Mary Collins

Mary Patricia Cunniff Collins (June 1920–November 5, 2010) is an American who was the First Lady of Boston from 1960 until 1968 during the mayoral tenure of her husband John F. Collins. Collins was considered an active municipal first lady. Collins' activities during her husband's mayoralty included serving a chairwoman of March of Dimes and on the boards of Faulkner Hospital and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Collins was also regarded as a key figure in her husband's political campaigns. Early life Collins was born Mary Patricia Cunniff in June 1920 in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Before her birth, Collins' parents had immigrated to the United States from County Galway, Ireland and settled in Roxbury. Collins graduated from St. Joseph's Academy, located in the Roxbury neighborhood. After training to become a legal secretary, Collins worked as a legal secretary at the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston in the 1940s. In her work, she met John F. Collins, who was working as a lawyer. After John F. Collins' service in as a military intelligence officer in World War II, the two married in 1946. They settled in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, where they lived for three decades. Together they had four children: sons John F. Collins. Jr and Thomas F. Collins and daughters Margaret A. Collins and Mary Patricia Potter.