Mary T. (O'Hara) Early

Waltham – Former Speaker of the House Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill was fond of saying that "all politics is local." And no one knew that better than Waltham's Mary Early who attended more city council meetings for more than a generation than any elected official . . . and if someone from outside the city wanted the 'Cliff Notes' about a particular issue Mary was more than happy to oblige.

She enjoyed politics for the intrigue, the drama, the give and take and the purity of the debate that happened every Monday night inside Waltham's council chambers. She cared deeply for the men and women she'd met along the way who had the courage to put their names on a ballot every couple of years and do their best for the city.

Mary had a favorite shirt that she often wore that read "She who kneels before God can stand before anyone." She believed it and for those who knew her, they knew she believed it. And so, at the age of 84, when Mary T. (O'Hara) Early drew her last breath on Friday, October 20, 2017 at her daughter's Framingham home following a period of declining health she was ready to hear the gavel sound.

She was born in Waltham on May 17, 1933, one of thirteen children born to the late Henry P. and Mary T. (Fitzpatrick) O'Hara, and had been a lifelong resident. A 1951 graduate of Saint Mary's High School, she worked as a secretary for the city's school department until her retirement.

Mary belonged to Saint Charles Borromeo Parish for most of her life and had been a founder and a past president of the South Waltham Neighborhood Association. She was also the longtime secretary of the Waltham Council of Neighborhood Associations and had been a member of the Waltham Council on Aging at the Stanley Senior Center.

In July, 2004 the city honored Mary by naming a renovated section of the Charles River Greenway project the 'Mary Early Footbridge' connecting Calvary and Rivers streets.

The wife of the late Charles W. Early, she leaves her children, Anne Marie Jepson of Framingham, Margaret E. Early of Billerica and Theresa L. Bourgeois and her husband, William, of Billerica; her grandchildren, Shaun and Katherine Clark, Danielle, Robert and Charles Bourgeois; her great-grandchildren, Vanessa and Jenna Clark; her sisters and brothers, Elizabeth O'Hara of Newton, New Hampshire, Nancy Grimes of Waltham, Hazel Doucette of Ashland and Walter J. O'Hara of Weston and many nieces and nephews.

Mary was also a sister of the late Robert Fitzpatrick, Patrick H. O'Hara, Thomas Edward O'Hara, Joseph O'Hara, William S. O'Hara, Eileen Messina, Patricia Wright and Catherine R. O'Hara.

Family and friends will honor and remember Mary's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Thursday October 26th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Friday morning before leaving in procession to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of Saint Charles Borromeo Church, 51 Hall Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Saint Joseph's Cemetery, West Roxbury.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association, 300 5th Avenue, Suite 6, Waltham, MA 02451-8750.