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Mr. Speaker, today I rise with deep sadness to remember my friend and a pillar of the Windham region, Mary Lou DeVivo, who passed away last week. Mary Lou was an incredible woman, abound with endless energy and optimism and an unwavering commitment to the Windham community.
Mary Lou was the owner and President of the Willimantic Waste Paper Company, a local business her late beloved husband James ran with her for many years. After James's death in 1996, Mary Lou took the helm and grew the company further into a regional cornerstone, providing employment to many local residents and needed services to area businesses and households.
Mary Lou worked for many years as a preschool and kindergarten teacher and believed fervently in the power of education to combat poverty. She graduated in 1960 from Willimantic State Teachers College with a degree in Education, and she later earned a degree in Religion from Holy Apostles College in Cromwell. Among her many accomplishments, Mary Lou will be remembered for launching the Windham Reads Program and serving as an unrelenting advocate for improving Windham Schools.
She was well known for her deep and wide commitment to local community organizations, including the Covenant Soup Kitchen, the Windham Library Board, Willimantic Co-Op, Willimantic Irish Club, Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum, the Victorian Neighborhood Association, Windham Garden Club, and the Board for Saint Mary Saint Joseph School, among others. She was uniquely attuned to the needs of her community, and she never hesitated to get involved when her contributions would make a difference.
She was a woman of deep faith, and was heavily involved in St. Joseph's Parish in Windham, where she once served as Director of Religious Studies. She was a generous patron of that church, as well as St. Mary's and Sagrado Corazon De Jesus. Above all, Mary Lou will be remembered as an outgoing, friendly, feisty and strong-willed member of our community, and I will deeply miss her friendship. Windham will feel this loss greatly.
My heart goes out to her family and friends, especially her children Tom, Tim, Bridget, John, and Gina and her 14 grandchildren. I ask that my colleagues please rise to remember Mary Lou, a remarkable woman who will be missed profoundly by all who knew her.
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