Mary Virginia (Hennigan) Hickey
April 25, 1922–May 23, 2020
Mary Virginia (Hennigan) Hickey, 98, died 11:20 a.m., Saturday, May 23, 2020, at the Elizabeth Seton Residence, Wellesley Hills, Mass. from complications of COVID-19. Born in Boston, Mass., she was the second of the four children of James William Hennigan (1890–1969) and Katherine Agnes (Oliver) Hennigan (1894–1983). Mary graduated from Notre Dame Academy in Roxbury, Mass. in 1941, and from Trinity College, Washington, D.C., in 1945 as an accomplished painter with a bachelor’s degree in art. Mary met her future husband, John Patrick Hickey (1922–2013) of South Bend, Ind., on Christmas Day 1943 at her parents’ home in Jamaica Plain, Mass. John was in the U.S. Navy, then stationed at the Navy Supply Corps training school at nearby Wellesley College. They enjoyed their first date on New Year’s Eve and came to an “understanding” about their future together when they met in New York City the following St. Patrick’s Day weekend. After John returned from military service at Ford NAS in Pearl Harbor in May 1946, the couple married at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Jamaica Plain, Mass., the following Sept. 7. After their honeymoon in Quebec, they moved to South Bend so that John could complete his accounting degree at the University of Notre Dame, which he did in June 1947. They soon moved to Boston and welcomed John Jr. before John began studying for his MBA at Harvard Business School (1947–49). Four more children followed: Katherine “Kathey,” Kevin, Brian, and Marie “Terry.” The family moved to their first home on Stagg Drive, Natick, Mass., in 1949, and lived there until 1961 when they moved to nearby Wellesley Hills. As a young girl, Mary attended Camp Fatima near Gray, Maine, and could swim across Crystal Lake and back. In her teenage years, Mary often accompanied her father on his political campaign events when he successfully ran for the Massachusetts state house of representatives (1931–36) and the state senate (1937–38). It was during this time that she began developing her keen, often self-deprecating, and feisty Irish sense of humor. Her parents taught her the importance of defending the family’s reputation, and Mary did so vigorously when it came to her husband and family. Mary’s family summered in the North Conway, N. H., area in the 1930s and early 1940s. Mary and John recreated those experiences for their children by building a second home in 1953 a half-mile from the base of Cranmore Mountain; they named the property Marie des Monts—Mary of the Mountains. The Hickeys spent their summers there from 1953 until 1962. Many winter school breaks found the family skiing with Mary reading a book in the lodge accompanied by the family’s miniature French poodle, Bambi. Although she did not continue painting after her children arrived, Mary expressed creativity in decorating her homes, arranging flowers, and dressing to the nines throughout her life. John took great pride in her magnificent blonde coiffure that she maintained well into her nineties. A grandchild said, “Her hair was a great fascination for me, and the fact that she wore heels in the kitchen.” A niece wrote: “Stories of her as a young, unskilled cook are legendary and hilarious. In 1946, her mother-in-law sneaked in a Thanksgiving dinner from The Indiana Club through the back door so Mary could ‘wow’ her parents with her newly acquired cooking skills, the details of which were unspoken for years.” Mary drank vast quantities of Maxwell House instant coffee, black with sweetener. She was always at the ready to deliver food to friends and family in difficult times—in particular her homemade chicken soup (laced with sherry) and fruit cocktail (with added orange juice and sugar) packed in her extensive stash of empty, glass instant-coffee jars, adorned with red ribbons. Her grandchildren loved to eat at Nana’s because “She always gave us dessert first”—fruit cup topped with orange sherbet. “Nana Banana” was one of the grandchildren’s favorite nicknames for her. After the death of her father in 1969, Mary and her siblings devotedly cared for their mother while she continued to live in the Hennigan homestead at 27 Pond Circle in Jamaica Plain. In the early 1980s, Mary and John moved there to care for her mother until her death in 1983. Soon after, they purchased a home in Dover, Mass., and lived there until 2011, when they moved to their Carmel Terrace assisted living apartment in nearby Framingham, where they made many friends. Her Trinity classmates brought her joy through the years, and they often elicited her infectious laughter. Mary was funny in her own right. A niece said, “It’s hard to capture in a comment her wry smile and twinkle in her eye in the midst of a story, often shrugging and crossing her eyes at the punch line.” Another wrote, “Her sense of humor and kindness resonates still.”
Mary and John were devoted to the Virgin Mary. Beginning in the 1990s, they made fifteen pilgrimages to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. They usually visited the shrine in September while celebrating their wedding anniversary. Their last trip was in May 2007 to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of Our Lady’s first apparition on May 13, 1917. Nearly six years after John’s death, Mary moved to the Elizabeth Seton Residence, where she enjoyed her desserts, especially Magnum Bars, watching the Hallmark Channel, and frequent visits from her children. Mary survived John, who died Feb. 24, 2013; their daughter Marie Therese “Terry” Hickey (1958–2019); Claire (Leonard) Hickey (1955-99), Kevin’s wife; John B. Fulham (1947–2015) and Burtis G. Parcels, EdD (1945–2010), Kathey’s husbands. She also survived her three siblings, Helen (Hennigan) Gallagher (1920–2004), James “Jimmy” Hennigan Jr. (1927–2020), and Oliver “Ollie” Hennigan (1928–2014). Mary was the last survivor of her seven Hickey in-laws and their spouses. Surviving family members are her children John P. Hickey Jr. (Kathleen) of Milwaukee, Wis.; Katherine A. Fulham Parcels of Centerville, Mass.; Rev. Kevin T. Hickey of Rockland, Mass.; Brian J. Hickey (Janet) of Bridgewater, N.J.; eleven grandchildren: Meghan K. Hickey (James Totten), John P. Hickey III (Tanya), Robert L Hickey (Mary Joy), Michael G. Fulham, Katherine O. (Fulham) Kelley (Jon), John B. “Jay” Fulham Jr., DDS (Shama), Sarah B. J. Fulham, MD (James Russell), Daniel P. Fulham, Brian J. Hickey Jr. (Lisa), Justin A. Hickey and Elizabeth K. (Hickey) Champa (Justin); and fourteen great-grandchildren: Goldie and Samson Hickey, Daisy and Jack Totten, Malcolm Hickey, Geronimo and Claire Kelley, Lilah and Kaylin Fulham, Hudson Russell, Maddison Tyler, Marcus and Dominic Fulham, and William Hickey. Due to the pandemic, there will be a private Mass of Christian Burial followed by a private graveside service at St. Joseph Cemetery, West Roxbury. The family will hold a celebration of her life later when it is safe to gather. Memorial contributions to Elizabeth Seton Residence, 125 Oakland St, Wellesley, MA 02481-5338 in honor of her courageous and dedicated caretakers, or a charity of your choice, would be welcome. Dearest Mary, you were always about the love of faith, family, and friendship. The world will be less bright in your absence. You led a good life that made the lives of many others better. It does not get much better than that. Requiescat in pace, Mater.