Mary was warm and genuinely interested in people from all walks of life. She always spent far more time asking about others' lives than she ever spent talking about her own. And because she was fully engaged with whomever she was talking to at the moment, the next time she saw that person she remembered the details of what she had been told.
I observed for years the effect that exchanges with Mary had on other people. She was so warm and interested in others that when people had a chance to connect with her, it could feel like the best thing that had happened to them all day.
Mary was quick to spot the special gifts of the people she met and was driven to connect those she believed could do more for society working together. There are organizations doing things like improving the lives of millions of people with cancer that exist, in part, because Mary helped to bring together the people who created them.
A former president of the University of Washington described Mary by saying she was “the glue that held the board of regents together.” He went on to say, “Mary had a quiet dignity about her that affected other people.”