A lifelong resident of Newburyport, Colleen (Sullivan) Hughes, the daughter of four-time Newburyport Mayor Dick Sullivan, attended The Kelley School from fifth through eighth grade. Garry Hughes came to the Kelley after a few years at both Brown and the Bresnahan schools, and, as fate would have it, ended up in the same class as Colleen for three years.
Some other former students at The Kelley School probably ended up marrying one another, although Colleen and Garry, married for 32 years, know of no other couple but themselves.
“Kids came from all types of families but we all got along and respected one another,” Colleen said.
They met in sixth grade, in a classroom that looked very much the same on June 19, 2007, the day that Kelley School closed. The year was 1968, but it would be a few more years before Garry, now a Newburyport firefighter, made the move.
“He was probably sitting behind me making faces or something,” joked Colleen, who runs the longtime Hughes family business, Newburyport Printmaker on Inn Street, with her husband.
Garry, however, was a good friend of Colleen’s brother, Dick Sullivan Jr., and the three hung out. They graduated from Kelley and went on to Newburyport High School. It was not until after high school graduation in 1975 that Garry became attentive. He asked Colleen out a few times, but she declined.
“I was hung up about my height,” the six-foot-one-inch Colleen says. “And he asked my brother how tall I was!”
If not for Mrs. Sullivan, who told her daughter in no uncertain terms that if she did not give Garry at least a chance she was grounded, who knows what might have happened.
Colleen said Garry liked her because she was “a funny guy,” a point supported by her big smile.
