Mary McCormack-Maciel

Known affectionately to her family as Molly, she is survived by her son Michael K. McCormack and daughter-in-law Cheryl of New Bedford and her son Patrick L. McCormack and daughter-in-law Mary of Jacksonville, Florida. Grandchildren include Jameson F. A. McCormack of Fall River, the late Sean M. McCormack of New Bedford, Michael D. McCormack of New Bedford and Jason A. McCormack of Jacksonville, Florida and step-grandchildren Shaun Olynick of Ellicott City, Maryland and Ryan Olynick of Jacksonville, Florida. Mary also leaves twelve great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren and many cousins in Australia.

Daughter of the late Gustavus Henry Swift and late Angelina (Carter) Swift, she was born August 21, 1924 in Sydney, Australia and was predeceased by her brother Kenneth Swift.

She was a proud descendant of some of the first settlers to Australia with her family lineage continuing back to nearly 1300 A.D. in Ireland and England. She boasted such as ancestors, Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels and Edmund Lewis Lenthall Swifte, the Attorney General of Ireland and the Keeper of the Royal Regalia in the Tower of London.

In 1944, in the midst of World War II, Mary married New Bedford native Walter Francis McCormack (d. 1963) while he was serving aboard the U.S.S. Alhena (AKA-9), having met him while his ship was in Sydney for repairs from a Japanese attack. After her marriage Mary founded the Australian War Brides and Fiancées Association, a group which quickly rose to national prominence in Australia, with the intent of preparing the women who had married U.S. servicemen to travel to new homes half a world away.

Mary, and a number of other Australian War Brides, boarded a troop ship bound for America before the conclusion of the war with Japan and were hounded by Japanese submarines as it sailed across the Pacific to the United States.

Mary was also married for ten years to George Maciel (d. June 1986) of New Bedford and had worked at a number of positions including Continental Screw, Star Plating, WNBH radio and WTEV Channel 6 television stations.

Extremely active in the community her entire life, Mary was a member of the St. James Monsignor Noon Circle, Catholic Guild for the Blind, founder the Parent-Teacher Association at the Congdon School and of Cub Scout Pack 19 at St. James Church.

She was, for many years, a member of the Board of Directors of the New Bedford Opportunity Center, a Trustee of the New Bedford Free Public, a member of the New Bedford Council on Aging and the New Bedford Friends of the Elderly. She also served as a Foster Grandparent and for over twenty years was a volunteer at the New Bedford City Hall Information Desk.

She enjoyed her memberships at the Waterfront Area Historic League (WHALe) and the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and is a past member of the New Bedford Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Mary loved designing and painting scenery for the St. James Church Minstrel Shows. Beginning in the late 1950s and later joined Your Theatre she designed and painted scenery for many shows through 1970. She worked as a PACE volunteer, served for decades as a Precinct Captain for the New Bedford Election Commission and for a short while in the office of the Buttonwood Park Zoo during its first year of re-opening.

Mary was a familiar sight with her friend and second husband George Maciel at yard sales and flea markets as well as at their own tables at such places as the Whaling City Festival and Brimfield Flea Markets. She was known locally as an expert in Washington and Pairpoint glass and enjoyed collecting and exhibiting both at shows and auctions.

Anyone who knew her understood the passion she held for the local political process. She was an avid volunteer in the campaign offices of Congressmen Ed Brooke and Barney Frank, Councilor George Rogers, Mayors Edward Harrington, John Markey, John Bullard and Frederick M. Kalisz, Jr., She was also known for her keen support for Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and for her close friend, former Councilor and Judge, Rosalind Poll Brooker.

In lieu of flowers please make donations in Mary’s memory in the name of Walter and Mary McCormack to the James West Fellowship Fund c/o the Narraganset Council Boy Scouts of America, PO Box 14777, East Providence, RI 02914. Her Funeral Mass will be Friday, April 9, 2021 at 11 a.m. in Holy Name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, 121 Mt. Pleasant St., New Bedford. Burial will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery, New Bedford. Services are under the direction of the ROCK FUNERAL HOME, 1285 Ashley Blvd., New Bedford, MA 02745. For online tribute: www.rock-funeralhome.com.