My maternal grandfather, Lawrence Theodore Mutty, was born on June 12, 1905 in Bangor, Maine. Lawrence was the youngest child of John Baptist Mutty and Estelle Pooler. His parents were born in Maine to Québécois families. Significantly younger than his siblings (all born between 1885-1896), Lawrence benefited from the family’s financial stability and social standing.
By the time he was four years old, the Muttys had moved from Bangor to Melrose, Massachusetts. Lawrence attended St. Mary’s Grammar School in Melrose, followed by three years at St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers. He transferred to Boston College High School, where he graduated in 1923.
I knew that my grandfather earned a medical degree from the Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery in Waltham, MA, on the site that now houses Brandeis University. In 2012, I brought my mother to the archives at Brandeis. University Archivist Maggie McNeely graciously unearthed Lawrence’s records, including his school application.
On the application, Lawrence listed three references: Dr. Joseph H. Fay, Melrose family doctor and public health advocate; Dr. Russell F. Sullivan, a Melrose native and Boston-area orthopedic surgeon; and U.S. Senator David Walsh, the first Catholic senator from Massachusetts. Senator Walsh visited Knights of Columbus chapters through the state, likely including Melrose, to maintain contact with constituents.
The application revealed that Lawrence’s medical education took a circuitous route. He attended Boston College for one year, then took courses in Chemistry at Boston University and Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology before heading over to Harvard Dental School for one year. He changed direction by entering the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy. Lawrence graduated as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) in 1929. He interned at Wesson Memorial Hospital in Springfield, MA before applying for post-graduate work at Middlesex. He received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in 1931.
That same summer, Lawrence married Margaret Deasy in the chapel of the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus in Melrose. He and Margaret attended the same grammar school. Their romance began when they were in local theatrical productions. On March 23, 1923, a Melrose Free Press review of the comedy “Peg o’ My Heart” observed:
A sweeter Peg than Miss Deasy could hardly be imagined…Her work was greeted with a storm of applause. Lawrence Mutty played the part of Jerry, his masculine personality making him an ideal hero.
Lawrence and Margaret began their married life in Manchester-by-the-Sea. Within a few years, they moved to Wareham where Lawrence practiced medicine with privileges at the newly opened Tobey Hospital. They had two children—my uncle Lawrence Barry and my mother Moira Margaret.
Tragically, Lawrence developed malignant hypertension, a condition that was almost always fatal before the advent of effective blood pressure medications. He died on February 26, 1942 at the age of 36, leaving behind his wife and two young children. His sister Marie helped Margaret bring him home. She and her husband Louis McNally offered a plot in Wyoming Cemetery. He is buried in Melrose, MA.
To my mother’s father–because you endured, I am here. I did not know your voice, your dreams, or your fears, yet I know that you lived.
Tracing North 