Obituary of Mary "Betsy" Elizabeth Gallagher (Conway)

Mary “Betsy” E. Gallagher (Conway), age 76, passed away peacefully surrounded by her daughters on August 15, 2024, following a courageous battle with cancer.   

Born in Boston, MA on September 9, 1947, she was the only child of the late Patrick J. and Theresa (O’Sullivan) Gallagher.  Mary Betsy grew up in Mission Hill and graduated from Mission High School.  She then attended Newton Junior College and went on to earn her bachelor's degree in nursing from Boston University.   Shortly afterwards, Mary Betsy married Charles R. Conway of Somerville.  They settled, started their family, and raised them in Weston, where they would stay for over 25 years.  

Mary loved to travel.   She would take her family on vacations to the Conway family cottage in Plymouth and up to hike the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  The most memorable family vacation was traveling to Ireland, France, Austria, and Switzerland when the girls were young.   Mary worked as a post-partum nurse at Emerson Hospital for over thirty years, working the night shift so that she would be available to attend her daughters’ school events.  In more recent years, she traveled extensively with her best friends, Ginny Harris, Jeanie Terrara, Mary Ann Ulrich, and Maureen Picard.   Her hobbies included knitting, crocheting, and painting watercolors.  She quietly made the world a better place.  She was always giving back to her community.   During Covid, Mary knitted a hundred scarves to say thank you to the nurses who took care of her at Dana Farber.  Her generosity and concern for others truly knew no bounds. She was infamous for her endless cups of tea and sweets.  Above everything, Mary loved her family. She adored her granddaughter Clare and spoiled her to the best of her abilities.   Her two daughters, Karen and Kerry meant the world to her. 

Surviving Mary Betsy are her two daughters, Kerry Conway of Lowell, and Karen Conway and her wife Stacey Munro of West Suffield, CT; her granddaughter Clare Conway of West Suffield, CT; her siblings-in-law, Bobby Conway and his wife Kathy, the late Eileen and David Cooper, Michael Conway, Patsy Grabowski and her husband Danny, Joey Conway and his wife Cheryl Brenham, Mary MacIsaac, Frankie Conway and his wife Patty, Paul Conway, John Conway and his wife Nadia, and George Conway and his husband Raphael Laurencio, as well as many other dear nieces, nephews, friends, and cousins both in the US and in Ireland.  

Visitation for Mary Betsy will be held on Friday, August 23rd from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., Burlington.  Her Funeral will begin at the Funeral Home on Saturday, August 24th at 8:30 a.m. followed by her Funeral Mass to be Celebrated at 9 a.m. at St. Malachy Church, 99 Bedford St., Burlington.  A Celebration of Life meal will be held at Granite Links Golf Club, pavilion tent, 100 Quarry Hills Drive, Quincy MA from 11-2 directly after the mass for close family and friends.   A graveside service will be held on Saturday, September 14th at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph's Cemetery, W. Roxbury. 

A Tribute to Mary Gallagher by Ginny Harris August 2024

Mary was afraid of a lot of things. She was afraid of getting lost. Unfortunately, she was also afraid of using a GPS! She was afraid of getting caught in a snow storm, hence her trunk full of snow shovels and ice melt.

But amazingly, she was not afraid of death. Last year Mary and I sat on a bench in the Acton Arboretum on a magnificent spring day and talked for hours. While we sat, she warmly greeted passersby, especially those who had children in tow or a puppy on a leash. As we sat there, she told me that she was not afraid of death and actually looked forward to going to heaven, although of course she would miss her family and friends. She wondered if I thought her attitude was strange. I had to think a minute and finally told her I did not think it was strange for someone with a faith as deep as hers.

 What else was Mary not afraid of? She was not afraid of listening to others who were going through difficult times. In fact, she was always the first person I would call when I needed cheering up.

 Although she knew that eventually her luck would run out when she reached the end of her chemotherapy options, she remained positive, enjoying time with family and friends and never wanting to be defined by her illness. Her typical response when asked how she was doing was “I’m fine but how are you? “ In fact this was her response when I called her just a week before she passed on. I think that she could say she was “fine” because she had accepted her illness, had no regrets, loved her family and friends and had a strong faith.

Mary was so proud of her family who were her biggest cheerleaders. She was very proud of Karen and her career in medicine, seeing a link between Karen’s job as a pediatrician and hers as a maternity nurse. She was also very proud of Kerry and her career in her role as Senior Director of Regulatory Operations at a biopharmaceutical company, focused on developing novel drugs to treat rare diseases, also a link to her mom’s career. Mary had high praise for her granddaughter, Clare, as she has excelled academically and in three sports including flag football on a predominantly male team.

 I will never forget the wonderful celebration of Mary’s 75th birthday planned by Kerry and Karen, with a surprise duck boat tour for 17 family members and friends, followed by a delicious meal at Joseph’s on the Boston Waterfront. Mary was genuinely surprised to see so many familiar people sitting on that duck boat. What a fun time we had. We cheered her on when she accepted the captain’s invitation to take a turn steering the duck boat down the Charles. Mary was in her glory!

Mary wanted so badly to travel to cheer on Karen as she bicycled 192 miles to Provincetown in the Pan Mass Challenge, even as her own energy was waning day by day. This is just one example of Mary putting other’s needs before her own. Jeannie and I offered to drive her but also cautioned Mary that such a long drive might exhaust her. Mary was adamant that she absolutely needed to be there to encourage Karen, even offering to drive us! Two weeks later she admitted that she was in fact, too tired to go.

I will miss Mary so much - her compassion and care for others, her innate goodness, her hospitality, her ability to see the good in others, her love of family and friends, her strong faith and her deep pride in her Irish heritage.