Age 20. 1830 Columbia Road, South Boston (Boston), MA. Born 2/01/1922, in South Boston. Died of carbon monoxide poisoning (death certificate). Clerk and stenographer, employed by her father (death certificate). Known as "Mary Ellen." Known to friends as "Mae." Described as, "...tall and brunette..." (John William McCormack: A Political Biography, by author Garrison Nelson). To the club with best friend Miss Ruth Knox, age 18, also of South Boston, dead. "The girl had left her jewelry at home, which made identification more difficult" (Boston Daily Record, 11/30/1942). Was single. Parents Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. "Knocko" and Mary T. (Coffey) McCormack. Father, a well-known political figure around South Boston, was a younger brother of noted U.S. Congressman John W. McCormack. Father operated Wave Cottage tavern, in South Boston. Outside Southern Mortuary, Boston, on the following Monday her father, "...waited for hours before he went down the nine steps into the morgue, where the body of his daughter...rested" (The Boston Post, 12/01/1942). Joint funeral services with Miss Knox were held the following Wednesday. Father allegedly punched Boston mayor and political rival Maurice Tobin (Born 5/22/1901. Died 7/19/1953, heart attack, age 52) twice in the face at her services for allowing dangerous club conditions to exist (oft-repeated story has never since been confirmed nor discredited). Burial near Miss Knox at New Calvary Cemetery, Mattapan (Boston), MA. Girls were two of 22 Grove casualties interred at the above cemetery (plus another eight at the attached Mount or "Old" Calvary Cemetery, Roslindale, MA); the combined total of 30 victim burials was more than at any other single resting grounds. First anniversary in memoriam message was published in The Boston Herald, 11/28/1943: "Sadly missed by Mother, Father and Brothers."

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