Mary O'Dwyer

Mary O'Dwyer, 80, of North Easton, MA passed away peacefully on Saturday, June 21st surrounded by her closest family, after a months long battle with cancer.

Born in deep winter 1945 in Buffalo, NY to Mabelle & Edwin Polhemus, Mary was the 2nd child and only girl. She was the beloved sister of Dick, Jim & Tom, and niece of Margaret and Lillian Faux, and granddaughter of Mabel Faux.

Inspired by her Aunt Margaret to get a nursing degree from Niagara University in 1966, Mary then worked in ERs in Buffalo, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before joining the Catholic Lay Mission Helpers. She then volunteered on a remote mission several hours outside of Harare, Zimbabwe, where she loved delivering babies most of all.

After returning to Buffalo, Mary attained her pilot's license on October 10th, 1971, at the age of 26, after many hours of training. She loved flying and seeing the world from the air. Mary then decided to pursue midwifery training, so she moved to London to study, where she married Michael O'Dwyer, before landing back in the US, in Boston. Her Boston nursing career took her through operating rooms at the Brigham, and then the West Roxbury VA, where she made life-long friends. Mary was head of the OR for 7 years, was one of the first to be nationally certified in OR nursing, and trained and mentored many nurses in open heart surgery.

Eventually after years of hard work and lots of overtime, Mary saved enough for a house in Sharon, where she would live for almost 50 years. In 1980 Mary gave birth to her daughter, Rory, and then to her son, Kevin, in 1982. Her dedication to her nursing career was only surpassed by her devotion to her children. She had always loved babies and was overjoyed to finally have her own.

Mary's work ethic was second-to-none, and she worked hard to build a good life for her family and pay for her children's education. When her first cancer diagnosis came in 2000 she didn't miss a day of work. She would work all day and then head off to another hospital to get her chemo treatments.

One of Mary's greatest passions was gardening. She spent long hours creating an edenic, terraced garden with a wide diversity of plants at her home in Sharon, and then again in North Easton, where she moved in 2020. Mary was a long-time member of the Sharon Garden Club and for many years she put her gardening skills to work at her church, volunteering many hours to lovingly maintain the grounds.

Mary's commitment to volunteer work–from helping out at local food pantries and soup kitchens, to driving cancer patients to appointments, and rescuing and fostering feral cats–was always inspiring. However her medical mission trips to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic to offer surgery to repair children's cleft lips and cleft palates were perhaps most impactful. Mary maintained her nursing license after retirement, and worked in public health for the Sharon Health Department for many years, right up until her recent cancer diagnosis.

One of Mary's retirement accomplishments included helping to grow Langwater Farm. She was an essential part of building the farm business from the very beginning. She contributed so much to its growth and success, supporting the business in countless ways, but most importantly helping raise her grandchildren with so much love so their parents could focus on growing the business.

The focus of Mary's life over her last 14 years was caring for her three cherished granddaughters: Madison, Rachel and Charlotte. Her oldest granddaughter, Maddie, renamed her Gogo early on, a moniker quickly adopted by all her friends and family. Gogo provided daily childcare, home-cooked food, and endless amounts of love for the three girls. She took the best care of the girls, engaging and teaching them so many important life skills and instilling her values of selflessness, kindness, hard work, and grit.

Mary is survived by her brothers Jim Polhemus and Tom Polhemus (& Ann Polhemus), her sister-in-law Barbara Polhemus, nieces Kirstin Travers, Amy Polhemus, daughter Rory O'Dwyer (& Dave Kelley) and son Kevin O'Dwyer (& Kate O'Dwyer), and by her beloved granddaughters Madison, Rachel and Charlotte O'Dwyer.

A wake will be held on Thursday from 4-7pm at Kane's Funeral Home 605 Washington St. South Easton, MA. The funeral will be on Friday at 10am at Our Lady of Sorrows 59 Cottage St.

Sharon, MA, with burial to follow at Immaculate Conception Cemetery 97 Canton St. North Easton, MA.