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05/18/2003 Archived Entry: "Mary B. McCann"

MARY B. MCCANN

Growing up in the 800 block on Highland was quite an adventure. It was the best block in Salina for that, not by any means in terms of affluence, but in the proliferation of progeny and what they grew up to be.

On the two sides of our street, I recall we maxed out with 26 kids. Taking the ones who "lived around the corner" or in the next block, who were also part of our group, the head count made up a major part of the enrollment of Franklin Grade School (which shut its doors last Friday) and Sacred Heart.

From this group we had many successes: several doctors of the MD variety, numerous teachers, chemists, oil executive, a nationally known real estate guru, president of a national grain company, a movie star (Patrice Wymore, my next door neighbor) who married Errol Flynn, a tap dancer...and Jerry, who routinely stuck his tongue on the icy Jungle Jim at school which necessitated his mom coming to school and plying off what was left of it. He grew up to be a pole vault champion and later a well-known doctor in the Denver area. We were a microcosm of kids everywhere, but we seemed to have more than our share of gifted, hard-working, studious kids.

We grew up in the depression and there was little money for anything, yet families, through a lot of hard work, managed to get their kids through college. The McCann family who lived across the street and where I spent a great deal of my time had six children, all exceptional. Mary McCann who was three years older let it slip to me that Santa wasn’t “real”. She apologized for years after that. At the time she told me, I think I was pretty old to still be a believer.

Mary died March 11th and I’d like to share her obituary with you because she accomplished great things and her contributions to society were outstanding. She was my friend.

Mary B. McCann was born May 20, 1925, graduated from Sacred Heart high school then Marymount College in Salina in 1946. She earned a master’s of public health from Harvard University in 1955 and became a medical doctor in 1965 upon graduation from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. She was a nutritionist and dietitian in hospitals around the United Stated and was a deputy director of the Nutrition Program of the Center of Disease Control for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

She became a professor and chairperson of the Nutrition Program, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, and was professor of nutrition in the Graduate Program at Sargent College of Health at Boston University in 1973. She wrote dozens of articles and was published numerous times in her field. She earned a doctorate in pediatric psychiatry at the Maine School of Medicine in Portland, Maine, where she established a private practice. After several years, she returned to Boston and maintained a private practice in psychiatry, retiring in 1990. She devoted time and resources to the development of equal roles and influence for women in the Catholic Church. She had a passion for gardening and traveled for the government, giving seminars ad speeches on nutrition and proper diet.

In addition, it is Mary’s niece, Peggy, who is my namesake, one I have mentioned in previous blogs. Peggy is the daughter of Rita McCann Bland, Mary’s older sister. Peggy and I will meet Friday for the first time at Mary’s memorial service in Salina. I will also see Mary’s brother John, after many years, and will meet their many nieces and nephews who will be there to bid farewell to Mary. I will join them on their bus for a tour of Salina as most have never been there to see where their parents grew up.

The 800 block on Highland will be one of our stops.