Early Years
Meredith Vieira was born in East Providence, Rhode Island, to Mary Louisa Elsie Rosa Silveira Vieira (née Costa) (October 28, 1904 – November 5, 2004) and Dr. Edwin Vieira (May 15, 1904 – February 1987), both first-generation Portuguese Americans. She is the youngest of four children, with three older brothers. All four of Vieira’s grandparents came from the Azores—three from Faial Island, one of the nine islands in the archipelago. They all left for a better life in New England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, settling around Providence, Rhode Island. Vieira was raised in the Catholic faith, but has stated in recent interviews that she has "spirituality, not a religion."
She attended the Lincoln School, a Quaker all-girls school in Providence. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English from Tufts University in 1975.
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Famous quotes related to early years:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)