MARY P. BARNARD

I hope the heavens sparkle like your eyes and heavenly choirs match the beautiful notes in your laughter. Looking back, I think of not one bad moment between us except for an odd few I brought on. I hope your spirit is soaring. you are in my heart.

Dear Mary, You are more alive than ever. My students, writing about love in Bob Dylan´s songs, could be writing about you. You were a wondrous person, a deep and yet light-hearted soul. How I wish you were still in our world. Tommy

Dear Mary, I remember you, I remember your smile, I remember your soul, I remember your spirit, I remember your laugh, I remember your limitless giving to others, I remember the spirit of friendship that kept you linked with people, I remember not one angry or unkind or unpleasant word you ever said in writing or in talking--because none exists. I am wrapping up my career here and I have unearthed old memorabilia. Your love has been like the pilot light on a stove top that even exposed to...

Your loving soul and person still sustain me as I live through my life. I was just speaking with a close friend this morning about having a flat tire in your dad's car in summer 1972 and me, being a long-haired impractical college junior, jacked it up not with the jack under the car's frame, but the side panel of the car between the passenger wheel well and the bumper, so when the jack lifted that part off the ground the whole front side crumpled under the weight. You laughed and laughed and...

The love and friendship you showed me in 1972 and always when we met long afterwards has sustained me throughout my life since then, almost 50 years. I do not know what happens when life ends, but I do know that you live on inside me and are a big part of the love that my wife Lisa and I share now. I would love to be able to see how the Mary we knew at Boston College took on Covid and cared for others affected by it with the kind of joy and the kind of laughter about things others think...

Thinking back now almost six years. It seems like 6 centuries. Where are you now, Mary? Where have you gone? How is it that you are still here in my heart, soul and memory? Your laughter. Your joy. Your calm acceptance. Your uncomplaining nature.

requiescas in pace aeterna

Mary was a special person. In a lifetime that now has reached 68 and one half years, I have known only three other such women with souls that are such deep pools of love and caring and understanding. Her candle burned brightly and its afterglow is still there.

I send my prayers and deepest sympathies to Mary's family at this time of her passing.

I only knew Mary from seeing her at daily Mass - St Lawrence in Odenton. I knew she had cancer, but was always cheerful and brave. She would often ask about my health. Wish I'd known her better. My prayers for her and her family.