Mary Ellen Haggerty

Born Mary Ellen Marcotte on July 24, 1935, in Tracy, Minnesota, to Richard and Irene Marcotte, she grew up on a farm outside Marshall, Minnesota, where she developed the industrious spirit and warmth that would define her life. She graduated from Marshall High School in 1953 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics Education with an emphasis in Textiles from the University of Minnesota in 1957. She was also a member of Beta of Clovia sorority on the St. Paul campus.

Mary devoted her career to shaping young lives as a Home Economics teacher at St. Paul North High School, where she became one of the few teachers in Minnesota to offer instruction in multiple forms of weaving, looming, and textile design. Her classroom was a place of creativity and craft, where students discovered the rich traditions and technical depth of textile arts. Upon retiring, she and her husband Richard made their home in Sun City, Arizona, but Mary’s love of teaching never dimmed. She continued to mentor classes in weaving well into retirement, sharing her skills with all who were eager to learn.

Throughout her life, Mary’s greatest joys were found at the loom, in galleries and concert halls, and on the road. Her weaving was both a vocation and a meditation — a craft she pursued with extraordinary skill and quiet dedication. She had a deep appreciation for the arts in all their forms, and her travels fed a lifelong curiosity about the textile traditions of cultures near and far.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Haggerty; her parents, Richard and Irene Marcotte; and her sister, Sally Agena.