With heavy hearts, our family shares that Carlene A. (Ladino) Ventura, 77, of Westport, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, after a long illness. She was the wife of John R. Ventura, with whom she shared 55 years of marriage.
Mrs. Ventura was born in New Bedford, daughter of the late George Ladino, Jr. and the late Cuiteria (Tavares) Ladino and had resided in Westport for over 50 years. After graduation from New Bedford High School, she attended Salve Regina University and then completed post-graduate studies in education at the University of Rhode Island. Her time at Salve Regina fostered numerous lifelong friendships which she treasured. Over her long career as an educator, she taught at New Bedford Public Schools, the Portsmouth School District and Meeting Street School in Rhode Island, and the Westport Community Schools system, where she touched the lives of countless students and teachers.
In addition to her career as an educator, Carlene’s life was dedicated to caring for others. She fostered more than 30 infants through Catholic Social Services over the span of a decade, provided tutoring services and childcare support for numerous families, and cared for older adults and their families, even through the challenges of her illness. She had a particular vocation for the Corporal Works of Mercy, visiting the sick and infirmed, and also served on the Board of Directors of the New Bedford Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).
With her children, and then her grandchildren, VóVó (“Yaya”) fostered a love of reading, the arts, music, athletics, and service to others. Family vacations to the Cape were marked by reading lists, nickels for laps in the swimming pool, and dedicated time for arts and crafts. She admired strong women leaders, like Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meir and Catherine McAuley, and strived to (and succeeded in) emulating their example.
Survivors along with her husband include her lifelong best friend and boon companion, Nancy A. Carignan (“Susan” or “Tia”); three children: John C. Venturaand his wife Rachel of Clinton, Indiana, Joseph C. Ventura and his wife Brook of Louisville, Kentucky, and Ann-Catherine V. Barnes and her husband Jonathan of Edgewater, Maryland; eight grandchildren: Scout Ventura, Ella Ventura, Jackson C. Ventura, Alanna Ventura, Sawyer Ventura, Hannah Barnes, Emberly Ventura and James B. Ventura; and a lifetime of close relationships with godchildren and fostered, nannied, and cared for children and their families.
Memorial Mass of Christian Burial to which relatives and friends are invited will be the 30th day of March, 2026, at St. George Church, Westport at 11:00 in the morning.
Interment will be private.
One of Carlene’s many life ministries was supporting the Sisters of Mercy in fundraising for Casa Corazón de la Misericordia, a home for 30 children living with HIV/AIDS outside of the city of San Pedro Sula, in Honduras. Continuing her spirit of giving, the family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Casa, either by mailing a donation to Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, 8403 Colesville Road, Suite 400, Silver Springs, Maryland 20910, or by using this link https://secure.etransfer.com/eft/flexblockcode/donation1.cfm?d2org=SOMACCASA&d2tool=donate