It's been said that it takes a big heart to shape little minds . . . so when American author Robert Fulghum wrote his best-selling book "All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" Waltham's Mary McCue was already an expert in the field.

Her "work" as a kindergarten teacher in the city's public schools, mainly at the Fitzgerald School, centered around one word . . . Love. It really did define who she was. Mary loved her family at home and her family at school.

After graduating from Boston State College in 1973 she began a thirty-six year career in the classroom shaping young minds and helping to build bridges to the future. Even after she retired Mary was often on call and returned with a smile to help out in school wherever she was needed.

Mary was a daughter of the late Robert F. and Catherine (Liotta) White and grew up in Watertown where she graduated from Watertown High School in 1969. A year after she got out of college she married the love of her life, Watertown native Robert B. McCue, who was getting out of the Air Force after serving during the Vietnam War.

The couple moved to Waltham shortly after their marriage where they raised their family. While Mary went to work in the schools Bob ran the family business, McCue's Taxi, a fixture in Watertown Square for generations.

Bob and Mary enjoyed thirty-two years of marriage before his death on June 8, 2006. After that Mary continued to own and run the family taxi business. She died on Sunday, July 10, 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She turned 65 in February.

Mary's greatest joy in her life came from being a really great mother and a happy and doting grandmother. She loved going to the beach and she loved doing what came naturally to her . . . teaching her grandchildren.

She leaves her children, Matthew R. McCue and his wife, Melissa, of Dracut and Sean M. McCue and his wife, Brittany, of Wilmington; her grandchildren, Evan, Patrick, Katelyn and Robert McCue and her fifth grandchild due in December; her sisters, Janet Farren of North Andover and Catherine Whitehouse of Tewksbury; many nieces, nephews and her granddog, Bethel.

Mary was also a sister of the late Ann Marie Policelli.

Family and friends will honor and remember Mary's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Thursday, July 14th from 3 to 8 p.m. and again at 8 a.m. on Friday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Patrick's Church, 212 Main Street, Watertown where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Committal services will be held in Newton Cemetery Chapel.

Memorial donations may be made to The Waltham School Dept., Mary McCue Scholarship, 617 Lexington St., Waltham, MA 02452.