Mary Alice Farrell

Born March 3, 1892 in Syracuse, New York. She married October 12, 1915, at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Syracuse and worked as bookkeeper. She died September 27, 1975 in Portland, Oregon.

• A stenographer at Syracuse Lighting Company, 1911–1913.
• Married in a gown “of white charmeuse trimmed with net and princess lace,” carrying bride roses.

A Syracuse Girlhood

Mary Alice Farrell was born on March 3, 1892, in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of Irish immigrant Anthony James Farrell and Anna Hughes Rafferty. An active young woman in Syracuse society — dances, music recitals, sorority parties — she worked as a stenographer for the Syracuse Lighting Company and later the Central City Trust Company before marrying Ambrose Patrick Dee at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on October 12, 1915.

A Pittsburgh Volunteer

Mary Alice followed Ambrose to the Pittsburgh area around 1920 and became a fixture of St. Joseph's Hospital's Ladies' Guild in Mount Lebanon for over two decades, organizing benefit card parties, garden parties, and dances to fund the hospital's building and bread-line programs and eventually joining its governing board. She also belonged to the Catholic Daughters of America. She and Ambrose made regular trips back to Syracuse for family reunions and weddings over the years. After Ambrose's death Mary Alice moved to Portland, Oregon, to be near her son's family, and died there on September 27, 1975.