Obituary: Mary Alice Finn

December 5, 1959 - October 20, 2021

Mary Alice Finn. Courtesy photo.

Mary Alice Finn, 61, died October 20, 2021 at her home in Webster, Massachusetts, after a long illness.

Mary was born December 5, 1959, in Burlington, Vermont, the daughter of the late Edward Finn and the late Sally Eileen Stevens Finn, who lived in nearby Essex Junction. She lived with her family for a brief stint in Pembroke, Massachusetts, before returning to Vermont to grow up in Waterbury.

Mary graduated with a BS in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980 and later completed her coursework for a MA in Theater Arts at Harvard University. After graduating MIT, she worked at Polaroid in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for three years in microelectronics fabrication and then returned to Boston working first for Dimensional Insight for two years before joining InterSystems Corporation in Boston where she worked for over 30 years in writing for Software Marketing.

An excellent singer, flautist, and avid amateur actress, Mary appeared in dozens of community theater productions as well as every Gilbert & Sullivan operetta - appearing in productions both in the U.S. and in the U.K. Mary led the costume design and fabrication for numerous theater productions. Mary was also a cantor at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Webster, Massachusetts.

Mary enjoyed travel. She visited Mexico, Jamaica, Caracus, and Haiti by cruise ship; Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague by riverboat, and England and France by air. During one notable trip to Paris, Mary sang in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Mary hosted large family gatherings at locations around the country including Sedona, Arizona (visiting the Grand Canyon), Charleston, South Carolina (for the 2017 total eclipse of the sun), and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Mary was also an author of a Gilbert and Sullivan spoof, The Foundling, produced by the MIT Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Her unpublished material included a musical “The Golden Days of Ore,” a political thriller “Popular Opinions,” a short story “The Fifth Season,” and a science fiction novel in progress.

Mary is survived by her four siblings and their partners: Deborah Elaine Finn, Alan Matthew Finn and Sue Griffiths, Janet Ellen Finn and Michael Martel, and Charles Andrew Finn and Joyce Mphande-Finn; three nephews and a niece and their partners: Josh Baker and Melissa Ogg-Baker, Nick Baker and Ashley Catchapaw, Brian Finn, and Marisa Finn; a grandniece, Alicia Ryan Baker, and a grandnephew Ezekiel Wellington Charles Brandt.

A service to celebrate her life will be held on November 18 at St. Andrews Church in Waterbury, Vermont, at 2:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to a library in your community.

Arrangements by Britton Funeral Homes in Massachusetts. Online condolences may be made on their website.