Died: January 2, 1954
Married: Ernest Wood, September 1937
Mary C. Mullen Wood was the nurse and social service worker 1 who did inspection of cottages in the 1920s for the T. B. Society. She had been a TB patient herself. "MCM" is now chiefly known by her initials, marked on many of the T. B. Society's cottage inspection cards. She was the executive secretary of the organization at the time of her death. 2 She inherited the house where she had been a lodger, at 18 Academy Street, from Mrs. Ledger, whose only surviving heir, Ruth, was a nun. Miss Mullen married Ernest Wood, a health seeker who eventually became president of the T. B. Society. At the time of her death, they lived at 30 Church Street.
She was a member of the Conference Committee on Welfare 3 and of the Court of St. Bernard. 4 The Mary Mullen Wood scholarship was created in her name, managed by the Catholic Daughters of St. Bernard's Church.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, January 4, 1954
Special Tribute Paid To Mary Mullin Wood
By Daniel M. Brumfiel Vice-president, Saranac Lake Society for the Control of Tuberculosis.
''Thirty-seven years of unselfish devotion to the welfare of her afflicted fellowmen and to this community came to an abrupt end with the death of, Mrs. Ernest H. Wood. Mrs. Wood —“Mary Mullin” to all her associates and to thousands or former patients — expired suddenly and peacefully shortly after nine o'clock on the morning of Jan. 2 in the Saranac Lake General Hospital. She had been admitted to the hospital Dec. 22 with an acute heart ailment.
“Having come here originally as a tuberculous patient herself she remained to serve others.”
She had been with the Saranac Lake Society for the control of Tuberculosis since 1916.
''Mary Mullin was born in Chateaugay, one of the ten children of Andrew and Mary Ann Carey Mullin. She had completed her Nurses Training course in the St. Lawrence State Hospital at Ogdensburg before failing health brought her to Saranac Lake in 1910. After recovery she did private duty nursing until she joined the staff of the T.B. Society as district nurse February 1916. She continued in this capacity until 1922 when she was made social worker for the Society.
“In October 1936 she succeeded Ernest H. Wood as Executive Secretary of the Society. From then until her death she combined the duties of social worker and Executive Secretary in such an efficient and humanitarian manner that her name became almost synonymous with that of the Society.
“In her capacity of Executive Secretary she administered the intricate business affairs of the Society with masterly efficiency. Much this work was done so completely behind the scenes that few of her fellow-townsmen were even aware of it. When necessary she came before the public as with the annual Christmas Seal campaigns. She helped promote, and personally managed, the programs of free, chest X-rays in the community which the Society sponsored in the Summers of 1949 and 1951.
“In her capacity of social worker she visited every patient in need of counsel or creature comforts. She secured private nurses for patients in medical emergencies. She applied the facilities of the Society to cover almost every form of patient needs. “Devotion to human welfare dominated her life to the extent that her outside activities, as well as her daily work, were spent in some worthwhile cause. Two of her special interests were the Catholic Daughters of America and the Saranac Lake Free Library. To enumerate her interests would be to list the local philanthropic and charitable organizations. During her last illness she discussed ideas for extending the scope of the Society's activities to include some form of cardiac work.
In Sept., 1937, Mary Mullin and Ernest Wood were married. They made their home at 30 Church st. at the time of her death.
She is survived by her husband; three sisters, Mrs. Edward F. Gaynor of Schenectady, Mrs. F.E Taylor Mullin and Miss Bernadette A. both of Malone; three brothers, Francis J. Mullin of Plattsburg, William A. Mullin of Yonkers, and Leo E. Mullin of Schenectady, besides several neices and nephews and their children.
“The members of the Society, the community of Saranac Lake and the thousands whom she has aided join the bereaved family in their sense of loss and their grief.
A Solemn High Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. tomorrow in St. Bernard's Church for Mrs. Mary Mullin Wood. Burial will be in the Spring in St. Bernard's Cemetery.
There will be CDA services tonight at 8 o'clock at the Keough Memorial Chapel where, the body is reposing. The CDA will also form an honor guard at tomorrow's rites.
Active pall bearers will be Dr. Bradley Sageman, Dr. John R. Murphy, Dr. Anthony Gedroiz, Dr. Leonard Bristol, Dr. Edward Mulflur and William Riordan.
Honorary pall bearers will be Dr. Edward N. Packard, Dr. Daniel Brumfiel, Dr. Francis B. Trudeau, Dr. Hugh Kinghorn, Dr. John Hayes, Dr. Edward S. Welles and Dr. Warriner Woodruff.
Lake Placid News, May 20, 1932
Pleased with Placid As Convention Centre
A letter from Miss Mary C. Mullen, assisting Miss Emily Hicks, executive secretary of the State Nurses' association, to T. P. Faherty, secretary of the chamber of commerce here, states that she is well pleased with arrangements which have been made for the annual convention which will be held here October 4, 5 and 6.
Nine divisions of the association will hold meetings simultaneously and Mr. Faherty has arranged that the Agora at Lake Placid club, arena and Adirondack Community church will be available if found to be necessary.
Comments
Footnotes
1. Lake Placid News, October 6, 1933
2. Adirondack Daily Enterprise, February 26, 1954
3. Lake Placid News, June 1, 1934
4. Lake Placid News, May 12, 1933
