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In memory of

Clare A. Barsotti

Alexandria, VA, USA

November 5, 1923 - April 14, 2021

Nov 5, 1923 - Apr 14, 2021

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Clare A. Barsotti (nee Lucidi) was born in Trenton, N.J. on November 5th, 1923, and passed away in Alexandria, VA on April 14, 2021. She was the oldest of five sisters. Her parents had immigrated to this country from central Italy, both as very young children. Theirs was the story of many immigrants who came here to look for a better life, and the Lucidis succeeded through hard work, perseverance, and strong ties to their family and the Italian American community. Clare's parents only had an elementary school education. But her mother's main goal in life was for her daughters to be fully American and to be educated. All five girls graduated from high school and all but one graduated from universities in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area.
Clare graduated summa cum laude from Trenton High School, and received a full scholarship to the New Jersey College for Women (NJC), which today is known as Douglass College and is one of the five campuses of Rutgers University. Clare's talents were many: she played the piano beautifully, and spoke some Italian at home. She also became fluent in French, and lived in the French dorm at NJC. But her true love was mathematics, which she majored in. In addition to math, Clare's other life passions included music, cooking, and her deep concern for social justice. Throughout her life, Clare involved herself in efforts to help people who were less fortunate or faced discrimination.
The proximity of her home town of Trenton to Princeton, made it possible for the Lucidi sisters to spend a lot of time there, enjoying themselves with friends and meeting Princeton students. So, it was no surprise that Clare met Iacopo, a young PhD student from Northern Italy, who had just come out of World War II, and had received a full scholarship from the Quakers to continue his studies in mathematics at the Princeton University.
Clare and Iacopo married in 1951. Clare left her job as an engineer at the DeLaval Company in Trenton, N.J., and followed her husband. With Europe still emerging from the ravages of World War II, Iacopo found his first teaching assignment at the University of Pittsburgh. Many other moves followed, bringing them to live in California, and eventually to Rhode Island. In 1961, after the birth of their daughter, Clare and Iacopo moved to Italy living first in Pisa and then in Padova. During all of those years of marriage, Clare and Iacopo travelled the world, first visiting and hiking the American West, then travelling all over Europe, and eventually living in Japan.
The daughter of humble immigrants met many illustrious intellectuals during her life and saw and lived in many diverse places.
After Iacopo's death in 1987, Clare moved back to the United States and lived in Bucks County, PA close to her family. Nineteen years later Clare moved on Alexandria, VA in the early 2000s to be near her daughter and her two young grandchildren.
She is survived by her only remaining sister, Lydia Hatterschide, her daughter Adriana and her son-in-law Peter Kaplan, her grandchildren Jacob and Christopher, and many nieces and nephews, both in the United States as well as in Italy.
She will be truly missed!!! Rest in peace mom.

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