Ilion High School - Class of 1896

Herkimer Evening Telegram - October 8, 1954

Ilion - Former Teacher Dies At Ilion

Former Teacher Dies At Ilion

ILION - Miss Helen R, McCann, 77, of 10 McCann St., retired teacher, died yesterday in her home after a brief illness.

Miss McCann retired in 1938 after a career of 38 years teaching in New York City, Andes and Utica Free Academy.

A member of one of Ilion's oldest families, Miss McCann was a daughter of Thomas and Mary Dowd McCann. She was the seventh daughter and last surviving member of the family who gave Ilion the street bearing the family name and on which she lived.

She was born Sept. 3. 1877, in Mohawk. She came to Ilion when a girl and graduated from Ilion High School in 1896, valedictorian and treasurer of her class. Miss McCann graduated from Cornell University in 1900 and started teaching in New York City.

She was a communicant of the Church of the Annunciation: a member of its Altar Rosary Society; of Ilion Council of Catholic Women and of Ilion Travelers' Club.

Miss McCann was also an active member of the New Century Club in Utica which she served as trustee and as chairman of the education and literary departments for several years.

She leaves one nephew, Dr. Everett Mack, Ilion; three nieces. Mrs. Helen Monaghan, New York; Mrs. John J. Kennedy, Chevy Chase Md., and Mrs. Genevieve McDonald, Washington, D. C.

Funeral services will be at 9. m. Monday from the Applegate Funeral Home and at 9:30 from the Church of the Annunciation where a solemn high Mass will be celebrated. Interment will be in St. Agnes Cemetery.