Mom to Everyone

These days, we hear a lot about celebrity moms – Angelina Jolie and Beyonce, Jessica Simpson and Victoria Beckham, Sandra Bullock, Madonna and other mothers whose pregnancies, adoptions, and child-rearing practices are constantly making headlines. As much as we enjoy tuning in to celebrity mother news, we can't forget the everyday superwomen who raise children, maintain their homes, and, often work full-time jobs too.

As Mother's Day approaches, we're taking a look at one mom who did it all.

Mary Boullion, who died March 16, spent most of her 86 years taking care of people, according to the obituary at AnnArbor.com.

Her family wrote that Mary and her husband, John, raised 8 children and 24 foster children at their home on N. Terriorial Rd, in Dexter, MI.

Mary graduated from nursing school at age fifty and was a caring nurse for over fifteen years.

She also managed to start a business with her husband while caring for children, volunteered for several organizations (too many to list) and in later years was the director of the Dexter Senior Center and one of the founders of Amigos de los Ninos de Mexico.

Messages left in the online guest book support her family’s memories of Mary, saying that she influenced many lives, was “Mom” to everyone, and a neighbor they admired.

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This post was contributed by Alana Baranick, a freelance obituary writer. She is the director of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers and chief author of Life on the Death Beat: A Handbook for Obituary Writers.