Adapted from a speech given by Jennifer Toth
As the New Year’s Eve Party Committee began to meet in September 2008, many stories of Miss Mackey began to surface. Several committee members had fond memories of their dance teacher, Miss Mackey. So we decided to honor her and the many dances she hosted at the Village Hall on New Year’s Eve.
No one from the committee knew what had become of Miss Mackey and her family and it became my personal quest to investigate this woman. After searching for weeks with little headway, I finally got a lead, which directed me to her son, Thomas, who informed me that Miss Mackey had five children, a girl and four boys, two of whom were twins. I have since spoken to her eldest child Mary and the second born, James. Here is what I learned:
Catherine C. Mackey was born October 28, 1906 to William (from South Boston) and Mary (from Nova Scotia) in Milford, MA. She was one of four children, she had a sister Mary, also a dance teacher, and two brothers; one of whom was Dick Mackey who was the Framingham Town Engineer for years.
Her father William, was a salesman for Fleischman’s yeast company in Framingham. Her mother Mary, ran the Mackey Costume Company at 326 Union Ave, the same location where her daughter, Catherine, had her dance studio.
Miss Mackey taught all the disciplines of dance to children at her Framingham and Milford studies for approximately 50 years. For decades she ran classes for boys and girls who learned the fox-trot and the waltz at the Village Hall. She hosted dozens of dances for those students – the girls always in white gloves. Children would be paired when both parties picked the same celebrity’s name from a basket.
She married James Catusi, an attorney, in August of 1937, but remained Miss Mackey to her students. Between 1938 and 1951 she had five children. Summers were spent in Falmouth from the early 1940s until 1955 at the Silver Beach Hotel. She and her husband ran the hotel and lived there with their children, arriving right after the last dance recital in June. Sadly she lost her husband to heart disease in 1954. But Miss Mackey was a strong woman who never complained. Her talents as a dance teacher took care of her family. All her children took dance lessons and were often called on, especially the boys, to dance with her and show other students how to do a step or two.
Miss Mackey retired to Osterville on the Cape in 1976 where she lived with her daughter for 16 years, enjoying frequent visits from her other children. Miss Mackey died on October 28, 1992 on her 86th birthday, with most of her family around her. To those who could never quite dance very well, she always used to say, “Smile dear, then they won’t see you can’t do the steps.”
We’ve added an image with a question mark because there seem to be no existing images of Miss Mackey. If you have any, please share them to remember this beloved lady.