Salem: Carol A. (Harrington) Mulholland of Salem, age 88, died peacefully at Kaplan Hospice Center on January 30, 2011 after a mercifully brief battle with lung and bone cancer. Born at home in Salem on January 27, 1923, Carol was the eldest child of the late Leo F. Harrington and Nora (Sullivan) Harrington. She had two younger brothers, Lee F. Harrington of Bridgewater, the former president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Joseph D. Harrington, both deceased, and one sister, Nancy D. Harrington, president emerita of Salem State University.
Carol was the beloved wife of the late Bernard T. Mulholland of Lawrence to whom she was married for nearly 60 years. She was a devoted mother of three children, Brian J. Mulholland of Salem, Bernard J. Mulholland & wife Susan E. of Easton, and Kerry A. Mulholland of Salem, and a loving grandmother of Brad, Scott, and John Mulholland of Easton. She is also survived by two sisters-in-law Marjorie R. Harrington of Bridgewater and Marilyn Wolfgram, of Marblehead as well as several nieces and nephews.
Carol graduated from Salem High School, class of 1940. She graduated cum laude from Radcliff College with a BA in English and received her Masters Degree in Education from Salem State in 1959. After graduating college, Carol worked for the Department of Health, then a NY Publishing Company as a copy editor. She became a substitute teacher in the mid 1950’s in Haverhill and Andover when her youngest child began attending school. She obtained permanent employment with the Salem School Department in 1960, teaching at the Bowditch School and later the Horace Mann. However, she found her true niche as a guidance counselor at the Saltonstall School and eventually, and famously, at Salem High School. It was in that role that she made contributions of her time, her energy, and her compassion that impacted countless children in the city to which she was thoroughly devoted.
To the end of her life, 20 years after she had retired, she continued to encounter her former “counselees” everywhere she went and they invariably told her (to her considerable embarrassment) that she had made an enormous difference in their lives. She would never have retired had the law not mandated that she do so; she fretted that she would not be able to make a difference in retirement.
Accordingly, she plunged into a dizzying whirl of activism when she left Salem High. She joined, and often lead, organizations too numerous to fully list. At various times she was on the Salem Youth Commission and volunteered for many years at My Brother’s Table; she was the president for 20 years of the local chapter of St. Vincent de Paul, a member of the AOH, and the Mack Scholarship Committee. A tireless and unapologetic “do gooder” she accumulated a parade of friends and admirers. It can be truly said that she never let any opportunity to help other pass her by.
In her last years, she was given the chance to indulge her great, unrequited love of writing by joining The Writers’ Group, formed by the Salem Council on Aging. She was a frequent and valued contributor to their published reminiscences on growing up and living in Salem. Her passing truly creates a void in the city that will be impossible to fill.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend the funeral at 9AM on Friday, February 4, 2011 from the Levesque Funeral Home 163 Lafayette St. Salem, followed by a Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church in Salem at 10AM. Visiting hours are Thursday 2/3/11 from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00. Interment St. Mary’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory to St. Vincent de Paul Society, c/o Immaculate Conception Parish 15 Hawthorne Blvd. Salem, MA 01970 or the Nancy Harrington Scholarship Fund, c/o Salem State University Foundation 352 Lafayette St. Salem, MA 01970.