[Dialogue] Mary Coggeshall

Mon Mar 1 12:21:23 CST 2010

> Dear Elise and all of our colleagues:
> 
> Thanks Elise for your remembrance of Mary...I have  a story to share as
> well...Sheryl and I attended the global conference in Taiwan and then with
> Mary and Bayard and I think 4 others headed for a post conf. week in mainland
> China following the trip pattern established by Jean Houston the year
> before...So we took a slow boat to China out of Hong Kong when Mary insisted
> on Sheryl singing out of the harbor on a mike that was broadcast all over the
> boat. We laughed had drinks and later all shared a cozy room for a little
> sleep..The real story however took place once we got our Chinese guide who
> alongside our American guide who could speak Chinese took us on our
> itinerary...The Chinese guide always ordered food  for us. He ordered chicken
> feet which we insisted we didn¹t like...So we thought the next time we ordered
> food since we said we didn¹t like chicken feet that they would not make the
> menu for us. Nope there they were. Every meal time chicken feet. So Mary made
> this our mantra for for the trip..Every place we went for any meal there she
> was telling the story over and over again...Her laugh and smile are still with
> me. This gives me a warmth of humble person she was. Nope we never sent back
> the legs. We smiled, laughed and the trip was made more memorable . Of course
> in the process we won over the guide who was in 7th heaven with all of these
> chicken feet in him...
> I celebrate with all of you Mary¹s continuation in all of us.
> 
> Be well,
> 
> Salvatore
> 
> 
> K Elise and Marilyn;
> Thank you for your comments on this great lady and this great family. Carol
> and I feel our lives would never have been the same without Mary¹s involvement
>  in Fifth City, in Training Inc. and in The IERD. It is too bad Mother Nature
> had other travel plans for so many who would like to memorialize her but as K.
> Elise, says, ³She is not lost² and we will all enjoy this dialogue about the
> ways she bent History  not just ours but the world¹s.
>  
> 
> With kindest regards.
>  
> M. George Walters
> Resurgence Publishing Corporation
> 4240 Sandy Shores Dr
> Lutz, FL 33558
> USA
> Tel: +1 (813) 948-7267
> Fax: +1 (813) 333-1787
> Mob: +1 (813) 505-9041
>  
> URL: www.ResurgencePublishing.com
> Professional Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mgwalters
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
> From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net]
> On Behalf Of marilyncrocker
> Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 00:09
> To: dialogue at wedgeblade.net
> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Mary Coggeshall
>  
> 
> Hi Dear K. Elise,
> 
>  
> 
> I loved reading your piece on Losing Mary.  Wasn't she a great lady, indeed!!
> 
>  
> 
> Our memories of that fine Coggeshall family were first with Bayard, who came
> to the Maliwada consult in December 1975, I imagine as most US docs at that
> time, quite walking on the cutting edge of the untested, and yet willing to
> explore, venture, step over the abyss.  Little did we know that a powerhouse
> gal stood in the shadows of the homeland and was ready to do all you have
> described, and more.
> 
>  
> 
> Our Order was blessed to have the Coggeshall family, like so many others who
> decided to be "those who care," join us, take our hands, often lead us and
> encourage us to "do the impossible deed."
> 
>  
> 
> I trust Mary and Bayard's kids and grandkids know how important their
> forebears have been in what we once (and rightly) called "the civilizing
> process."  I hope they (the dear ones now remaining) might dip into Saviours
> of God and somehow come to know that their parents and grands were, indeed,
> making stepping stones along the crimson line.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for initiating our OE celebration of dear Mary.
> 
>  
> 
> With love and appreciation,
> 
>  
> 
> Marilyn
> 
>  
> 
> On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:36:45 -0700 "George Packard" <george.packard1 at rcn.com>
> writes:
>> 
>>  
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> Tomorrow is a memorial service for  Mary Coggeshall.   In honor of the many
>> contributions that Mary made to the life and work of ICA, and knowing that
>> many of us in the ICA network will continue to benefit from her wisdom, I
>> share this bit of writing.
>> In gratitude,
>> Elise
>> K. Elise Packard, Ph.D., Project Manager
>> 
>> International Family Literacy Initiative
>> 
>> ProLiteracy Worldwide,  www.proliteracy.org <http://www.proliteracy.org>
>> 
>>  
>>  
>> Losing Mary 
>>  
>>  
>>   L   
>> ast month I received word of Mary Coggeshall¹s passing, and felt sadness at
>> the loss of a friend and an ally in the work of peace and justice.  ³Main
>> Street Mary² had earned her name from neighbors who admired her passion for
>> making good things happen in her own community. I knew her as someone who
>> extended her main street to dirt roads continents away.
>>  
>> I lost Mary once in Chile. She was not lost, but I could not find her shortly
>> after she was supposed to arrive in Santiago. She had ventured beyond the
>> quiet streets of New Jersey to travel to Santiago to encourage our work in a
>> small Chilean village during the time of the Pinochet government. In the
>> political environment of that era, people were ³disappeared²; so not knowing
>> if Mary had arrived, or where she and her friend, Retty, might be staying was
>> unsettling.  In 1978 there were no cell phones; in fact, there were no phones
>> at all in the village. Making a call required walking several miles into the
>> next town to call from the municipal office.  I walked, I called hotelsŠ..no
>> Mary. That evening we were hosting a reception in Santiago for those who were
>> supporting our work, so I traveled on the bus with members of our development
>> team from the village to the city. When we entered the hotel, the site of the
>> reception, there was Mary standing with Retty at the top of the
>> stairsŠ.smiling, saying ³Welcome to Santiago.² Mary was at ease, in spite of
>> having had to find her way from the airport to the hotel without the benefit
>> of speaking Spanish.  She was in a new place, but she was not lost.
>>  
>> Mary once said that when she, Retty and I got together, you could expect the
>> unexpected. When I was asked to meet Mary and Retty at the airport in
>> Chicago, I was determined not to lose them. This time, with the benefit of a
>> telephone, I was right there when they arrived, ready to pack their luggage
>> into the car and gracefully move through Chicago traffic.  As the three of us
>> talked about past adventures and present concerns, I noticed that we were low
>> on gas. I was relieved to find a gas station; but in exiting the car, I noted
>> that we had a flat tire.  Mary and Retty were game to walk to a nearby ice
>> cream store for a treat while a mechanic changed the tire. I was flustered,
>> Retty found it humorous, and Mary was calm.
>>  
>> In fact, Mary was calm driving the New Jersey Turnpike, hosting a formal
>> reception, sharing a cup of tea in her kitchen. Calm, but not shy about
>> raising concerns and asking tough questions.  ³Is what we are doing changing
>> lives?²  ³Are we beginning an action that will be sustained over years?²
>>  
>> I will no longer be able to share a cup of tea with Main Street Mary, seeking
>> her advice. I won¹t  be able to laugh with her about old times; nor cook up
>> plans for the future. But she is with me in the memory of her calm and her
>> questions.  I can ask for her advice; and see her warm smile.
>>  
>> We have lost Mary, but she is not lost
>>  
>>                 
>> Elise Packard, January 2010
>> 
>>  
> 
> Marilyn R. Crocker, Ed.D
> Crocker & Associates, Inc.
> 123 Sanborn Road
> West Newfield, ME 04095
> (207) 793-3711
> 
> 
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