Mary K. (O’Leary) Coltin, 67, of Nottingham, NH died on November 24, 2017 surrounded by her loving family after a courageous battle with Thymic Carcinoma and Interstitial Lung Disease. She was a forty-year resident of Londonderry, NH prior to moving to Pawtuckaway Lake in 2015.
Born in Wolfeboro, NH on August 11, 1950, she was the daughter of Ret. State Police Colonel Paul F. O’Leary and Lucia (Jutras) O’Leary. Mary graduated from Spaulding High School in Rochester, NH and then Plymouth State College. She received a Master’s in Education from Notre Dame College. A career educator, she taught second grade at the E.G. Sherburne School in Pelham, NH for twenty-two years. She was the assistant principal at North School in Londonderry, NH from 1994-2010 before becoming principal in 2010 until she retired in 2014. In 2009, Mary received the Assistant Principal of the Year award. She was an advocate and believer in all children.
Mary loved every holiday and enjoyed gardening, baking, quilting, sewing, and spending time on the lake as well as time with her family and friends. She was a great daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, mentor, and colleague. Mary was always there to lend an ear and the first to help those in need. She had a great sense of humor and was never at a loss for words. According to Mary, “she was not bossy, but had better ideas!”
Mary is survived by her loving husband of 44 years, Michael of Nottingham, NH, three daughters, Kate Callahan and her husband Christian of Portsmouth, NH, Karianne MacIntosh and her husband Paul of Londonderry, NH, and Maribeth Coltin of Manchester, NH; five grandchildren, Tucker, Logan, Gavin, and Finnegan MacIntosh, and Grace Callahan. She is also survived by her brother Kevin O’Leary, sisters Colleen Hammond and Patti O’Leary; as well as several nieces and nephews. Mary was predeceased by her brother Daniel J. O’Leary.
Per Mary’s request, in lieu of flowers, please buy yourself something pink and do a random act of kindness. The Mary Coltin Scholarship Fund has been established at St. Mary’s Bank for a Londonderry High School senior who has demonstrated the ability to put others before him/herself. Calling hours were held on Friday, December 1, 2017 from 3pm-8pm at the Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium, 290 Mammoth Road, Londonderry. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 26 Crystal Ave., Derry, NH on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at 10:00am. Interment will be at the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, NH at a later date with immediate family.