She graduated from Quincy High School and Emmanuel College. In 1959 she married James K. McEwen and they celebrated 52 years of marriage before his death in 2011. Mary’s passion was music. She taught piano and voice and had a long career in opera and musical theater. Mary founded Lyric Strings, a group that performed the world premieres of 12 composers.
She was extremely proud of her Russian heritage and made a point to surround herself with those that spoke the language so that she could converse with them. She sang in many church choirs and founded the Russian Rublev Choir at Boston College. Most recently she conducted Chant Choirs in Houston.
She is survived by her daughter Mary Louise (Maurice), son John (Denise), granddaughter Monika, siblings Anne Marie, (Robert) Catherine, and John (Rita), sisters in law Amy and Lorna, many nieces and nephews, and special friends Henry, Cheryl, and Sylvia who spent many hours visiting with her.
In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her children James, Catherine, and Peter, brothers Peter and Paul, and brother in law Charles. The family would like to give special thanks to the staff at Solana Vintage Park and Brookdale Hospice for their excellent care.
Donations can be made on behalf of Mary to the Catholic Extension Society of the US. Their website is www.catholicextension.org, click the "Donate" button in the upper right and fill out form. On the second page of the form there is a field called "Comment (optional)" where you can note that the gift is in honor of Mary.
Services will be private. To sign the online guestbook or to leave a memory of Mary to her family please visit www.forestparkthewoodlands.com
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