Daniel William O'Leary

Daniel William O’Leary, 72, unexpectedly passed away at home with his wife, Nancy Kathryn (Lewis) O’Leary on December 14, 2019, the day of their 50th wedding anniversary. Known by most as Dan, he was also Danny to his childhood friends and family, Mr. O’Leary or Mr. O to his countless students, Coach to his softball players from his many years as KRHS coach, and Poppy to his cherished granddaughters.

Dan and his three brothers, Paul, Gerald and John were raised in Somerville, MA, the children of John and Katherine Agnes (Otto) O’Leary, Sr. Dan’s education and career were rooted in his Classics education from Boston College High School where he was the youngest in his class and studied Latin, Greek and German. Dan received a BA in German Language and Literature from Boston College in 1968 and a Masters in English Education from Boston State College in 1975. In between Dan married Nancy, had two children, was drafted and served in Vietnam and was a salesman for Beatrice Foods. Dan had many objections to the war in Vietnam, not the least of which was that his daughter was five months old when he saw her for the first time.

Having grown up in the city, Dan said he couldn’t sleep for a week after moving to rural New Hampshire because it was so quiet and dark. He moved there in 1975 for his first teaching job at an open concept high school with no walls, Kearsarge Regional High School (KRHS), in North Sutton, NH. He went on to teach English and Latin for more than 30 years teaching critical concepts such as “semper ubi sub ubi” and introducing his students to the likes of John Irving, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and Kurt Vonnegut the last two of which were his favorite authors. His caring, empathetic, supportive and involved approach to education is on display in the hundreds of tributes from former students and colleagues that have flooded onto his social media timeline over the last few days. Although humble and unassuming, Dan would have been touched to see just how many lives he impacted. His kind and giving nature served as a role model for so many of his students including many who went on to become teachers, helping to exponentially grow an already vast legacy.

During the KRHS years, Dan spent his summers on ladders and scaffolding as part of the unofficially named Flying Zucchini Brothers Painting Company (named thus for the fact that they had each fallen from the ladder while working) with his friends and colleagues Albert and Dan along with many other teachers needing to earn some extra income painting houses. Dan spent many of his nights teaching at New Hampshire College (now Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH) during 20+ years as an adjunct professor of English and Education. Dan was currently teaching Latin at Trinity High School in Manchester, NH. He started there in 2008 after realizing that he could not turn off the desire to teach after leaving KRHS. This was to be his final year at Trinity as he was going to make another attempt to retire.

Dan was devastated by the untimely deaths of his younger brothers Paul and Gerald and was honored to help be a father figure to his nephew Ryan. He was thrilled to see Nancy recently meet her brother Bill, fulfilling a lifetime desire to find out who her biological family was. Dan had so many meaningful friends that he cared about, only a fraction of which are mentioned here. It was hard to go anywhere local with him as so many people would stop to talk, something he always made time for. Dan loved many things such as a good crossword puzzle, podcasts, Baby Gramps, looking up the etymology of words, trivia nights with Peter and countless colleagues, former students and friends who joined on a regular basis, the annual baseball park summer trip with Dave and Ernie, and trips to see Tom and Mary in the little town of Carlanstown, County Meath, Ireland, where he knew more relatives than he knew in the whole USA.

Most of all Dan loved his family and was deeply devoted to his wife, Nancy. He attended countless events and traveled many places with them including everyone’s favorite week every summer at Old Orchard Beach. He also captured most of that on video and in photographs which he edited into family films with amazing soundtracks that will be treasures to enjoy for years to come. Dan is survived by his wife Nancy, his brother John O’Leary, Jr. and Kathleen, his son, Christopher O’Leary and Bree Johnson of Wilmot, NH, his daughter, Bernadette O’Leary Austin and Chuck Austin of Warner, NH, two granddaughters, Ailish and Iona, and various family members including John III, Vanessa, Drew, Jack, Maeve, Erin, Carol, Michael, Debby, Ryan, Bridget, Paige, Tom, Mary, Thomas, Gillian, Emma, Nathan, Bradley, Liz, Ken, Michael, Avril, Patrick, Jack, Eddie, Blayne, Kayden, Bill, Ron, Jim, Angie, Allie, Nathan, Erin, Sean, Jason, Jeni, Hudson, Lucca, Peg, Dick, Deb, the Fields, the Ottos, the McCormacks, and the Hickeys.

Calling hours are Friday, December 27th, from 3-6, at the Chadwick Funeral Home, 235 Main Street, New London, NH. A celebration of his life will be held on January 18th at noon at Colby-Sawyer College’s Ware Student Center’s Wheeler Hall. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Daniel W. O’Leary Scholarship Fund, c/o MainStreet Warner, Inc.