May 11, 1941 — September 1, 2025
It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of Letty Ray (Quarry) Champion, a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, who left this world on September 1, 2025 at the age of 84. She leaves behind her husband of 67 years, Ronald W. Champion Sr. and their four children, Carol (Champion) Wernquest and her husband Bill, Timothy Champion Sr. and his wife Karen, David Champion, and Ronald W. Champion Jr. She also leaves behind eleven grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren.
Born in Newport, RI, she was the daughter of the late Robert Newton Quarry and Letty (Church) Quarry. She graced us with her intelligence, wit, and vitality. Not one to sit idle, Letty was constantly engaged in whatever project she had set her mind to, whether it be sewing, refinishing furniture, or gardening. She loved sports (a fan of the Yankees, Giants, and Celtics) and she was a voracious reader and an avid fan of rock’n’roll. In addition to being a mother, she was a caretaker to the many animals that her husband Ron would bring home, her favorite being an English Bull Terrier. She started breeding these dogs and opened her own kennel, Telnors English Bull Terriers of North Kingstown RI. 3 of her dogs achieved champion status in AKC competitions. Her interest in the lineage of her dogs led to her decades long passion for genealogy.
Letty became the family historian, spending many hours in town archives researching her family’s lineage. She was a member of the RI Genealogical Society, the RI Historical Society, Newport Historical Society. and the New England Historical Genealogical Society. She was member of the Rhode Island Descendants of the Mayflower Society and, as she discovered, a descendant of John Alden.
She was a registered genealogist and expert in photographing weathered gravestones. She conducted classes of her photographic process for other genealogists. In 2006, Letty and Barbara Austin undertook a project to photograph every gravestone on Aquidneck Island, creating a permanent high quality digital record of every headstone and footstone in the Common Burial Ground and other colonial burial grounds. These photographs corrected errors in the Rhode Island Database project and provided the basis for the book Newport, Rhode Island Colonial Burial Grounds, published by the Rhode Island Genealogical Society.
Letty was preceded in death by her brother George Quarry and sister Ann (Quarry) Desjardin. She is survived by four of her siblings: Robert Quarry of Gouverneur, NY; Ernest Quarry and his wife Carol of Middletown, RI; Stephen Quarry and wife Ann of Newport, RI; Patricia Dresser and husband David of Mulberry, FL; and her departed siblings’ spouses, Henry “Hank” Desjardin of Shrewsbury, MA and Claire Taylor of Newport, RI.
Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, October 9, 2025, from 4:00-7:00 PM in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport, RI 02840.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Letty Champion, please visit Memorial Funeral Homes flower store.
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