Mildred Margaret Kennedy Connolly, 79, a former elementary school teacher at two Catholic schools in DuPage County, died Monday, March 27, in Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield. Mrs. Connolly taught at St. John the Baptist School in Winfield from 1966 through the late 1970s and at St. Matthew Catholic School in Glendale Heights for five years. After retiring from teaching, she took a job with the DuPage County Circuit Court clerk, working at the Wheaton complex for 10 years. Not content with the potential idleness of yet another retirement, Mrs. Connolly found part-time employment in the registrar’s office at the College of DuPage. “The part-time work afforded her the means to travel,” said her son Timothy Connolly. “She earned the funds necessary to travel to Europe and Ireland.” Mrs. Connolly was born in Chicago and raised on the city’s West Side. She graduated from Rosary College. At St. John the Baptist School, she also headed the religious-education program, her son said. “She was a strong woman and a very religious person whose Catholic faith was near and dear to her,” her son said. Also dear to Mrs. Connolly was education, he said. “She pushed her children to finish their education, and two of my sisters went on to earn master’s degrees in education,” he said. Mrs. Connolly is survived by another son, Thomas; two daughters, Mooneen Dyer and Sheila King; a sister, Marguerite Cassidy; 12 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday in Leonard Memorial Home Ltd., 565 Duane St., Glen Ellyn. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Petronille Catholic Church, 420 Glenwood Ave., Glen Ellyn.
