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Biographical sketch of Sally Ann Freedman, the early years, with selected photos and press clippings.
Citation preview
Memorabilia
of
Sally Ann
Freedman
Sally Ann Freedman (born May 1, 1940) is a former beauty queen, professional
model, and band vocalist. As Miss Massachusetts USA,[1]
she competed in the Miss Universe
contest held in Long Beach, California, in 1958. Her previous titles included Miss Essex
County 1955,[2]
[3]
Miss Sea Nymph 1956,[4]
Miss Hampton Beach 1957,[5]
and Miss New
England Ballroom 1958.[6]
In 1961, she was the talent winner and one of the five finalists in
the Miss Sun Fun USA pageant[7]
held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[8][9]
Early life
During her early years, Freedman trained as a dancer at the Alice P. Duffee Dance Studio in
Salem, Massachusetts. With the school’s professional troupe she performed for several years
throughout the North Shore.[10]
After graduating from the Academie Moderne in Boston, a
finishing school founded by Mildred Albert, she began a modeling career.[11]
She joined the
Hart Model Agency in Boston and worked as a fashion and photography model throughout
college.[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
Her career as a vocalist carried her throughout New England. She sang with orchestras led by
Bob Batchelder,[17]
Ted Herbert,[18]
and Earle Harris.[19]
They played at popular ballrooms of
the day including the Totem Pole Ballroom in Norumbega Park, Auburndale; Commodore
Ballroom in Lowell; Carousel Ballroom in Manchester, New Hampshire; Rockingham
Ballroom in Newmarket, New Hampshire; Canobie Lake Ballroom in Salem, New
Hampshire; and Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. In
December 1959, she performed with the Earle Harris Orchestra at the Oceanview Ballroom
in Revere. They were the last band to play the popular establishment before it was destroyed
by fire.[20]
Freedman also performed throughout the Greater Boston area with the Harry
Marshard Society Orchestra.[21]
While pursuing graduate studies in Washington, D.C., Freedman continued her singing
career. With orchestras and her own small combo, The Commanders, she performed at
country clubs as well as at civic, military, and social galas.[22]
The venues included the
Sheraton-Park, Shoreham, Statler-Hilton, and Mayflower Hotel.[23]
Personal life
Freedman was raised in Peabody, Massachusetts. Upon graduation from Peabody High
School, she attended Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, majoring in
sociology. She graduated magna cum laude and valedictorian[24]
and went on to pursue
graduate studies in sociology for two years at The Catholic University of America in
Washington, D.C. She then became a teacher and left behind her singing career. “I love
music,” she [told a reporter], "but when I turned to teaching I sort of found myself entering
another stage of my life. Somehow, I didn’t think that teaching and entertaining were
compatible. By today’s standards, I suppose that no one would think anything of the
combination."[25]
Freedman taught at Peabody High School, Mount Wachusett Community College in
Gardner, Massachusetts, and North Shore Community College in Beverly, Massachusetts. In
1968, she married Eugene F. Connolly, who served for many years as Professor and
Professor Emeritus at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, Massachusetts.[26]
[27]
They settled in Danvers, Massachusetts, where they raised their four children: a son and three
daughters. After earning a master's degree in Guidance and Counseling from Salem State
College in 1980, she worked at North Shore Technical High School in Middleton,
Massachusetts, for twenty-one years as a guidance counselor. Since 1994, she has served as
editor of the Counselor's Notebook,[28]
the official periodical of the Massachusetts School
Counselors Association.
After the death of her husband of thirty-seven years, Freedman found solace in creating a
literary scrapbook of her husband's writings.[29]
[30]
Her husband had written: "One of the
peculiarities of death is that it can stop the breath, but it cannot still the voice of one we
love."[31]
She captured that voice in her self-published book and helped to perpetuate his
legacy.[32]
In the process, Freedman discovered a new creative outlet: writing. She continued
to pen articles about health and safety, education, and lifestyle issues, and she became a
regular contributor to her community newspaper, The Danvers Herald.[33]
Her columns
continue to be syndicated nationally through Senior Wire News Service[34]
and published
online at www.go60.us. Her books include:
A Boy from Lawrence: The Collected Works of Eugene F. Connolly (2005) [35]
Never Better: All Things Considered (2007) [36]
Matters on My Mind: MOMM (2011) [37]
More on My Mind: MOMM (2012) ) [38]
Notes
1. "Miss Massachusetts USA/Miss Massachusetts Teen USA."
http://missmassachusettsusa.com/index.html.
2. "Daughter of Local Businessman Winner of Beauty Contest" (September 14, 1955). The
Chelsea Record.
3. The Topsfield Fair Presents the Miss Essex County Scholarship Pageant: 20th Anniversary
(1970). Miss America Pageant.
4. "Bay Stater 'Miss Sea Nymph' " (August 15, 1956). The Beachcomber, XXIX, 8, p.1.
5. "Miss Hampton Beach 1957" (August 7, 1957). AP Wirephoto. Boston Traveler.
6. Rugg, Eddie (April 10, 1959). "Let's Go Dancing: Leonetti Set for Varsity Club." Boston
Evening American.
7. Sun Fun USA. http://www.pageantopolis.com/national/sunfun.htm.
8. Myrtle Beach News (June 13, 1961). 27, No. 4, p.1.
9. "Peabody Girl Wins Sun Fun Talent Contest" (June 16, 1961). The Salem Evening News.
10. "Alice P. Duffee Presents Her Dancers" (May 22, 1957). The Salem Evening News.
11. Boston Sunday Herald, Rotagravure Section (September 2, 1956). Cover photo.
12. Boston Sunday Herald, Rotagravure Section (July 26, 1959). Cover photo.
13. New York Journal-American (April 11, 1959). UPI photo: "Just Looking."
14. "New England Cheesecake, Florida Style" (May 1959). Florida Newspaper News and
Radio Digest. XXXX, No. 4, pp. 1, 3, 4. 15. Personally Speaking: Spring Fashion Show" (May 1, 1960). Lynn Sunday Post.
16. "Merrimack College ‘Career Girl’ of 1961" (May 18, 1961). The Peabody Times.
17. Rugg, Eddie (July 2, 1960). "Let's Go Dancing: Glenn Miller Band at Casino." Boston Daily
Record.
18. Rugg, Eddie (September 1, 1961). "Let's Go Dancing: Miller, Puente Bands Dell-Ru Stars."
Boston Evening American.
19. Rugg, Eddie (October 24, 1959). "Let's Go Dancing: James Slated for Commodore." Boston
Daily Record.
20. Rugg, Eddie (December 19, 1959). "Let's Go Dancing: Coral Gables Due Good Crowd".
Boston Daily Record.
21. Meaney, Edward T. "Beauty queen still reigns," Daily Evening Item of Lynn. Reprinted in
NECC Observer (October 13, 1977), p. 13.
22. Music Newsletter (January 1963). Stephen Lesieur's Music (Sheraton-Park Hotel,
Washington, D.C.), p.1.
23. Music Newsletter (January 1963).
24. "Brains As Well As Beauty: Assets of Freedman Sisters." (June 26, 1961). The Chelsea
Record.
25. Meaney, Edward T.
26. Hendey, Lisa M. "Getting to Know a Good Man."
http://www.catholic.net/index.php?size=menos&id=2857&option=dedestaca. Retrieved
2010-7-09.
27. Pinto, Nick (October 13, 2006). "When death link strangers." The Daily Newburyport News,
p. 1.
28. Counselor's Notebook. http://www.masca.org/index.php/about/publications/counselors-
notebook.
29. Fearer, Myrna (November 16, 2005). "Creating a lasting tribute of love."
http://www.wickedlocal.com/danvers/fun/entertainment/arts/x563288079. Retrieved 2010-
07-09.
30. Weber, Kerry (September 10, 2007). "Single, Catholic, connecting to God--U.S. singles
outnumbering married, with many finding spiritual meaning."
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=25301. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
31. Fearer, Myrna.
32. Fearer, Myrna.
33. WickedLocal.com/Danvers.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/danvers/search?q=sally+a+connolly. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
34. Senior Wire. http://seniorwire.net/CurrentBudget.html. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
35. A Boy from Lawrence: The Collected Works of Eugene F. Connolly. ISBN 978-0977265312.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0977265315.
36. Never Better: All Things Considered. ISBN 978-0977265329.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0977265323.
37. Matters on My Mind: MOMM. ISBN 978-0977265350. http://www.neverbetter.net. 38. More on My Mind: MOMM. ISBN 978-0977265398. www.lulu.com.
External links
Author's personal website, www.neverbetter.net.
"1950s Beauty Pageant Judging Guidelines" (July 22, 2009). Sociological Images.
http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/07/22/1950s-beauty-pageant-judging-guidelines/
"Casino Ballroom: Hampton Beach Since 1899."
http://www.casinoballroom.com/history.php.
Dempsey, Ernest (May 2008). "Author Interview: Sally A. Connolly on Never Better."
Audience Buzz. Issue 7. http://www.worldaudience.org/pubs_bks/Buzz7.pdf.
"Miss Hampton Beach Pageant 50th Anniversary Programme, Chapter 3 (January 1, 2004).
Lane Memorial Library.
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/recreation/pageant/pageant_3.htm.
Source: Wikipedia 2012
Miss Essex County 1955
Miss Sea Nymph 1956
Hampton Beach, NH
Miss Hampton Beach 1957
Hampton, NH
Miss Massachusetts USA 1958
Miss New England Ballroom
Passing the Crown
Modeling 1956-1961
Band Vocalist
1959-1963
Sisters, Sisters
Janice and Sally Ann graduate with honors. Janice is valedictorian at Peabody High School and Sally Ann is valedictorian of her class at
Merrimack College.