Jennie,
We are looking forward to being with you, Jim, Julie and Rick later today and tomorrow. It is a wonderful feeling to be a part of your extended family.
I wanted to share some of my thoughts, some of how I saw your Mom. She was indeed a wonderful and strong woman. I was lucky to count her as a family member and a friend. She always encourage me to continue to write, but it I still have to fight through writers block.
I hope the comments have some meaning to you, Julie, Rick and Jim. We love you.
Uncle Dick
It takes a lot of different words to describe MaryAnn.
I first met MaryAnn about 42 years ago after she became engaged to Jim. A couple of years after she and Jim were married, Jim's sister Susan and I were married.
Teacher, wife, musician, daughter-in-law, sister –in-law, mother, poet, grandmother, artist, and caring friend are all roles I saw MaryAnn take on over time. She had the incredible ability to meet people where they were. She listened with a caring heart. She was able to get others who might not otherwise engage in conversation to engage. And, it seemed to me that she could be involved in conversations on almost any topic.
Although she met people where they were, she seldom left them in the same place. She seemed to move them on to a different place, as far as I could see on to a better place in how they felt about themselves.
She enjoyed games. I watched her compete in card games … pinochle and cribbage come to mind. I watched her play games with her grandchildren, and then saw her watch her grandchildren playing their games, creating their own stories. When I played in any game with her, she most always included laughter in the competition. She was willing to adventure to Indiana with Jim, Susan and me to give a casino a try. None of us broke the bank, but we did laugh.
I always enjoyed hearing Mary Ann talk about being a teacher. I was always impressed that she strove more to educate, teaching the students how to use their mind, how to develop their thought processes and the joy of learning; rather than to train, teaching them how to do something. Based on MaryAnn's multiple skills, I am confident the students also learned how to do, but with a much deeper sense of why what they were doing was important and maybe even fun.
"Attitudes are more important than facts." This quote from Karl Menninger might be one way to describe MaryAnn as a teacher as well as in many of her other roles.
I saw MaryAnn interface with Jim's parents, her own children, her grandchildren, my wife, and our three daughters. Interface is not a good enough word; I think connect would be more accurate and descriptive word. Her ability to connect, aided her most recent journey through hospitals and nursing homes. She always made sure she knew the names of those helping her; made sure she knew their stories, and related those stories to others.
For me, I had the good fortune of not only having face-to-face conversations with Mary Ann, but exchanging many E-mails with her, discussing a wide range of topics. Always she encouraged expansion of my thought. She read and responded with thought, challenging me to consider other views. Sometimes I almost felt creative.
She encouraged my reading of books that I would never have considered reading. Because she was so well read, identifying a book that seemed to touch a particular topic or aspect of something going on in my life seemed to be easy for me. For example, Crossing the Unknown Sea by David Whyte. This spoke to his movement from a marine biologist to a poet in a way that allowed the reader to think through their own transitional opportunities. For me, looking at taking early retirement was the approaching transition. Another, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. She encouraged me to try to recognize and develop my creative side that perhaps she saw, but I did not. I'm still working on that one MaryAnn.
A quote mentioned in The Artist's Way that seems appropriate.
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." - Henry David Thoreau
This seems to fit MaryAnn in many ways. One word stands out to me right now … Imagine. MaryAnn had the ability to imagine and see so many possibilities. She had the strength to pursue those dreams. She had the strength to encourage others to imagine what they could do; to see what they were already doing that was good. MaryAnn painted the word "Imagine" on the walls of the lower level of Jim and her home. I can only imagine the place where MaryAnn now resides. But I can know with almost certainty that she is continuing to "imagine" bringing life and spirit to that place.
Another book we shared was Life Is For Loving It! by a local Cincinnati writer, Leland Davis. MaryAnn loved life. And, I for one am better for it. Thank you MaryAnn for being one of the blessings in my life.
Thank you Jim, Julie, Rick and Jennie for sharing MaryAnn with so many others.
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