Mary Churchill

Mary Phipps Putnam Churchill (December 29, 1930 - November 16, 1997) was an American puppeteer, educator, and entrepreneur. Her puppet troupe, The Cranberry Puppets, entertained children for 25 years with witty feminist adaptations of folktales. Churchill was founder and director of Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. Early life and education Churchill was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of three children of Charles Washburn Putnam and his wife, Imogene Phipps (née Hogle). Churchill attended Radcliffe College and Barnard College (Class of 1952). She studied economics and government. In 1968, she earned a Master of Arts degree from Simmons College. Career Churchill taught elementary grades in the Boston school system. She taught third grade in Roxbury and was a reading specialist in Newton. There, she began using puppets to teach students who had trouble learning to read.