Marianna Donisi McCann

Marianna Donisi McCann, 89, of Charlotte, NC, passed away peacefully on May 23, following a period of declining health.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. June 6 at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Charlotte, N.C. Visitation with the family will begin at 10 a.m. A livestream will be available for those unable to attend in person, https://stgabrielchurch.org/livestream.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, she was the daughter of Italian immigrants, the late Raymond and Elizabeth Dennis. After high school she married the late Earl Harrison and together they had three children.

Her life went through many passages, including tending a 40-acre farm in southern Indiana with her husband when the children were young. While she considered motherhood her highest calling, after the youngest child began school she began a lifelong career working for social justice. Marianna began this career by working at one of the first Community Action Programs under President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.
She later moved with her family to Athens, Ga., where she formed meaningful friends and was active at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, including working in the church office.

She continued her career by joining the Housing Assistance Council in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit committed to promoting affordable housing and communities nationwide. There she was introduced to a man who would become the love of her life, Joseph Vincent McCann, of Baltimore, to whom she was married for 43 years.

After their marriage in 1982, a career opportunity for Vincent with the World Bank took them to Liberia, Africa, for three years. In Liberia, they became friends with other international couples and several of these friendships would continue the rest of her life. After returning to the United States, she became director of the Northwest Baltimore Development Corporation, a housing solutions nonprofit organization.

Following their retirement, Marianna and her husband moved to Wilmington, N.C., where for 15 years their home served as a gathering spot for her adult children and their families, especially spending time with her grandchildren. For a majority of her time in Wilmington, she led the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) program at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Marianna and Vince moved to Charlotte, NC in 2017 to be closer to a family support system.

Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister Lorraine. They both grew up surrounded by an extended Italian immigrant family.
Left to cherish her memory are her husband Vincent; daughters Polly Harrison McDaniel of Asheville, N.C., and Julie Harrison Saunders of Charlotte, N.C.; son Eric Harrison and his wife Lane of Georgia; and stepchildren Kate Raynor and Kevin McCann of Maryland. Survivors also include grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including Will Saunders, his wife Kristin Saunders and their two children, Harrison and his wife Delaney Saunders and their child of Charlotte; Morgan McDaniel and his wife Maggie Shelton of Asheville; and Ian and Seth McCann and Emma and Bradley Raynor.

Throughout her life, Marianna maintained a strong commitment to her Catholic faith, to family, friends and her belief in the importance of social justice. She was dearly loved and will remain in our hearts forever.