Rufina Delizo Rice

Rufina Delizo Rice, “Ping” to her friends, beloved wife of Michael A. Rice, Ph.D. and mother of Maria Isabel Rice, Esq. passed away at Scallop Shell Nursing home in Peace Dale on the afternoon of January 10 after a sudden severe illness.

One of six siblings, Ping was born on March 26, 1954 in Baguio City in the Philippines to Laureano Cachero Delizo and Dolores Delizo de Delizo of Naguilian, La Union, Philippines and she attended local public elementary and high school in Baguio. Ping attended the University of Baguio earning a bachelor’s degree in history in April 1976.

After a brief stint in the employ of the Philippine National Grain Authority, Ping joined the language staff of the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines in 1978 as an instructor of the Ilocano and Tagalog languages. Ping and Mike met in September, 1981 at Caba, La Union during Mike’s Peace Corps pre-service training. They were wed on January 8, 1983 at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Baguio.

Ping first immigrated to the United States in January 1984. After Mike’s Peace Corps end of service in January 1985, Ping was hired as a photographic technician at the Electron Microscope Facility at the University of California Irvine, where she developed photographic plates and prepared specimens for both transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The Rice family arrived in Rhode Island in October 1987 when Mike joined the faculty at the University of Rhode Island.

For nearly two decades, Ping became the daycare provider for the children of families connected with the university and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Laboratory in Narragansett. Decades later, ‘Auntie Ping’ is still remembered fondly by her former charges, who have all gone on to do wonderful things.

Ping loved photography and was an avid gardener maintaining both outdoor flower gardens and tropical indoor plants. She was known as a talented cook with delicious surprises at every get-together.

Ping is survived by her spouse and daughter, as well as her siblings Henry Delizo of Lexington Park, Maryland, Delfin Delizo of Brisbane, Australia, and Caroline Delizo of Baguio City. She is pre-deceased by her parents and three siblings, Marjorie Delizo of Baguio City, Luz Delizo Barber of Houston, Texas, and Nestor Delizo of Chicago.

A Memorial Mass will be held at 11:00 am January 21, 2025 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 114 High Street in Wakefield with a reception immediately following at the parish.

May She Rest in Peace. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Rhode Island Legal Services (www.rils.org).