Age 26. 16 Hartwell Street, Waltham, MA. Born on 10/17/1916, in Utica, NY. Died 11/29/1942 (Sunday), at 7:50 a.m., Boston City Hospital, of burns (death certificate). Housewife (death certificate). Was the lone woman in a party of six with her husband James "Jim," age 24 (Born 9/16/1918. Died 1/10/2009, age 90. Last residence Laguna Niguel, CA), a U.S. Inspector at W. H. Nichols & Sons Co. (precision tools), of Waltham, seriously burned but survived. Also present John Bagley, age 21, dead, Albert Belanger, age 29 (Born 11/09/1913. Died 5/27/1974, age 60. Last residence Whitinsville, MA), injured, Joseph Boratyn, age 22, dead, all of Whitinsville (Northbridge), MA, and William Trainor, age 22, of Uxbridge, MA, dead. The five men in the group (including her husband) were present or former employees of Whitin Machine Works, in Whitinsville. When fire broke was trapped with her husband in the crowded main Piedmont Street foyer. Husband (hospitalized at Mass General Hospital until 3/14/1943) testified at the spring 1943 Grove manslaughter trials: "...We didn't know where to turn. There was a jam of people in front and in back of us. We were just stuck" (The Boston Globe, 3/31/1943). Was raised in Utica, NY. Attended Utica Free Academy, Utica, NY. Married on 9/26/1942, in Utica, NY (husband's January 2009 obituary: "Sadly their happiness was short lived...While out with friends at the Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston fire broke out, his wife Mary and their friends were all killed..."). Before her marriage was a stenographer at Savage Arms Co. (firearms), Utica, NY. One of two Grove victims named "Mary Duggan" (also Mrs. Mary "Hilda" Duggan, age 39, of Quincy, MA, a patron in a separate party). Widowed husband remarried in 1953, moved to the west coast. Husband recalled to the A&E television program "Modern Marvels: Engineering Disasters" in 2004 that he was the last of the six in his party to remain conscious and last remembered putting his coat over his wife. Parents Mrs. Kathryn (Neary), of Utica, NY, and the late Mr. James R. O'Hara. "Word of her death was telegraphed to her mother yesterday [Sunday] by the physician who attended her in the hospital" (Utica Daily Press, Utica, NY, 11/30/1942). Burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Whitesboro, NY. Middle name Joan.

‍