Obituary: Edward Soares (1965-2024)

Edward Soares, age 59, died at his home in North Kingstown, RI on September 24, 2024. Ed was from Newport, and he was born there on June 8, 1965. He was the son of the late Manuel Soares and the late Joan Wittstruck. Ed’s brother Manuel Soares died in infancy. He is survived by his brother John Soares and by many other family members and friends.

Much of Ed’s childhood was spent running around Newport’s Tonomy Hill, where, as he fondly remembered, the local Navy Sailors kept people safe. Ed grew up in a close-knit family. He graduated from Rogers High School. When he was a young man, he was well-known around Newport for walking everywhere and carrying a boombox to spread the music he loved.

Ed worked at the navy base for years, managing the food that gave energy to the Sailors each day. He moved to Cranston, then to Woonsocket, and then to North Kingston. Ed’s chronic health challenges eventually led him to retire. But he continued to walk extraordinary distances, often across cities and towns, for as long as he could keep it up.

Ed did not only walk. He also took the bus. He adored public transit, and he developed an extraordinary knowledge of RIPTA, a knowledge that amazed everyone who talked to him about the topic. Ed did not just know every bus route in the state – that was only basic information for him. He was familiar with the start times, end times, and shift changes on the routes. He had a vivid memory of each route’s history and the changes it had undergone. Perhaps most of all, Ed kept a mental record of the buses. He remembered each round of new RIPTA buses dating back at least to the 1990s. He would speak authoritatively about the number of buses acquired in a given year, their features and quirks, their most beautiful elements, their manufacturers, the states where they had been assembled, the amount of time that they had lasted on average before being withdrawn from service (Ed believed that a bus should not run for more than 12 years), and whether they ran on diesel, gasoline, natural gas, or electricity. Ed had the conviction that RIPTA buses should run on electricity.

Bill I., a RIPTA employee, met Ed and took note of Ed’s astute nature. Soon, Ed was working as a RIPTA travel trainer, helping people with disabilities to plan their trips and find their way.

At this job and elsewhere, Ed built and maintained friendships with people of many types, and he had an especially enduring connection with James P., Vincent W., and Don R. His cousin Cathy was a faithful ally throughout his life. She followed him across years and cities, and she was the person he called when he needed a stern word of advice or a loving hand. Over the last few years, Ed became a good friend to Ray G. and Duff M., and Ed was generously accompanied by Caregivers RI and in particular by his home health aide, the compassionate and brilliant AC. Ed also adored children. He is remembered for giving new parents accurate advice about each stage of childhood. Over the telephone, he could talk to small babies and make them smile.

Ed committed himself to changing the world. He spent years fighting for the riders and drivers of buses, against climate change, and for rents that could be afforded. He believed in low-income people. He believed in people with disabilities. He believed, moreover, that people should stand up for themselves. And he was convinced that everybody should vote.

Ed poured his heart into these struggles. Over and over, he sent letters to congresspeople, chatted up his state representatives, and called the governor. He built his week around endless meetings. Even near the end of his life, when he could barely walk, he hoisted himself and his walker over unsteady cobblestones and tall curbs in order to testify at the State House and the Convention Center. He stood firm at rallies. (Sometimes, he was the first to arrive at a rally, and sometimes the last to leave.) He was an unbreakable ally to those who called, with him, for justice.

Don R. helped Ed to get a start in transit activism. Ed played a major and lasting role in the campaign to restore Rhode Island’s no-fare bus pass for low-income seniors and people with disabilities. He frequently talked about what the bus pass meant to him. The campaign was believed by many to be hopeless, but, ultimately, it won- a moment that Ed never forgot.

Ed believed deeply in the importance of keeping Kennedy Plaza as the state’s bus hub, a place for all Rhode Islanders. He wanted to see it improved and upgraded.

Ed also felt committed to the state’s Transit Master Plan. He worried about climate change and sought to mitigate it. He thought, passionately, that the forest behind his apartment should be preserved, and he wanted to make sure to protect the animals that lived there.

Because he was a person of conviction, Ed lived as an active member of many groups. He participated vibrantly in Rhode Island Transit Riders (formerly RIPTA Riders Alliance), Citizens Climate Lobby, and the Kennedy Plaza Coalition. He belonged to RIPTA’s Accessible Transportation Advisory Committee. He had been active in the Rhode Island Organizing Project and the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project.

See Also

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Ed lived as an avid fan of the Patriots and the Red Sox, with an interest, too, in the Oakland A’s and the Miami Dolphins. He adored old television shows and oldies tunes. He loved calzones, pizzas, and above all fish and chips with tartar sauce.

On the Tuesday when he died, Ed was weighing the possibility of attending a RIPTA board meeting on Thursday.

There are not specific plans for a ceremony, but it is hoped that a memorial service will be held at a time to be announced. Everyone interested can contact Memorial Funeral Home in Newport, (401) 846-0698. Burial arrangements are being made, as Ed himself set up, through Memorial Funeral Home.