1926-2023: Rena Arrigoni founded Casa Angelica, leaves legacy of compassion

Courage, compassion and commitment are traits that come quickly to mind when Rena Arrigoni’s daughters describe their mother.

“She was a go-getter,” said Annette, Rena’s youngest daughter. “She was never afraid of anything or anybody. She was a ramrodder.”

“She was a ball of fire,” said Regina, the oldest daughter. “She was enthusiastic. She had a zest for life. She was on a mission for her daughter.”

The daughter for whom Rena Arrigoni campaigned with missionary zeal was Arlene, her middle daughter, who suffered permanent eye, liver and brain damage due to an undiagnosed birth defect.

Rena and her husband, Al, cared for Arlene until they realized she needed more help than they could provide by themselves. They sought assistance but discovered none. So in 1967, they established Casa Angelica, a home for children with severe disabilities.

More than 55 years after its founding, Casa Angelica, located in Albuquerque’s South Valley, continues to care for children and young people with special needs.

Rena Arrigoni died in her Albuquerque home on Sept. 23. She was 97. She is survived by her daughters.

Finding purpose

Rena, the daughter of Amerigo and Davina Menicucci, was born in Albuquerque on Feb. 12, 1926.

She was devoted to her family, her Catholic faith, and to Casa Angelica, but she found joy and solace in other facets of her life.

She was a member of the Albuquerque Country Club, and Annette said her mother took much pleasure in the friendships she formed there.

“She enjoyed playing bridge and walking in her neighborhood daily,” Annette said. “That is where she found her peace.”

But she found a purpose in Casa Angelica.

Home for angels

Arlene Arrigoni was born on Oct. 10, 1956. Doctors believed she would survive just eight years, but she lived to be 22, dying on Nov. 26, 1978.

Rena and Al took care of Arlene at home for 11 years, but some years earlier they came to understand that their daughter needed more care than they were capable of giving.

That’s when they started planning a facility that would provide affection and high-quality medical care for youngsters with special needs — young people, Rena learned, who were not readily accepted by the world they had been born into.

Rena asked the Canossian Daughters of Charity, a Catholic order, to staff such a home, which they did at Casa Angelica’s start and continue to do today.

In the 1997 book “Casa Angelica: Arlene’s Legacy,” written by Rena, she tells how she came up with the name for the home.

“There was a phrase I often spoke to Arlene. ‘You are the most beautiful angel in the world.’ Suddenly, I knew the special place for my special angel could be a home for her only if the word, ‘angel’ were in the name. Her home would have to be a house for angels — for many angels. And so it became Casa Angelica, an Italian phrase meaning ‘House of Angels.’”

Community support

“The community really supported Casa Angelica, even though it was not as prestigious as, say, the Santa Fe Opera,” Annette said. “We really appreciated it.”

Annette said the Casa Angelica Auxiliary brought in movie stars and staged drag races and horse shows to raise money for the facility. And then the auxiliary started doing fund-raising fashion shows.

“They had a fashion show every year until COVID,” Annette said. “Close to 1,000 people attended fashion shows in the spring at the Convention Center, the Sheraton Old Town and Sandia Casino.”

Rena was preceded in death by her husband, Al; daughter, Arlene; sister, Louise Stein; and brother, Mario Menicucci.

A private Mass will be celebrated at Casa Angelica in her memory. Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Casa Angelica.