The Mary Ann P. Lee
MEMORIAL Scholarship FUND

Mary Ann (Paganelli) Lee, a former Trustee of the Concord Carlisle Scholarship Fund and the mother of six children, was acutely aware of the expense of higher education and the difficulties many students have in accessing those funds.   The ability to attend college was a priority in her household, and she wanted to make it a viable prospect for other students as well.  Her children remember the many hours she spent on the phone, setting up interviews with students and coordinating the process for awards. When Jiro and Tama Ishihara used the restitution awarded to them for their internment as children in camps during World War II to create the named funds in honor of their parents, Mary Ann was instrumental in getting the Boston Globe to cover the story. She loved working with teenagers and was not only a dedicated and loving mother to her own children, but a second mother to many other children.

Mary Ann believed fervently in giving back to the community. She and her husband Bill served on the Human Rights Council at the former St. Bernard’s (now Holy Family) Catholic church where they co-founded a tutoring service on Saturdays for children from Emmanuel House in Roxbury. A longtime supporter of the arts in Concord, Mary Ann was active for many years in the Friends of the Concord Orchestra.  She also served as a volunteer through Emerson Hospital’s Auxiliary, of which she served as president. Because of her longtime service to the Auxiliary, she was eventually named a Corporator of the hospital.

The Mary Ann P. Lee Memorial Fund has been established by her loving family in gratitude for all that she did for them and for others.