Mary Rattigan was my Latin teacher at Hazleton High School. She was excited when she saw me in her class and told me "I knew your grandfather." Lots of people said that to me. My grandfather, Edward Brown Sr., was a vice-principal at H.F. Grebey Junior High School. What I didn't know until I began researching my genealogy is that Ms. Rattigan lived literally next door to my grandfather in the 1930 US Federal Census.
Mary Rattigan lived with her aunt and uncle, James and Anna Corrigan. I don't believe that she was related to me, but the families were close. Thomas Brown's mother was Mary Brown nee Barrett. Her brother, Edward, married Ester Corrigan. So not related by blood at any rate.
I was looking up newspaper articles for my great aunt, Marian Brown, and I came across Mary Rattigan's name. It's been years since I found her in that census record. When my aunt Marian died, Mary Rattigan replaced her as the Latin and dramatics teacher at Hazleton High School. That was back in 1956. She was still there when I went through from 1987-1989. I really enjoyed Latin. I only took one year because I just wanted the basics. I felt Latin was important whether you studied languages, history, or science. More schools should teach it today. Anyway, I decided to see if she had passed or was still alive. I found her obituary in the Hazleton Standard Speaker. She passed away on December 2, 2017. Not that long ago.
"Mary Rattigan
Dec. 2, 2017
Mary Rattigan, a resident of Mountain City Health and Rehab Center, died Saturday morning following prolonged illness.
She was the daughter of Martin Henry and Philomenia (sic) Rattigan. Mary taught within Hazleton Area School District until retirement.
She is survived by multiple nephews and nieces, and her brother, Jack, Portsmouth, Va.
Funeral services are private. Before death, a Funeral Mass was said by the Rev Daniel Berrigan. The deceased requested that no memorial be made in her memory."
Seeing that obituary broke my heart. I knew she hadn't married, but this obituary has so little information in it and her life deserved more. I'm happy that her brother is listed. I didn't know she had one. If she had a brother why wasn't he raised with her? Why did Mary live with the Corrigans? I'm glad her parents are listed, although a maiden name for her mother would have been nice. List the nieces and nephews!
And what exactly did the request that no memorial be made in her memory mean? Are they talking about monetary donations in her memory or did she not want to be buried? I'd love to know because if she was buried somewhere I would want to visit.
I was scanning images today and this side-trek happened. Back to scanning more photos, but I can see myself diving down this rabbit hole later.
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