Hill, NH – Mary J. Dickerson, of Hill, New Hampshire, departed on April 8th, 2026, in Boston after a 15-year battle with dementia. She is survived by her siblings Elizabeth Dickerson and Sally Matthews, and predeceased by her parents, Theodore Dickerson and Clare Higgins Dickerson, and five siblings: Theda, Ted, Linda, John and Barbara.
Mary led an active and hardworking life, starting from her childhood on the family farm and participation in 4-H, where she learned about animal husbandry with her ewe, Bedelia. In high school, she joined the girls’ softball and basketball teams. She continued to compete in both sports while pursuing her bachelor’s degree in education at Gordon College, adding hockey for good measure. She then went on to earn her MA in education from Northeastern University.
Mary worked in the Massachusetts school system for decades, starting by teaching middle school geography in Springfield in 1966. She went on to work with underprivileged populations both at the Massachusetts Experimental School in Boston, where she taught for a decade, and within the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. She spent 25 years as a grade school Principal in Uxbridge, filling her weekends with long days of tennis – often as many as seven sets per day.
Upon her retirement in 2003, she split her time between the golf courses of Sunset Beach, North Carolina, where she had a condo, and the summer cottage she kept along the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in her home state.
Although she did not marry or have children of her own, Mary was perhaps the most attentive to her family of all her siblings, spending hours poring over the books she chose as birthday and Christmas gifts for each of her nieces and nephews. As her mother aged, Mary took on the passed baton of family hospitality, hosting Thanksgiving dinner in her home. She is remembered for her kindness, attentiveness, athleticism, and adventurous spirit.
Family and friends are invited to honor and remember Mary at a celebration of her life on Saturday morning, July 25th, 2026 at 11:00 am, in the Hill Center Church, Murray Road, Hill, NH.
To share a memory with Mary’s family, kindly visit www.mccarthyfh.com
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