Ryan, Lucille (Taillon)
Born September 9, 1934 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island of Marie Godin and Theodore Taillon. She died Saturday, August 21, 2021 at age 86 at home with her husband, Roger Ryan.
Lucille studied art at Rhode Island College and Rhode Island School of Design. She became a fashion jewelry
designer for C. Ray Randall, and then The Napier Company in Connecticut. Lucille’s designs were worn on many fashion models and their photos were in the finest fashion magazines.
When in Connecticut, Lucille met her future husband, Roger Ryan. Lucille continued her art talent in painting landscapes and still works. Her finished and unfinished paintings fill her home – many were shown in juried exhibits at Choate-rosemary School, the New Britain Museum of American Art, Pump House Gallery and Gallery on the Green.
Lucille, the quiet girl from Woonsocket, joined Roger on many adventures. They met at the old Mountain Laurel ski house in Vermont –- from there Lucille, somewhat of a novice skier, skied many of the major ski areas out West, and in Europe. She even skied the Haute Terre at Chamonix, France including the Aiguille du Midi. This trip started with a white-knuckle grip on a safety rope with one hand, skies in the other, and when she looked over her left shoulder, she could see straight down 9,000 feet into the town of Chamonix. Scary!
Lucille and Roger together with friends, alone, or with Mountain Laurel members spent many weeks skiing out West. Their favorite was Telluride, Colorado.
Let the adventure continue: Lucille paddled a small raft for a week on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, (Idaho). This is the first river in the US designated as “wild and scenic” -- and wild and scenic it is!
Lucille and Roger spent a week in Alaska kayaking way offshore among breeching whales and inspecting calving glaciers before motoring to the sights and mountains near Juneau.
The adventure continues: on a trip to the Caribbean Lucille and Roger (at Roger’s suggestion) purchased a sunken 50’ sailboat. Neither knew how to sail! They then spent the next four years rebuilding and refitting the boat; and the next four years cruising the Caribbean. Many tales can be told of this experience. Back in Connecticut Lucille joined other Mtn. Laurel members in retrofitting and refurbishing a defunct bed & breakfast the club purchased from a bank. Lucille
did many of the interior improvements, including an elaborate floor tile in the Lodge’s largest bathroom.
Lucille’s home is a reflection of her art and design talent. The landscaping and gardening are hers, the colors, tile (all her labor), and paint is Lucille’s. She did most of the design of their new deck.
Lucille succumbed to melanoma that attacked her internal organs. Two attempts at Yale New Haven Hospital to use immunotherapy drugs to cure her failed.
Lucille has an extended family in the Woonsocket, RI area and considered this family her bedrock – spending numerous holidays visiting this “Rhode Island Crew”. In a way her heart never left Rhode Island.
Lucille will be buried in Bellingham, MA at St. John Baptiste Cemetery after a Catholic service August 31, 2021. There will be a celebration of her life later in Meriden, Connecticut.
New Britain Memorial Funeral Home is Serving the family.
Lucille will be missed by many friends, family and fellow adventurers. GOD BLESS.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.newbritainsagarino.com.