaborative and donated her time and talents to knitting intricate prayer shawls for those in need, charming baptismal blankets for the newborn members of the parish, and warm hats and scarfs for homeless veterans.

In addition to her beloved children, she leaves behind her brothers Edward J. Dybala, Jr. and his wife, Margie Stone Dybala, Eugene M. Dybala and his wife Shirley Dybala, all of Rhode Island, her sister Lorretta Dybala McQueen of Brewster, MA, her son-in-law, John Massaroco, Sr., as well as dozens of cousins, nephews and nieces who mourn her passing.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday May 15, 2021 at 10 a.m. in Immaculate Conception Church, Cranston. Burial will follow in St. Ann’s Cemetery, Cranston.

Visiting hours will be held on Friday from 4 – 7 p.m. in the Nardolillo Funeral Home & Crematory, 1278 Park Avenue Cranston.

Kindly omit flowers.