Our dear friend Mary Archibald passed away peacefully at age 88, at the St. Mary's Care Facility this past week. Mary loved her Collingswood church family. Her gentle presence will be greatly missed. She has been a quiet, smiling, and faithful fixture at worship and our church events, usually walking from her nearby apartment.

Mary was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, October 19, 1933. Her father, Wilber Archibald was a physics teacher at Poughkeepsie High School. Her mother, Marjorie Dickson went to Cornell and was a librarian. An only child, Mary had plenty of attention and a happy childhood. Her grandparents lived on a farm and through that felt a special kinship with animals her entire life.

She graduated from the University of Connecticut where she majored in Home Economics. After college, she moved to South Jersey working as women's editor at the Woodbury Times newspaper. She was the only woman in the newsroom. She later moved to the Courier-Post. She wrote feature articles and human interest. Next, she was at the Philadelphia Bulletin which gave her more writing opportunities. She also published freelance articles for magazines.

Mary was not only a writer but also an avid reader. She played the piano. She loved to garden and plant flowers. She loved her pet Guineapigs. She spoke French and Latin and traveled to Paris in the 1960's for an extended visit. She never really retired, but until her later years always had some kind of job going.

If you talked with her, you found her to be a very articulate, intelligent woman, with a great vocabulary, and very much aware of the world around her. Right up to and including her last days, Mary never lost her mental acuity or her ability to have a great conversation with you. Her memory was sharp and never failed. She could tell you in detail about current news, or things that happened 50, 60 years ago: names, places, dates, events.

Mary was a walker. She walked everywhere, well into her eighties: to church, to town, the grocery, the library, to restaurants. Mary loved to eat and especially enjoyed our boisterous church Fellowship Meals. She was a unique and talented individual. Maybe a little odd or eccentric in her own way, but always in touch with things, realistic and kind. She viewed her quirks with self-deprecating humor.

Many of us have enjoyed the company of Mary, talked with her, helped her with her needs. She appreciated that. She loved her church friends very much. We thank the Lord for sending her our way and look forward to the day we see her again, in glory.

Arrangements by the FOSTER-WARNE FUNERAL HOME, Collingswood and Audubon, NJ.