Finucane, Mary Frances (O’Sullivan) of Westwood, February 4, 2017. Mary was born at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 15, 1919, the second of seven children born to Mary (Dailey) and William O’Sullivan. She attended Rosary Academy in Watertown and graduated from Regis College.
Throughout her high school and college years Mary competed throughout New England and the Northeast in equestrian competitions with a focus on show jumping and distinguished herself with numerous trophies and ribbons. At the age of 17 she competed at Madison Square garden, losing a competition after a photographer took a photo of her, mid course, the flash on the camera startling her horse, Good News, and throwing its rider from her saddle.
On November 28th, 1942 Mary married William Finucane, the same night of the Coconut Grove fire, an event she, Bill and their friends would have otherwise attended. Mary worked at F.S.Moseley in Boston as a Broker's Associate while her husband served in World II as a First Lieutenant in the Army in North Africa, Italy and France and was awarded the bronze star and the purple heart. A law student at the time he enlisted, Mr. Finucane was assigned to work on the Heidelberg court martial trials in Germany at the conclusion of the war, then returned to finish law school at Boston College and together with Mary settled first in Cambridge and then Newton where they raised their six children and he established the law firm of Dunn and Finucane with Sidney Dunn.
The Finucane home was always full of family and friends, a favorite haunt of Mary's many children's friends because of Mary's sense of humor and ease with the chaos of a large family punctuated by an endless stream of sports practices and games, homework, children's recitals, concerts, plays, rehearsals and loud debates.
Mary was active in various women's clubs and Catholic societies. She volunteered for the Kennedy campaign in 1960 and later worked with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center. She and her husband enjoyed a wide circle of friends, were active golfers at Hatherly Country Club in North Scituate where they had a summer home and later at Woodland Golf Club in Newton. Mr. Finucane who served as general counsel to the Boston Patriots (later the New England Patriots) and his wife and children were long time season pass holders and lifelong fans. After a move to Wayland in their later years, Mary moved to Fox Hill Village in Westwood after the death of her husband in 2005 and continued to enjoy playing bridge, reading and time with her extended family and her circle of friends.
She is survived by her five living children and their spouses-Katherine May and her husband Gerald (Needham); William Finucane Jr. and his wife Alice Santiago (Walpole); Michael Finucane and his wife, Marjorie Van (Natick); Anne Finucane and her husband Mike Barnicle (Lincoln); Elizabeth Ferris and her husband John (Hingham); her 11 grandchildren: Gerald May III (Charlotte, N.C.), Brendan May (Cambridge), Adrian Finucane and her husband Jason Sharples (Boca Raton, Florida); William Finucane (Boston); Daniel Finucane (Natick); Nicholas Barnicle and his wife, Meaghan Carrigan, (NY, NY) Colin Barnicle and his wife Jaquelin (NY, NY), Julia Barnicle (Lincoln) and Timothy Barnicle (NY, NY); Luke Ferris and Jaqueline Ferris, (both of Hingham) and her surviving brother, Paul O'Sullivan of Southern California. She is predeceased by her husband William and her daughter Jean Finucane Sullivan.
Funeral from the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington St. (Rt. 16) Wellesley on Tuesday February 7 at 10am followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Paul Church, Wellesley at 11am. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Visiting hours at the funeral home on Monday, February 6, from 5-8pm. Interment in Newton Cemetery. In lieu of flowers expressions of sympathy may be made in Mary’s memory to Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston, 51 Sleeper St. Boston, MA 02210.