MARY
YOLANDA DOWLING: The Voice of an Angel
Give Mary Yolanda Dowling an instrument -- an
accordion, a piano or a set of bagpipes -- and she is
likely to produce a foot-stomping tune. She may have
spent her days as an administrator for Aon Corporation,
on the 92nd floor of 2 World Trade Center, but Ms.
Dowling's mind was often on her music.
The oldest of four children and deeply immersed in the
Celtic culture she inherited from her father, Ms.
Dowling, 46, spent much of her free time singing with a
choir near her home in Floral Park, N.Y. Rosaleen Shea,
her sister, said she received a standing ovation several
years ago after singing the national anthem at a Mets
game. "She had a voice like an angel and she shared it
with everyone, in good times or bad," Ms. Shea said. "Our
entire family is immersed in music, but Yolanda is the
most gifted."
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