How do you say goodbye to someone that has either directly or indirectly shaped your professional life?
This past Sunday, I traveled to Sacrameto where I joined Lynlee Fullenwider (President of HTCC), Bill Walsh, (Chair of AHTF), and many of Mary's colleagues, friends, and family for a final farewell to a woman who touched each of us so deeply. The memorial was a befitting tribute to Mary's life - a life that was filled with color and meaning, with family, faith, friends, and the arts, both visual and performing, with her quilting, embroidery and musical talent. And of course, her profession - Mary was an occupational therapist who dedicated her life to the birth and nurturing of hand therapy. As a founding member of the American Society of Hand Therapists, and the first president and later executive director of the Hand Therapy Certification Commission, Mary helped shape our profession for over 30 years.
Mary achieved a balance of work and play in her life that we all try to achieve. Even in her passing she mentored us in how to live our lives to the fullest and how to die with dignity. The memorial was, among many things, a musical one. The 100+ members of the choral that she sang with lined the halls of the church filling it with song and prayer that I know reached the heavens. Her daughter, who gave a beautiful tribute, told us that Mary always told them to live by this motto: "Full heart, clear eyes....can't lose!" (From Friday Night Lights)
Goodbye my dear friend....and from all of us………. thank you.
