Mary Jo Cannarella

Mary Jo Cannarella, 88, of The Villages, FL, and formerly of Nashua, NH, died peacefully on March 27, 2025.

Mary Jo was born on November 20, 1936, in Terrell, TX to Homer and Agnes Glynn Hagius. She entered Holy Cross School of Nursing in Salt Lake City, UT at the age of 17, and during her final year she met Joseph Cannarella on a blind date.They became engaged as she prepared to graduate, and by the end of the year, she had become enfolded into a big Italian family.

The Cannarellas settled in Middletown, CT. Mary Jo earned her BS from UConn, followed by a MS in psychiatric nursing from Yale. The family relocated to Nashua, NH and she eventually joined the faculty of Concord Hospital School of Nursing until her retirement in 1999. Mary Jo loved teaching. One of her former students recalled, “Mary Jo was my nursing mentor and true friend. She was a constant support system as I was in nursing school, always pushing me to go further in school. I have spent my nursing career following in Mary Jo’s footsteps as a psychiatric nurse.”

Mary Jo was an outspoken advocate for social justice. She loved engaging in the democratic process: volunteering, canvassing, writing letters, and in her later years, keeping campaign headquarters stocked with coffee and snacks. She was proud to help elect Latha Mangipudi, the first Indian-American woman in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and she was overjoyed to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Mary Jo loved to travel. In 1994, she and Joe traveled to Belize to participate in the Howler Monkey Research Project, contributing to conservation efforts for this endangered species. In 1998, during an Elderhostel trip to the Galapagos Islands, Mary Jo and Joe survived a brush with death when their boat sank at sunset, in shark-infested waters. In “Tales of Terror at Sea” (Boston Globe, 6/18/98) she said: “All of a sudden, an exceptionally big swell picked our boat up and tilted it on its side. It hung at a 30-degree angle, and then another wave knocked it over. I flew across the lounge. Within three breaths, the water was up to my neck. Five breaths, and it was over my head. I refused to die and rammed my head repeatedly against the glass window now above me. The window popped, and I scrambled through to the surface. In the first few moments, I was thinking, ‘This can’t be real.’ Yet I was swimming for my life. Then as I was clinging to the ring buoy, I thought, ‘This might be my moment of death.’ However, I didn’t give up my determination at any moment.” Of the 15 passengers on that trip, tragically 4 were lost. Joe and Mary Jo enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame when Bryant Gumbel traveled to Nashua to interview them in their home for an episode of “Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel” that aired in July 1998.

After retiring, Mary Jo and Joe opened the Can-Dee-Apples Cattery, specializing in “apple head” Siamese cats. Her kittens were in high demand and buyers would fly across the country to get one.

Mary Jo is survived by her husband Joe; son, Ronald J. Cannarella; daughter, Catherine C. Haines and son-in-law Eric Haines; grandsons Ryan and Evan Haines; Ryan’s fiancée Zhengxin Bao; brother, Hugh Hagius; and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by siblings John Hagius, Frederick Hagius, and Lynn Hagius.

Mary Jo was laid to rest privately on April 11, 2025. Memorial donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders or NAMI.