Service to community and neighbor comes with incredible ease to these longtime parishioners of the Church of Saint Mary in Manhasset, Carol and Brian Dunning.
Carol and Brian Dunning met at law school at Boston College in 1987 after having attended The University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University, respectively. Soon after law school they were married. In 2002, after their youngest child Eamon was born, they moved to Manhasset and settled in Munsey Park.
Once in Manhasset, they realized that they wanted a Catholic education for their children and quickly came to know the late Monsignor John J. McCann, then the pastor of Saint Mary’s, and Dr. Celeste Checchia, the principal of Saint Mary’s Elementary School. And so began their steadfast commitment of service to the church and schools of Saint Mary’s in Manhasset.
Carol Dunning has served for several years as a Eucharistic minister, both at the church and the Bristal Assisted Living community. She is a past chairperson of the High School Advisory Board, served on the High School Gaels’ Parents’ Association Leadership Committee for 10 years, and was a member of the Elementary School Board and for two years served as the Elementary School PTO Vice President. Carol Dunning is also a member of the Rosary Society and volunteers her time with the RCIA program. Brian Dunning has served for several years as a lector and is a member of the Parish Pastoral Council and Pastor’s Strategic Advisory Committee.
It is almost hard to tell which is their full-time job: service to the Parish of Saint Mary or their legal practices. Carol Dunning is the general counsel to Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty and Brian Dunning is a founding partner of Dunning Rievman LLP, the president emeritus of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce and a volunteer legal advisor to the Holy See Mission to the United Nations.
For more information on the upcoming Saint Mary’s Parish Gala on Oct. 30 at the Plandome Country Club, contact Sean Collins in the Church of Saint Mary Office of Development at 516-627-4605 or email scollins@stmary.ws.
—Submitted by the Church of Saint Mary’s Manhasset
