Jean M. Mara
Jean M. Mara, of Milton, formerly of Quincy, daughter of the late John and Marie Mara passed away after a long and courageous battle with cancer on September 21, 2020.
Jean is survived by her extended family, Ann Louise and Dan Sullivan, their children and grandchildren as well as her St. Agatha Community family, Holy Cross Retreat House family, E.C. Week family and anyone who was blessed enough to call her a friend.
Jean was an active member of the St. Agatha Parish community as she was a teacher at St. Agatha School for 37 years starting in 1980. One of her many joys during her teaching career was accompanying the 8th grade class on the yearly trip to Washington D.C. Many will tell you that Jean was far more than a teacher at St. Agatha School. She was a role model, mentor, friend, and advocate which was evident at the school wide event “Mara Strong Day” where she was honored by past and present students, teacher, and families when she was first diagnosed with cancer. Additionally, she was a member of the RCIA program welcoming new members into our faith community. Jean spent many hours volunteering her time and sharing her faith in multiple communities including My Brother’s Keeper, the Holy Cross Retreat House, and Camp Fatima’s E.C. Week where she served as relief counselor to individuals with special needs for over 20 years. To know Jean was to have a faithful friend, quick with a joke and a kind word. Her contagious laugh could fill a room and warm your heart. She will be deeply missed by all who know and love her.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Saint Agatha Church, 432 Adams Street, Milton, Monday September 28 at 10:30 am. (Covid restrictions in place – limited seating, masks must be worn, please follow instruction of funeral home staff). If you would like to view the Mass, it will be livestreamed at https://vimeo.com/461017529 Visiting hours at Dolan Funeral Home, 460 Granite Avenue, EAST MILTON SQUARE, Sunday 2-6 PM.
Donations may be made in Jean’s memory to: Friends of Fatima, EC Week at Camp Fatima, 32 Fatima Road, Gilmanton Iron Works, NH 03837 / Ecweek.org or to: Holy Cross Retreat House, 490 Washington St., North Easton MA 02356 https://www.retreathouse.org/in-honor-of
Guestbook Entries
Dearest Sullivan’s
Our hearts are broken at the loss of a dear friend! She was so lucky to have all of you as her extended family! Please accept our sincere condolences at this sad time! Our thoughts and prayers are with you!
Love you forever Ms Mara!
Tony and Jeannie Athas
Ann Louise, I am so sorry to hear of Jean’s passing. She was your good friend — and a friend to all. I so enjoyed my time with her at E.C. Week. She always brightened my day with her infectious laugh. 🙏
What a great remembrance of Miss Mara. There aren’t enough words or adjectives to accurately describe the profound effect she had on hundreds and/or thousands of kids. Jean you will truly be missed, rest easy, and thank you!
What a great loss to the community. I still remember the first time I met Jean,I knew I had met someone very special. Her smile and laugh were infectious. I can still hear her in the halls of SAS.
My deepest sympathies are with you during this sad time.
Fondly- Karen Occhialini
Oh she was a wonderful teacher. Now that I am a teacher I think fondly of some of my favorite teachers in my life. Miss Mara was among the top of my list at St. Agatha’s. I was not “in her class” but she was a delight in all the school activities, at church and I remember admiring her outfits on the playground when I was a little girl. She seemed so fashionable in the 80s and I admired her style, even though I was too shy to tell her. She was a newer teacher when I attended St Agatha school and I am reminded easily of her laughter, great smile and positive energy. Rest In Peace Miss Mara. You blessed so many students and inspired me to become a “smiling teacher” too.
Ann Louise, Danny, and family,
There are no words to express how sorry I am to hear about Jean. She loved all of you more than anything. She gave “selfless” a whole new meaning and I will always treasure the laughs we shared. Teaching across the hall from her was a new adventure every day and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.
Thank you for everything, Ms. Mara! ❤️
Goodbye dear friend. I will miss seeing you at mass.
You were loved by many.
You preached the gospel to the world, and you didn’t need words!
Jean was one of a kind! I will miss her humor, her light and her laugh…but I will miss the beautiful friendship she shared with my mom most of all. I loved hearing about all their adventures together. My condolences to all, especially the “other Sullivan’s” who were without a doubt her chosen family. May she Rest In Peace.
Ms.Mara was a comfort and confidant to her many students and parents.She had a way of putting any child or parents mind at ease while dealing with any school related issues. Her positive energy and laughter was contagious.She really had a way of making each child feel special and loved while in her presence.I am so glad I was able to know her and that my children were at SAS while she was there teaching .Ms.Mara will be sadly missed but fondly remembered by our family.Our deepest condolences.
John ,Brigette,Farrah and Lucius Borkowski
The world feels very different without Jean Mara! To the entire Sullivan family, please accept my sincerest condolences. I know how important Jean was to each of you. I remember the first time I met Ms. Mara in 1980 as my brother Michael was in her first class at St Agatha. Immediately I was struck by her energy and her pure love of her students. Jean was one of kind and full of life. My children adored her and she will live on forever through all of the children she so positively influenced. Ann Louise my heart is broken for you. You have a special guardian angel watching out for you now. All my love to all of you!
Miss Mara was such an amazing educator but more important she had such a warm and caring heart. My Jenna will always remember her kindness. Will miss seeing her at the Fruit Center. Rest In Peace knowing you made a difference in many lives.Thank you❤️
My deepest condolences to Dan and Ann Louise Sullivan, Jean was a very very special woman. Her smile, the laughs she gave and the love she seemed to endlessly offer will be sorely missed by all the communities she cared for, and all the people such as myself, who consider themselves blessed to have met her, and recieved so much love, and so many prayers from her.
All my love and prayers, rest easy Jean <3
I am so sorry for your loss. My daughter was so lucky to have Ms Mara as a second grade teacher at St. Agatha’s. Jean was a wonderful teacher and a lovely person and will greatly missed
Ann Louise,
You were a “sister” to Jean in so many ways. There is truly no greater gift than a true friend and you were that for Jean as she was that for you.
My love and prayers,
Sister Jeanne
Danny, Ann Louise and Sullivan’s all, you and the world have lost a jewel and that jewel rests in the arms of a loving God. I treasured the times we had together at E. C. Week each year. She truly was “love in action!”
John, omi
Although I was only stationed at St. Agatha’s for 2 1/2 years, Jean and her great friendship with the Sullivans was an experience of how Christ can bond people of faith. Our several 8th grade trips to Washington D.C. over those years were fun adventures where we wondered who had most fun, the adults or the kids! Jean was a real trooper and a genuinely faithful Catholic in the true sense of the word. Rest in Peace, Jean.
I just read of Jean’s death and I am sad. I still live three houses away from where I watched Jean grow up. I have not seen Jean in a long time, but always knew she was loved at St. Agatha’s.
Rest In Peace, Jean.
Ann Louise, Deacon Dan, and family, my deepest sympathy on your loss. Jean was one of a kind: good laughs in the teachers room, fantastic social studies and religion teacher, drama coach, her students all loved her. She certainly left a great legacy. May her prayers from Heaven give you comfort.
More than forty years later I fondly remember Ms Mara as my 4th grade teacher at St Joseph School. She was young, fun, energetic, stylish and charismatic. She fostered girl power before it had a hashtag. Although I am saddened by her passing I am far more grateful that I was lucky enough to have her as my teacher. I don’t remember her syllabus or lesson plans but her dynamic enthusiasm for learning and the ability to engage her students is etched in my heart. Thank you Ms Mara you will be missed for eternity.
Miss Mara…my fourth grade teacher at St. Joseph’s School…my heart.
ALWAYS a kind word, a smile, a laugh, candy dish on her desk. She gave me my first nickname, “Bert” short for Roberta, and I thought that was the coolest. Miss Mara shared her gifts of reading and writing…gifts that have served me well. I can still remember her reading aloud to the class when we had lunch inside the classroom, an amazing storyteller. On the playground, Miss Mara had FUN!! Streets and Alleys was a favorite game, I can still hear her call out to a packed parking lot of inspired kids. Blessed to have many fond memories of a true educator. 💚
Ann Louise ,Danny ,and all the kids, I wish I could be with you to share in the family grief . Jean has been such apart of our family for so long.What would the holidays have been without her .How many time did we sit on the deck at the cape and enjoy a good laugh….I will always miss her laugh and caring.She will always be apart of our family. I miss and love you all . Love and prayers ,Alice.
I remember meeting Jean for the first time as my daughter Kristen’s teacher. Her warm smile and great sense of humor immediately appeared. My daughter adored her and I so understood why. She was a natural in connecting with kids.
I always enjoyed sitting behind her at the12:00 mass. We used to share a few chuckles now and then, hopefully without being noticed.
Jean will be missed by everyone who ever had the chance of meeting her, including me of course. Ann Louise and family, I am very sorry for your huge loss. May God’s peace be with you all.
Jean was one of a kind! We were fortunate to have her as one of our beloved employees. She was a cheerful, sweet, fun-loving employee in our extended Common Market family. It was so impressive to see so many past students come in to see her! You could see that she was very much loved! We will miss her joyful personality and her bright smile. We wish her peace in God’s hand.
The McDonald Family
Years ago at a Scripture Retreat, I remember Fr. Richard relaying his rendition of Jesus appearing to the Apostles in the upper room. Roughly it went something like…”So, Our Lord enters the room where the 12 were all ‘holed up’ and greets them with a ‘Peace be with you’ which could really be interpreted as ‘You Bums’. Since that time when with Jean at Mass the sign of peace was always..’You Bum!’ Safe home Jean! Peace Be With You…
Dear Anne Louise and Dan,
I am so sorry for the loss of Jean. She was a wonderful, loving and a true inspiration. Fatima would not have been the same without her!
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Love to you and your family,
Julie
I was so sad to hear about the passing of Miss Mara. She was my 4th grade teacher at St. Agatha’s. Such a great teacher and really knew how to connect with kids. I was very shy in school. It wasn’t until the 3rd/4th grade that I started to come out of my shell a bit and I know Miss Mara had something to do with that. The world was a better place with her and she will be sadly missed. God bless you Miss Mara. Rest In Peace.
My first introduction to “Miss Mara” was when she became my daughter Sarah’s teacher at St A’s… she embodied everything a teacher should be… I recently reconnected with her at FISH & CHICKEN and we had the chance to catch up. Always a joy to chat with; her zest for life was incomparable. She was the epitome of a great Catholic woman and a role model for all. May Jean rest now in the arms of our Lord. She will be truly missed by all that we’re lucky enough to have known her.
Martha Shields and family
While not in close touch over the years, Jean was, and is, in our hearts.