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Mary Gabrielson Obituary
Mary is survived by her children Debby, David, Hugh and Carl, who were with her at her passing, and six grandchildren, Isabella, Sam, Oliver, Thomas, Kate and Zachary. She will be greatly missed by her brother Thomas, her sister Rachel, and many nieces and nephews.
Mary was born in 1924 in Juneau, Alaska, graduated from Smith College in 1946, and earned a medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1950, where she had met and fallen in love with Ira. Their careers in public health and medicine took them to Baltimore, New Haven, Berkeley, and Philadelphia, where they were both members of the faculty of the Medical College of Pennsylvania until their retirement in 1989. Mary was always deeply committed to women's health and family planning, and was a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist. After retirement, she continued to see patients two days a week at clinics in Springfield and Pittsfield.
Mary and Ira shared many passions, including travel, gardening and mountain climbing. They were both members of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the 4,000 Footer Club, having climbed all of the 48 peaks higher than that elevation in New Hampshire. To her family's amazement, she took up flying in her 70s, and owned and flew her own Cessna 172R into her 80s. Mary was an avid reader and was a volunteer at the Meekins Library in Williamsburg.
According to her wishes, the family will be holding a private memorial service later this year for family and close friends.
Contributions can be made in her honor to the Meekins Library, 2 Williams St., Williamsburg, MA 01096.
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Memories and Condolences
for Mary Gabrielson
4 Entries
August 20, 2015
Sending my condolences to the family. May God give you strength and peace during this difficult time. (Psalm 29:11)
Lisa Wenner
August 20, 2015
Mary worked tirelessly on behalf of the Meekins Library as a library trustee and as a volunteer. I loved talking to her about books, the ones we'd both enjoyed and the ones we reccomended to each other. I also loved her humor and wit. She and Ira were so supportive over the years to me and the library. They were wonderful citizens of our small town and the greater world.
Peter Pelland
August 19, 2015
I did not have the opportunity to get to know either Mary or Ira very well during my relatively short time living in the same town, but I was always impressed by Mary as friendly, intelligent and outgoing ... a perfect model for how many of us would like to live our later years in life.
August 19, 2015
Mary was a kind and gracious woman, with spunk. I met her later in her life and was glad I got to know her even a little bit.
My sympathy to all her family,
Daria
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