'A beautiful person': Fall River's Kathy Castro had infectious enthusiasm for the arts

FALL RIVER — Whether it was in print, on radio, on TV, on the stage, or one-on-one, Kathy Castro reached out. Throughout her life in Fall River, she saw endless beauty in art, culture and community, and wanted to share it with anyone who would listen.

Castro, a Fall River native who created the Portuguese language weekly O Jornal and for decades championed the local arts scene as a teacher, a commentator, a director and a mentor, died last week after a brief period of illness. She was 79.

One of Castro’s greatest loves was the stage. Her decades-long affiliation with Little Theatre of Fall River put her in contact with hundreds of artists locally, including Stacy Tinkham, who knew Castro for over 30 years and called her one of a kind.

"She’s really going to be missed," Tinkham said. “I wish there was a way to bottle her essence."

Things to do: School vacation events, programs, art, crafts around the SouthCoast

A 'bridge between the communities,' whether the arts or ethnic groups

Castro’s days were busy. She was on the board of directors at Little Theatre, where she also directed several shows, including “Sweeney Todd,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “A Few Good Men,” “Broadway Bound,” “Our Town” and many others. Her involvement reached across the SouthCoast, where she was part of the New Bedford Festival Theatre and the New Bedford Education Foundation. She was a member of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a co-chair of the Fall River Arts and Culture Coalition, and a member of the Rotary Club of Fall River for 33 years, where Roger Cabral, past president and her sponsor, called her “our bridge to arts and culture in the city” and said she “lived the Rotary motto of ‘Service Above Self.’”

She took to the radio, hosting a show on Fridays on WSAR that spotlighted the arts. At Bristol Community College, Castro was an adjunct instructor of writing and hosted a TV show on Fall River Community Media called “Arts Alive!” where she shared the work of local notables like artist Brian Fox, dancer David Grannum, journalist and true-crime author Maureen Boyle, storyteller David Mello, sculptor Barney Zeitz, musicians like the Khourys and Bobby Justin.

Among her earliest ventures was in 1975, co-founding O Jornal, Fall River’s Portuguese-language weekly, along with her then-husband, Raimundo. The paper, now owned by Gannett and a sister publication of The Herald News, is still published today.

“She was someone that was not Portuguese per se, but she always defended the Portuguese. She was a great advocate for the Portuguese," said O Jornal Editor Lurdes da Silva.

As publisher, Castro hired da Silva in the 1990s. Da Silva said she was always struck by how deeply Castro connected with the Portuguese community even though she didn’t speak the language and wasn’t ethnically Portuguese — her maiden name was Beaulieu.

“But she could still get her point across and make that bridge between the communities,” da Silva said.

She recalled several times when, feeling like the Portuguese community had been slighted or left out of the political realm, Castro rushed to their defense — not to complain, but to work for substantive change.

Local movie: 'Don't Fall From Grace,' filmed at The Whalehouse last year, is done. Here's what we know

In one case in the late 1990s, da Silva said, a report from the Department of Public Health noted that smoking rates in the SouthCoast were elevated, which it blamed on the high percentage of ethnically Portuguese people in Fall River. Castro saw that the DPH published anti-smoking campaign materials, but “they weren’t targeted to the Portuguese,” da Silva said.

“So she said, ‘Here you are blaming the community, but you’re not doing anything to reach this community,” da Silva said.

After a phone call, the DPH ended up translating those materials into Portuguese.

“They ended up even taking pictures of Portuguese people in the community for the campaign," da Silva said. “If she saw something was not fair, she would get on the phone and do her best to try to solve it.”

Kathy Castro a mother and mentor to many

That inclusiveness, that desire to reach out and make her corner of the world a better place, was part of Castro’s personality on a personal level.

“She was an ally with everybody,” Tinkham said. “There was no judgment whatsoever. ... She just accepted everybody, no matter who you were.”

Tinkham said she was about 13 when she first met Castro at Little Theatre over 30 years ago, and she became a mentor.

“I admired how, no matter when I saw her, she was always put together. Her hair was always perfect. She dressed perfect,” Tinkham said. “Even if she wasn’t feeling good, you could never tell.

“She always reminded me of a debutante — a beautiful, statuesque, debutante woman, very classy.”

Tinkham said Castro was endlessly giving, the first person to step up when she needed anything. Tinkham was a dancer in the Little Theatre chorus for many shows under Castro’s direction. They both relied on the other.

“I eventually started calling her Mama Kathy, because she was like a mom to me,” Tinkham said.

That mother-daughter relationship was mirrored even more poignantly with Melissa MacDonald Paradise, who looked after Castro in recent years. Paradise’s mother — dancer, actor and choreographer Janice MacDonald — was longtime friends with Castro from the local arts scene. When MacDonald died in 2018, Castro was there to make sure Paradise still had a mom.

“Kathy said, ‘I’ll always keep you in my life. You’re my friend forever now,’” Paradise said.

“I thought that was very sweet. People say that — they don’t hold to it. Time goes by, and you forget. ... But Kathy always kept in touch with me. We became very close friends.”

Castro never had children of her own. She had divorced from her husband many years earlier, and lived alone in a beautifully landscaped stucco home on High Street, where she and Paradise would sometimes sit in the garden sipping wine. She filled her life with family, with friends, and with friends who became like family.

Paradise said Castro had boundless enthusiasm and positivity, all of it directed outward, at others — unlike many people of an artistic bent, Paradise said, Castro was only ever interested in what other people were doing, to the point that she was something of “a mystery.” Though she was outgoing and had many friends, Paradise said, Castro was rather private.

“Say you went to lunch with Kathy. She would talk about theater, or she would talk about what you’re up to. Which isn’t the norm for a lot of people," Paradise said. “A lot of people want to vent and talk about what’s in their life. Not Kathy."

Castro's health started to decline last summer, Paradise said. People suspected she was ill — more than one person said they'd noticed in recent years she had shed a drastic amount of weight. But she maintained her legendarily dignified composure.

“She just didn’t talk about herself,” Paradise said. “Nobody really knew a whole lot about Kathy’s inner self. We knew a happy girl who loved a good time and loved conversation, and loved the arts. But as far as her things that she’s done, or her accomplishments, she didn’t boast that way.”

Classic Hollywood dramas: Celebrate Noir Nights at New Bedford Art Museum: What to know

Castro's beloved companion for 15 years was her dog, Jonas, who Paradise said was “like her baby.” Jonas died a month ago, and Castro was unwilling or unable to speak about the loss, redirecting conversation immediately. Paradise said Castro was depressed, but proud; she didn’t want people to see her feeling wounded.

Last week, Castro’s health deteriorated rapidly. She was hospitalized and never recovered.

"She was just a really beautiful person," Paradise said. “I’m still in shock.”

'Dedicated to looking at the positive'

From her work with FRACC and Little Theater to her patronage of the Narrows Center, the enthusiasm Castro had for boosting the Fall River arts scene was infectious.

“Kathy was a smart, classy force of nature who knew how to get things done," said Patrick Norton, executive director of the Narrows Center. “She was a true friend who had your back. She always gave me great advice and guidance.”

Mary Ann Goulart, one-time member of the Little Theatre board, said Castro “worked tirelessly to put Little Theatre on the forefront of the area arts scene. She was always classy, stylish, well spoken, impeccably dressed and a wonderful ambassador for Little Theatre. When Kathy spoke, people listened.”

Da Silva said Castro was an advocate for anyone who needed representation in the culture and community, especially women, saying she often said people who had achieved success had a duty to send down the elevator to “try to bring more people up with you.”

Rotary Club President Darcy Lee echoed that, saying “For many of the women in the Fall River Club, like me, she served as a leader, a mentor, and a friend. Kathy generously shared her knowledge and experience about the community and Rotary's service within it.”

Local media personality, commentator and musician Mike Moran called Castro a cordial friend who he said he respected deeply for her commitment to growing and nurturing the arts.

"You didn’t have to spend a lot of time around to her to know that ... she was really dedicated to looking at the positive, the promising, the culturally interesting aspects of the community where she lived,” Moran said. “She just knew, I’m sure, to her dying day that there’s a lot going on here that deserved being called attention to.

“You live in a community that’s got one or two people like Kathy, it’s a better community for it — no question."

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River arts booster, theater director Kathy Castro dies at 79