Mary Agnes (Ellison) Harrington passed into Eternal Rest on Sunday February 21, 2016 at Catholic Memorial Home in Fall River where she had lived for several years. She was 89. Agnes was the wife of the late Attorney Edward J. Harrington, Jr., with whom she shared 42 years of marriage.
Born in New Bedford, she lived in New Bedford and Dartmouth her entire life.
Agnes graduated from Sacred Hearts Academy in Fairhaven and held undergraduate and graduate degrees in teaching and music from Bridgewater State University. She was an elementary school teacher at the Betsey B. Winslow School, and directed the music programs at Keith Junior High School and Roosevelt Junior High School. She loved music, was an active member and an officer of the Thursday Musicale, and taught voice to selected students. Agnes was a well-known soloist at St. James Parish and directed parish musicales for many years.
She was a communicant of St. Julie Billiart Church in Dartmouth, and a member of the Choir and Ladies Guild up until the time of declining illness.
She is survived by her son, Captain Edward J. Harrington, USN (Ret.) and his wife Carol of Oceanside, CA; daughter, Patricia H. Dolan and her husband Charles, Mass. State Police (Ret.) of Fairhaven; daughter, Margaret H. O'Brien and her husband Paul of Rockland; six grandchildren, Patrick Dolan, Erin, Conor, and Emma O'Brien, Alicia and Elizabeth Harrington; and many nieces and nephews.
Agnes was predeceased by her parents, Walter T. and Mary A. Ellison of New Bedford, and her six siblings, Edmund B. Ellison, Walter T. Ellison, Rev. Joseph A. Ellison C.Ss.R., Augustine Ellison, Alice Sawyer, and Margaret Brimley.
Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at 9:30 AM in the Chapel of Catholic Memorial Home, with burial to follow in St. Mary's Cemetery, New Bedford. Visiting hours will be on Friday from 2-4 PM at the Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals, 495 Park St., New Bedford. Memorial remembrances may be made to the Catholic Memorial Home, 2446 Highland Ave., Fall River, MA 02720. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.