Mary Rita Furlong Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Exeter – Mary Rita Furlong, 88, of Exeter and a former resident Hampton, passed away peacefully at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital on Monday, April 15, 2019. Mary was born in Lowell, MA on September 29, 1930, the daughter of the late James E. and Helen (Douglas) Furlong. She was raised in Lowell and graduated from Lowell High then earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Boston University and upon graduation, entered the nun hood and served her God with the religious order of the Sisters of Mercy. Sister Mary Rita taught at the Sacred Heart School in Hampton for many years. She gained national attention in the early 1980s when she and three other Sisters of Mercy, Honora Reardon and Katie and Justine Colliton, settled in a suit with the Diocese of Manchester for wrongful termination of their teaching positions. Mary then worked as a bookkeeper with the former NH Helicopters until her retirement. She and her close friends, Honora, Katie and Justine loved to travel and had visited many places around the world. Family was most important to Mary and some of the happiest times of life were spent with her brother James Furlong and his family. Mary leaves her brother James Furlong of Chelmsford, MA, her nephew Douglas Furlong, his wife Patricia, and their children, Catherine, John and Allison of Walpole, MA. Friends may visit from 9:30 to 10:30 AM on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 in the Remick & Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory, 811 Lafayette Road, Hampton. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 AM following the visitation at St. Michael’s Church, 9 Lincoln St., Exeter. Burial will be at 1 PM in St. Patrick Cemetery, 1251 Gorham St., Lowell, MA.

Mary Rita Furlong

September 29, 1930 - April 15, 2019