Honoring the Past, Empowering Future Scholars

Mary Anne and Gene Shannon, pictured in 2011 with their cat Ashley.

When Gene Shannon met his future wife Mary Anne, she was a psychiatric nurse at Yale raising two young daughters. He was a dealer in 18th-century American furniture, and, after they married, she eventually joined him in what would become a long and successful business partnership. As he shifted his focus to American and European art, Mary Anne also deepened her knowledge and expertise.

“Within a year and a half, she had one of the best eyes in the business,” Gene recalls. They grew their enterprise together and founded Shannon’s Fine Art Auctioneers in Milford.

Gene raised Mary Anne’s daughters, Susan and Sandra, as his own, and the family settled in Woodbridge. After Susan’s sudden death in 2022, Gene established the Susan Jennifer Weldon Fund at The Community Foundation as a designated fund benefiting St. Martin de Porres Academy, a free private school for low-income families. The Shannon family was introduced to the school through a Christmas clothing drive and attended its fundraising events over the years. The school’s mission had a strong appeal for Mary Anne, who had become a first-generation college student herself with the help of a scholarship to a nursing school.

Following Mary Anne’s passing in 2024, Gene decided to leave a portion of his estate as a bequest to create the Mary Anne Shannon Memorial Fund at The Community Foundation. The fund will also support St. Martin de Porres, providing lasting support for educational opportunity. “That’s what Susan would have wanted,” Gene says.