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.