[Oe List ...] Mary Coggeshall

[George Packard]

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,   <http://www.proliteracy.org> www.proliteracy.org

 

 

Losing Mary

 


L

ast month I received word of Mary Coggeshall's passing, and felt sadness at
the loss of a friend and an ally in the work of peace and justice.  "Main
Street Mary" 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
"disappeared"; 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 hotels...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 stairs..smiling, saying "Welcome to
Santiago."  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.  "Is what we are doing changing
lives?"  "Are we beginning an action that will be sustained over years?" 

 

I will no longer be able to share a cup of tea with Main Street Mary,
seeking her advice. I won't  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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20100226/2bc63b12/attachment.html>