Mary Connolly: A Woman on the Move

By: Alyssa Mazzacco
Posted In: News

When Mary Connolly was just a little girl, she told her mother that she

wanted to be a police woman, a teacher, part of the church, a politician, and this, that and the other thing. Now at 62 years old, her only regret is that her mother isn’t around to see all that she’s accomplished. This native Newporter has tried her hand in the convent, as an elementary teacher, a special education director, a law school student, a professional lecturer and now a city council woman. Connolly is a woman on the move with plans to change the world, but with firm roots planted in Newport, R.I.

NATIVE NEWPORTER: “I’ve lived in Newport almost my whole life. I was born in Newport, I’ve lived in all three wards (sections of Newport), and I even lived in the Fifth Ward, which no longer exists. I love Newport. Maybe that’s why I’ve spent 52 years of my life here.”

FIFTH WARD? The Fifth Ward was just another section of Newport. Today Newport is only broken up into three different sections. Living in the Fifth Ward when I grew up meant you were a local, you were an Irish Catholic and you were part of a close-knit community.”

OH, MASSACHUSETTS: “In the 1960’s it was a time to change the world and do great things, so I picked up and headed to Holyoke, Mass. where I joined the Sisters of St. Joseph (a convent). There, I was able to get my degree in special education at Our Lady of the Elms. Today that’s Elms College. Once I had my degree, I was moved to Uxbridge, Mass., where I taught first grade at St. Mary’s School.

I’LL HAVE NUN OF THAT: “I went into teaching because I wanted to help kids and St. Mary’s School was in typical ‘suburbia’. I felt like I was ‘saving the saved’, like I wasn’t really making an impact. I knew God had a bigger and better plan for me so I decided to leave the convent and be on my way.”

BACK HOME: “It was 1970 and it was easy to get a job in teaching. I could pretty much pick the school, the grade and the subject I wanted to teach. So I got my first teaching job in Newport at Mumford School where I was a primary special ed teacher.”

SCHOOL, SCHOOL & MORE SCHOOL: “While I was teaching at Mumford, I was still in school mode so I decided to keep going and get my master’s degree at Rhode Island College. When I was finished with that, I got certified in administration and when I finished that, I got certified as a special ed director.”

MOVING ON UP: “In 1987 I became the director of special education for the Newport School Department. To fully understand special ed, you have to understand the law, so I decided to go to law school. That only lasted a year, though, because it was just too much working all day and doing law school at night. I only had about 40 or so people working under me and 450 plus kids to overlook in the district, in addition to classes and school work. I enjoyed my work for 12 great years but then decided it was time to move on again. So I retired as the director of special ed in 1999.”

GOOD OLD SALVE: “In 1999 I became a full-time professional lecturer at Salve (Salve Regina University). I had been an adjunct (part-time professor) for five years prior. Right now I’m part of the education department, and I teach two classes and oversee about 15 or so student teachers.”

FROM TEACHING TO POLITICS? “Well I’ve always loved politics and if I hadn’t gone to school for teaching, I probably would have done political science. City council is made up of seven people, each ward (three) has their own representative and then there’re four people who represent the city as a whole. I ran to represent the whole city. I’ve lived all over Newport and I wanted to represent all of Newport. I ended up winning a seat on the council, and I was only 66 votes behind becoming mayor of the city.”

SOMETHING NEW: “I’ll be retiring from Salve in June. It’s just too much to take on with city council and teaching and monitoring the student teachers. I just don’t think it’s fair to my students if I can’t give them 100 percent. So I’ll be a full-time city councilwoman come June. It’s just time for me to try my hand at something new, and I’ve always loved politics. Who knows? Today, council woman; tomorrow, governor; someday, president!”