Grit and spirit: A goodbye to Claire Pollard, Civic Center usher for 50 years
Journalists are often drawn to people with grit. That’s what brought me to do a column about Claire Pollard a month ago.
I’m writing about her now because of a sad turn.
But what a spirit she had — both as a Providence teacher and as the longest-serving employee at the Civic Center, now The AMP. She was an usher there for 50 years, taking the job as a side hustle in part to watch her beloved Providence College basketball team. Her colleagues became family; the fans, too. Claire was a familiar face courtside through 10 presidents.
As for her grit, she missed only a handful of Friars games over 50 years and, despite treatment for stomach cancer, none over the last two seasons.
After her treatment on Feb. 27, it looked like she would finally be unable to make a game. She had complications after getting chemo, so Rhode Island Hospital kept her an extra day for observation. But with just hours to go until the March 1 tipoff, she sent her sister home to North Providence to get her uniform, busted out of her room and just made it to the AMP. Then she was on her feet ushering at courtside for five hours.
More: After 50 years as Civic Center usher and PC fan, could chemo keep her from a game?
When I called her a week later for an interview, she was getting chemotherapy. She talked for more than an hour anyway.
I assumed that meant she was doing OK. Who would have that much grit if they were approaching the end of life?
Well, Claire Pollard did.
Claire died last Sunday, April 9. She was 72.
It was only one month after our story on her ran. But as sad as such news is, what an extraordinary message in that. With literally weeks left, Claire Pollard refused to stop working and living.
In one way, it’s not a surprise.
Throughout her career, she did two jobs so that she could immerse herself in life. While ushering after hours, she spent two decades teaching math at Nathan Bishop Middle School, 15 years more supervising Providence elementary math coaches, and then eight years as coordinator of professional development in the Central Falls School District.
She committed her life to bringing knowledge and hope to urban kids who needed both.
But more widely, Claire was known as the face of the Civic Center. If you saw Elvis, Frank Sinatra, the Grateful Dead, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen or countless other fabled acts there, you might have brushed shoulders with her.
But one act was her favorite — the Friars. As a courtside usher, she bonded with the team during practices, sometimes dancing with them as the music rocked.
“They’re on the court, and we’re moving to the groove,” Claire told me.
During this year's last regular-season home game, she was presented with a ball signed by all the Friars in honor of her 50th year at the AMP. Claire’s sisters, Kathy and Mary, were with her for that. The three were buddies to the end.
I called Mary Barron, who was Claire’s pal since high school and a fellow retired Providence teacher. She told me that Claire had a seizure a week ago, and when she was brought to the hospital, they saw that the cancer had spread to her brain.
Her sisters were at her side at home during her last days, along with a steady flow of friends coming by.
“She had a lot of them,” added Mary.
More: Claire Pollard's obituary
Mary said she’d never known anyone with as much grit and spirit.
“Claire was one in a million.”
When her sisters asked if she wanted any specific hymns played at her funeral, Claire smiled and said, yes — “When the Saints Come Marching In.” That’s the theme song played when the Friars run onto the court.
And in a way, Mary said, it’s a reflection of Claire’s upbeat personality.
It was played when she got her goodbye at St. Augustine Church in Mount Pleasant on Friday, a nod to Claire Pollard's amazing spirit.
May she have good rest.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Civic Center's spirited 50-year usher dies after battle with cancer
