Mary Loretta Ganning (nee Farley) formerly of Bloomfield, NJ passed away on May 2, 2016 at Alaris Health in Cedar Grove. She was 88. She was born on October 1, 1927 in North Arlington, NJ.
She attended St. Aloysius Grammar School and Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Newark. She received a BA degree in English from the College of New Rochelle , where she was the President of the Poetry Club and a member of the editorial board of the college yearbook. She went on to receive her teachers’ certification and MA in reading from Montclair State University.
Mary began her teaching career as a substitute teacher in the Bloomfield Schools and teacher’s aide in Glenn Ridge. She later taught 6th grade at St. Mary’s School in Nutley, Paul VI Regional High School in Clifton, teaching Reading and English and then taught at St. Thomas the Apostle school in Bloomfield. She also worked part time at Katherine Gibbs in Montclair, Berkley College in West Paterson and Kean University in Union.
In 1994, she joined the staff a Bloomfield College where she taught developmental reading and writing. She also tutored at the College and at the Huntington Learning Center in Verona.
She was very active in St. Thomas the Apostle Parish and was a member of the Right to Life and Adult Education Committees and served as a volunteer at the Rosary Shrine in Summit. She enjoyed writing poetry and painting and was a published poet.
Mary was pre-deceased by her husband Edward in 1978, her son Ned in 2000 and daughter Mary Santora in 2013. She is survived by her sons, Joseph and his wife Judy, Michael, John and his wife Carol. Her grandchildren, Danielle, Elizabeth, Katie, Tricia, Joey S., Patrick, Anthony, Joey G., Tommy, Sal, Kelly and Timmy, her great-grandchildren, Sophia, Valentina, John and Edie. She is also survived by her son-in-law Sal Santora and daughter-in-law Linda Ganning.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, May 5th from 4:00 to 8:00 pm at Halpin-Bitecola Brookdale Funeral & Cremation Service, 1284 Broad St. in Bloomfield. A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10:00 am on Friday May 6th , at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, in Bloomfield. Interment will follow at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Montclair.
In Lieu of flowers donations can be made to Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, 543 Springfield Ave., Summit,NJ 07901.
