Anne J. MacRae, 54, passed away at home in Watertown on February 20th, 2009. She was born in Lynn on July 1st, 1954 to her parents John E. and Mary S. (Stalonczyk) Daly. Anne spent her childhood years in Lynn before moving to Malden with her family. Anne has been a resident of Watertown since her marriage to her husband William in 1990. She is a graduate of Girls Catholic High School and Fitchburg State College where she received her degree in Education. Anne was hired as a teacher of the emotionally disturbed at the Edward E. Hale School in Everett in September of 1977. In 1994, she transferred to the Hamilton School where she taught third grade. Anne transferred once more to the Albert N. Parlin School in the year 2000 where she also taught third grade. A recent letter to her family from Frederick F. Foresteire, Superintendent of Schools for the City of Everett, describes Anne’s commitment to her students. The letter reads as follows:
“ Let me convey my sympathy and that of the school personnel on the loss of Anne.
I knew her well and respected her enormously! She was a fine lady and
outstanding with the children. When I was Principal at the Hale School, Anne began her
career there in September 1977, as a Special Education teacher.
Everyone who knew her will miss her.
We are here to remember an extraordinary person, Anne MacRae; a teacher for
more than thirty years in the Everett School system. The love and affection she generated
is demonstrated by the people who have come here today to honor her.
Mrs. MacRae was a special person. Her husband Bill and her family certainly
know that, as do the children who she came in contact with everyday. She was special as
a wife, daughter, sister, teacher and friend.
But, she was special in another way.
When Anne began her career, she taught Special Education. I think that of all the jobs
in teaching, Special Education stands out as one of the most difficult. Special Education can be
a very wearing job for a teacher. But for Anne, it became a way of life.
She carried more than her share of human burdens but she never tried to pass the
burdens on to others…. the burdens of her job, her illness, or the personal losses she suffered
in her last years.
She was a fine lady.
Anne may be gone now, but her commitment to public education is what built the new schools in Everett and that has not gone!
As Anne MacRae’s husband, family, friends and colleagues see the new Everett
schools that have come into being, they will know her spirit is not gone in Everett’s
public education.
And in the words of the great song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which
became a symbol of equality for all school children, her soul goes marching on!
Frederick F. Foresteire
Superintendent of Schools “
Anne is survived by her husband William MacRae of Watertown; by her mother Mary S. Daly of Malden; by her siblings, James Daly of Baltimore, Valerie Daly of Malden, Mary Daly of Baltimore, John Daly of Medfield, Patricia Baradaran of Centerville and Joseph Daly of Malden; and by her nephew Matthew Daly. Anne was predeceased by her father, John E. Daly. Relatives & friends are invited to attend her Funeral Mass celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church, 600 Pleasant St., Malden on Tuesday February 24th at 9 AM. Services will conclude with interment in Mosswood Cemetery in Cotuit. At Anne’s request, visiting hours are private. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701.
Eulogy given by by Anne's Brother:
We have gathered today to celebrate the life of Anne J. MacRae, beloved wife, daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, niece, cousin, friend, and teacher.
I offer the thoughts that follow, on behalf of Anne's husband, Bill, and our family, who also have contributed to them. In the same vein, because the constraints of this service allow for but one speaker, we welcome the many of you--both family and friends--who likewise have expressed a wish to share your heartfelt reminiscences of Anne to do so at the reception at the Daniel Webster Inn in Sandwich, which will take place immediately after Anne's burial. A private room has been reserved for this event.
Throughout Anne's struggle these past three years, Bill has been a stalwart pillar of support, accompanying her to every doctor's appointment, chemotherapy session, hospital stay, outpatient visit, surgery, caring for her and happily attending to the growing needs imposed by the disease's relentless march. We salute his quiet devotion, love, and unfailingly cheerful response to the sometimes difficult reactions the disease's effects on Anne produced in her. Bill recognized when the disease in Anne spoke, indeed as did we all.
While on the subject of acknowledging thanks, Bill and our family would like to take this opportunity publicly to thank the doctors and nurses at the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital who managed Anne's treatment with care and sensitivity throughout, the hospice nurses who attended Anne in her last hours, and the Birthday Club and other colleagues of Anne’s for their kind attentions to our family these past few days.
Beloved is a word that describes our relationships to Anne. Anne was very much loved because she gave much love. Anne was kind, sweet, adjectives that spring readily to mind in describing her. But it was her actions that best describe Anne and made her so beloved to all who knew her--always quick with a note or a card to cheer the sick or greet a birthday or anniversary or offer good wishes for a seasonal holiday. Invariably, a pair of scratch tickets accompanied the card. As you know, Anne whimsically believed in the power of scratch tickets to deliver improbable dreams and, it safely can be said, did as much as anyone to keep our Commonwealth solvent. Right to the end, Anne's sweet thoughtfulness shined through, as she penned a last round of Valentine cards and scratch tickets not a scant two weeks ago.
Among many memories of her that stand out in our minds, Anne liked to visit small crafts shops in Maine and Massachusetts (and to give frequent little gifts from such shops). Anne was a quiet but keen fan of the Red Sox, a lover of Christmas and all things connected to that holiday, an admirer of deer and moose, animals she and Bill delighted in sighting from their cabin in tiny Highland Plantation in west central Maine. Twenty-nine years ago this Sunday past (February 22, 1980), Anne cheered the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team's Miracle on Ice victory over the Russian national team at Lake Placid. Though not a huge hockey fan, Anne was thrilled to have witnessed firsthand U.S. and international sports history.
We never ceased to be amazed at how many friends and dear colleagues Anne made over the course of her life, and how longstanding their friendships were. Anne's numerous friendships go all the way back to her high school and college years at Fitchburg State University, where she prepared to become a special education teacher. The friends Anne made there remained Anne's friends to the end. It was Anne, one of her many friends told us, who traveled the extra mile to keep them all close.
The same love and unalloyed kindness she showed to her husband, family and friends, Anne extended to each new class of special needs and third-grade students she taught in the Everett public school system for nearly thirty-two years. For more than half of her tenure, Anne taught special needs children, having been inspired in her choice of professions by a dear cousin. Anne nurtured her young charges' self-esteem and their dreams, showing patience all the while and uttering no harsh word--twin aspects of the innate kindness that characterized her--and not infrequently reaching into her own pocket, like many of her public-school teacher colleagues, to buy necessary supplies for their projects. Anne served truly in the place of parent to her students and they reciprocated her affection for them.
Anne maintained an unwavering faith and devout religiosity throughout her life, regularly attending Mass, taking her Church’s sacraments, and finding comfort in the prospect that her soul would meet in Heaven with the souls of family and friends who died before and would die after her. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that Anne’s strong belief in the teachings of the Catholic Church helped define who she was and how she lived; Anne’s faith consoled her as she strove to cope with the chronic physical and psychological pain of her illness.
Don't get me wrong: not for a moment am I suggesting that Anne was a saint or that she somehow rose above the same fallibilities that mark us all as human beings. Rather, only that Anne looked for the good points in people and, in the way she conducted her life, left behind a legacy of how to behave towards others, with kindness and generosity of spirit. Kindness was Anne's essential character trait.
Anne would not want us to dwell on the struggle she waged against disease or to grieve over her death or to curtail our normal activities in any way. The disease took Anne's life but it did not alter her essential nature.
Let us honor Anne's memory, therefore, by translating the essential sweetness and kindness she regularly showed to all our everyday interactions with others.
We remain profoundly grateful for the life of our beloved Annie.