Mary A. Walsh

Mary was born in Bridgeport, CT. , the daughter of John and Susan (O’Neil) Schick, who both died as a result of the flu epidemic of 1918. Mary and her brother, John, were both raised by their aunts Mamie and Ella O’Neil of Bridgeport. Mary met her future husband, John H. (Jack) Walsh, there while both were high school students. They later married and in 1940 moved to Danbury where Jack became Personnel Director for Frank H. Lee Hat Company.

Mary maintained a life-long passion for sports, for example playing on a women’s traveling basketball team in the 1930’s when few other such teams existed. Her true passion, however, was golf, which Jack taught her to play. She remained a long time member of Ridgewood Country Club in Danbury after Jack’s death in 1987. She played year-round, even in winter, lack of snow permitting. She was often the only person on the course, decked out in her woolens, playing in sub-freezing temperatures. Her golfing buddies nicknamed her “Fairway Mary” for her uncanny ability to hit the ball straight, true and consistently, traits that also defined how she lived her life.

Mary and Jack’s younger son, Jimmy, was born in 1949, severly mentally and physically handicapped. Finding few resources at the time to help him, they took matters into their own hands. They placed an ad in the local newspaper, seeking other parents in similar circumstances. They received three initial responses and held support meetings in their living room. Others soon joined and an organization began to grow, called, among other names, Parents and Friends of Retarded Children, DATAHR, Ability Beyond Disability, to the present day Ability Beyond. The latter organization, headquartered in Bethel, CT, serves more that 3400 people and supports more than 100 group homes in both Connecticut and New York. Its success has become a proud and fitting legacy to Mary, Jack and all the people over the years who have worked tirelessly to insure its success.

Mary is survived by her son John J. (Jack) Walsh and his wife, Paula, of Southbury, grandchildren Robert Casazza and wife Paula, Amy Bergin and husband Keith, and Ryan Walsh and wife Toral, great-grandchildren Jack, Ella and Will Bergin, Ava, Pilar, Christian and Pia Casazza, and Niam Walsh, and several nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at St. Peter Church, 104 Main Street, Danbury, CT on Saturday, November 26, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. Burial will follow in at St. Peter Cemetery, Danbury.

Friends will be received from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016 at the Green Funeral Home, 57 Main St., Danbury.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mary’s name can be made to Ability Beyond, 4 Berkshire Blvd., Bethel, Ct. 06801.