Jane Harrington Bethune, 78, of Newport, Rhode Island, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on January 14, 2024, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Jane was born in Newport to Mary Louise Harrington (née Turner) and James Gilbert Harrington on August 20, 1945. She graduated from Rogers High School in 1963 and obtained a bachelor’s degree at Salve Regina College in 1967. She then moved to New Orleans, LA, where she met her husband, David, while working towards a doctorate in Italian and Spanish Literature at Tulane University. They married in 1969.
After leaving New Orleans, the couple lived in Birmingham, AL, and Erie, PA, where Jane taught Spanish at Mercyhurst Preparatory School. In 1982, she completed her dissertation, “A Comparative Study of Antonio Buero Vallejo and Alfonso Sastre,” and was awarded her Ph.D. She returned to Newport in 1984 to work as a professor in the Department of Modern Languages at Salve Regina University, where she taught for more than 30 years until she retired and was appointed Professor Emerita.
Jane loved her career and was incredibly passionate about teaching foreign languages. She also enjoyed reading, traveling (especially to her favorite destinations of Oaxaca, Mexico, and New Orleans), and spending time with her family and friends.
She was also an animal lover and had many pets over the years, among them several beloved dogs she enjoyed taking for walks. Jane was an exceptionally kind, dependable, hardworking, and intelligent person and will be forever missed.
She is survived by her husband of nearly 55 years, David M. Bethune of Newport, RI; daughter Ashley Ferreira, her husband Edward J. Ferreira, Jr., and their children Jake Ferreira, Luke Ferreira, and Lily Ferreira, all of Portsmouth, RI; daughter Meredith Bethune, her husband Dustin Janes, and their daughter Sylvia Janes, all of Albany, NY; and brother James G. Harrington, Jr. and his wife Lenice Harrington, both of Portsmouth, RI.
A private burial service for family will be held on January 26, 2024, at St. Columba Cemetery in Middletown, RI. Plans for a memorial mass to take place later this year are yet to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Potter League for Animals https://potterleague.org/ or the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases https://indflorida.org/.
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