Mary Edith Campbell

1931 - 2017

CAMPBELL
Mary Edith
Mary Edith Campbell (DeBolt) passed away on January 5, 2017 having lived a rich and fulfilling life. Mary was born July 31, 1931 in Toledo, Ohio, to Edward and Laura DeBolt (Militzer).
Growing up she enjoyed time on the water at the family cabin on Wolf Lake. She was a 1949 graduate of Ottawa Hills High School. She attended Michigan Normal College (EMU) where she got a B.S. in Special Education-Hearing Impaired in 1953. In 1954, she got her M.A. in Special Education-Hearing Impaired from Teachers College, Columbia University in NYC. Mary was a Fulbright scholar at Manchester University in England in 1964-65 in Guidance and Counseling of Deaf and Audiology. In 1978, she got her Ph.D. in Educational Administration from The University of Michigan. While teaching in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, she met Bruce, her future husband, at a deer camp in Cornell.
Mary and Bruce moved to Ida, Michigan, after they married in 1957 where Mary founded the Monroe County Program for the Hearing Impaired (MCPHI) in the Ida Public Schools. Mary was a forceful proponent of auditory-oral education for hearing impaired children. She pioneered access to special education for students in public schools even before the federal mandate.
Mary built a nationally recognized program by setting high standards for her exceptional staff who she handpicked and cultivated, by encouraging significant parental involvement through the Advocates of the Hearing Impaired, and by believing in the students' abilities to utilize their residual hearing and fostering their oral language in order to effectively communicate and become productive adults who found success in the world. Her legacy is found in the countless successful students, appreciative parents and in the dedicated teachers who benefited from her visionary leadership. The MCPHI flourished under Mary's leadership for 35 years until her retirement in 1991.
The U.S. State Department tapped Mary's expertise in 1995 to spend six weeks in Bahrain where she trained teachers to educate the hearing impaired, and facilitated the fitting of hearing aids. She was the first U.S. trained teacher to act in this capacity in the Middle East for the U.S. government. Mary was a frequent lecturer at The University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and at Bowling Green University. She served as Supervisor of Student Teachers for Eastern Michigan University. Mary also maintained professional involvement in numerous organizations on state, national and international levels including being active and taking on leadership roles in: the National Advisory Group to National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York; Council for Exceptional Children; The American Speech and Hearing Association; The Alexander Graham Bell Association; The American Speech and Hearing Association; Michigan Speech and Hearing Association; Michigan Association for Better Hearing and Speech; Council on Education of the Deaf; Michigan State Supervisors of Special Education;the National Advisory Committee for the Office of Demographic Studies, Gallaudet College; Phi Kappa Phi; Phi Delta Kappa; and she was a charter member of the Beta Rho chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma.
Mary maintained a lifelong love of horses. At the age of 14 she began riding at Howard's Stables in Temperance, MI. Her riding prowess led to an appearance in Sports Illustrated in 1959. She passed along her passion for horses to teachers and students in the hearing impaired program as well as to her own children who became successful equestrians in their own right.
Mary and her husband, Bruce, traveled extensively. They lived in Manchester, England for a year where Mary studied on her Fulbright Grant and Bruce taught in the English schools. There, they took advantage of a Euro-rail pass to wander all over Europe and even crossed the Atlantic on the QE II. With their children, each summer, they would travel the U.S. From coast to coast, enjoying visiting friends, family, National Parks and meeting with and making new friends everywhere they went. In 2009, Mary and her daughter, Heather, had a special trip to Africa. Subsequent trips led them to Croatia, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal and Greece.
Mary and Bruce maintained a lifelong passion for antiques and collecting. They started an antiques business which included 30+ years of antique booths, shows, barn sales at their home, as well as regular visits to auctions, flea markets, garage sales and antique shops. Mary so enjoyed the people she met through the antiques business and her research of interesting finds.
Mary was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 57 years, Bruce. She is survived by her children, Heather (Jon) Campbell-Lieberman (Ohio) and Keith (Michigan). She is also survived by extensive family across the United States and Europe.
In lieu of a funeral, a Celebration of Life will be planned for Saturday, June 3, 2017 at Ida High School.
Memorial contributions can be made to The Alexander Graham. Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing College Scholarship Program 3417 Volta Place, NW Washington, DC 20007 or to The Henry Ford (an educational institution dedicated to American history and innovation) which Mary shared with many students, friends and family members. Donations will go toward a bench in Greenfield Village bearing Mary's name. https://giving.thehenryford.org/ (313)982-6115.
To send the family condolences please go online to:
capaulfuneralhome.com
As published in The Blade