Dedham school nurse Mary MacDougall remembered for her compassion

A caring woman who devoted her life to healing others, Greenlodge School Nurse Mary MacDougall died on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

She was 74.

Her children, Laney and Paul MacDougall, were overwhelmed at her wake on Friday, Feb. 3, when hundreds of people came to pay their last respects, they said.

“The outpouring that came from the town from students and staff and parents, it was absolutely unbelievable,” Laney MacDougall said on Monday, Feb. 6.

Mary MacDougall worked for the Greenlodge School for 25 years and for some of that time at the Oakdale School. Students, particularly from the Greenlodge School, sent cards to her when she fell ill and even more to her family after she passed.

Paul MacDougall was not surprised. He said his mother’s caring nature drew in children and adults alike.

“She treated anybody like she would treat myself or my sister,” he said. “She’d make you feel like whatever might be bothering you, it’s not trivial.”

“When you think of nurses in general, you think of someone who is caring of other people,” Laney MacDougall said. “That was the epitome of her: she gave and gave and gave.”

At Mary MacDougall’s home on Monday, Feb. 6, piles of cards from elementary students covered the kitchen table. Many call her “the best nurse ever” and express wishes that she could return.

At the Greenlodge School on Friday, Feb. 3, students dressed in New England Patriots attire to support their hometown team, something Mary MacDougall would have been right in the center of, according to her daughter. Learning of the school nurse’s passing, students and staff all wrote her initials on pieces of paper and attached them to their clothes to honor her memory.

Former Greenlodge Principal Betty Cummings Clarke said Mary MacDougall was already working as the school nurse when she started as principal in the 1990s.

“She was just a very special person and a very special member of the staff,” Clarke said.

Mary MacDougall touched thousands of lives during her time at the elementary schools, and offered comfort and advice, according to Clarke.

“She was so knowledgeable about medicine; we used her as a consultant,” Clarke said. “People joked and called her Dr. MacDougall among the staff.”

Mary MacDougall went above and beyond the call of duty, Clarke said. She would call parents in the evenings when she was concerned about a child, and worked hard to heal the children who came to her with serious ailments.

Clarke described Mary MacDougall as competent, and recalled how everyone felt comfortable with her and took her advice. She often stepped in to fill other roles when needed, Clarke added.

“When I think of Mary now, I think of all the hats she wore,” Clarke said. “She was a consultant, a friend, a mother to children. Sometimes she was the secretary; sometimes she was the principal. To the children, she was another mom.”

Clarke could remember her with nothing but love and gratitude, she said.

Current principal Katherine Kiewlicz said Mary MacDougall was there for every member of the school, whether a student or staff member. What she had to provide was more than the health component. She offered smiles, reassurance and that personal touch for children having a bad day or feeling nervous before a big test, Kiewlicz said.

“She was a true lady and a gentle soul who only had a kind word about anybody,” Kiewlicz said.

Getting the call that her mother was sick was one of the most difficult moments of Laney MacDougall’s life, she said. Her mother never complained, and hearing that she was having difficulties let her know the problem was serious.

Both Paul and Laney MacDougall relied heavily on their mother as they got through the loss of their father, her husband, seven years ago.

“She was my rock,” Paul MacDougall said.

The day Mary MacDougall’s illness made its presence known, she became confused about how to work her car and got a ride home from a Greenlodge staff member. When she got home, she couldn’t remember where the garage door opener was.

“That’s when we got the call; we took her to the emergency room,” Laney MacDougall said.

Mary MacDougall decided she wanted to be at home through her illness, which turned out to be cancer. Laney MacDougall took off from work and stayed with her mother until she died, about six weeks later.

Spending those final weeks with her mother gave Laney MacDougall closure. She misses her mother and said losing her changed her life, but she felt comfortable with the way it happened, she said.

Three days before her death, Mary MacDougall had a long talk with her daughter, speaking with clarity about the past and the future.

“She had it all in her head, she let it out and she trusted me to take care of it,” Laney MacDougall said.

The one thing Laney MacDougall wanted the world to remember about her mother above all else was that children loved her and that love was returned.

“They lit up her world,” Laney MacDougall said.

In the last months of her life, Mary MacDougall got to meet her granddaughter, Issabella Amyiah MacDougall, who was just shy of three months when her grandmother passed away.

Issabella was born premature, according to Paul MacDougall, her father. For a while doctors were worried she would not live, he said.

Now she is doing very well. When Mary MacDougall was bedridden, Paul MacDougall brought Issabella to see her, and the infant touched her face.

“She woke and smiled and knew she was there,” Paul MacDougall said.

At Mary MacDougall’s funeral, a poem was distributed, written by Kerry Bryant, entitled “Thank you Mary Mac.”

“You cared so much for each of us/Making sure we were okay/Your compassion was insurmountable/Your loss will be felt each day.”

Staff writer Dave Eisenstadter can be reached at 781-433-8336 or deisenstadter@wickedlocal.com. Like The Dedham Transcript on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @DedhamTranscrip.