Shalom, Mary Anne

 

Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates.

– Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi

We lost our “little” sister Mary Anne recently, complications from a heart attack.  She had multiple health issues, not the least of which was Parkinson’s Disease.

Despite a myriad of physical issues, Mary Anne never let her health problems define her.  She was, first, and always, a child of God who worshiped her savior Jesus Christ with all of her mind, body, and soul.

And all—every single one--of her gifts.

She was an artist, in nearly every sense of that word.  She could act, sing, draw, write, paint, sculpt, photograph, sew, design and just about any other artistic endeavors you might think of. If it involved creativity, she’d go for it. She embodied the notion that in a world gone crazy with violence and destruction, she would create.

So, what has this to do with being a pirate…uh…privateer?

Allow me to explain.

Mary Anne was a member of a “crew” of military reenactors.  It was the perfect endeavor for her.  It invited her to do all of these things that she loved to do and added teaching history to the list. She was a member of the crew of the Archangel, described as “… an award-winning group of Living Historians dedicated to accurately portraying early Colonial Maritime History and the Golden Age of Pyracy.” (No, that’s not a typo, but the way it was spelled in the 17^th century…”)

I often referred to her as a pirate, complete with the requisite “Arrgh, me matey”, wisecracks about peg legs and parrots, etc.

Of course, she corrected me, the proper term was ‘privateer’. A term used to describe a pirate with a license to pillage and plunder.  The Archangel had permission to pillage and plunder “enemy” ships. Hence, the term privateer.

The “crewe” was not merely playing pirate; they were, and are, serious historians.  Every detail has to be historically accurate, every costume proper (right down to the sewing techniques), behavior, decorum, and language right out of the 17^th Century.  Even food recipes and cooking utensils were included. As is the case with many historical reenactors, walking into their campsite was like travelling back in time.   

“Pirates of the Caribbean”?   Johnny Depp’s “Jack Sparrow” character could learn much from these reenactors.  Doing this was right up Mary Anne’s alley.  It used and displayed all of her many artistic talents. 

She designed and sewed costumes.  She did visual displays of many kinds, including designing and painting a representation of The Archangel’s figurehead. Once of her characters was the Irish proprietress of an “inn”.  As another, she played a character who was the ship’s steward.  She was into the role so much that the license plate on her 21^st century car read “STEWRD”.  She wrote entire backstories for her characters. She loved to share what she and her crewmates knew and were able to learn about maritime history and could readily weave a story about her character.  

I’d like to say that she had the heart of a pirate, but her heart was way too big, much too open for that to be true.  More about that later…

She had a pirate’s sense of adventure.  She was something of a risk taker—not a carless one, but not afraid to take a chance.

 In High School, she joined a marching group called “The Buccaneers” (how prophetic?), not knowing a lot about what they did, but eventually ending up teaching the routines, etc. to younger members of the group for pay.  

She was working in Philadelphia as a graphic designer, and when out to lunch one day, dropped a business card in a contest bowl at the restaurant, not even considering that she might win the prize, but only subject herself to a sales pitch.  In fact, that is what she thought happened when the local Jaguar dealer called her, but it turned out that she had won a two-year free, lease on a brand-new Jaguar XJS! That was a high-end, high-performance sports sedan, that she wasn’t afraid to drive.

ON a few occasions, she piled into our minivan with myself, my wife and our three young kids and took camping trips, even driving to, and spending a week camping, on Prince Edward Island, Canada.  Our kids, now with families of their own, still talk fondly about those trips. 

She went to where her jobs took her, and eventually moved from New Jersey to Virginia.  She had made some strong friendships after becoming involved with the Archangel crewe.   Mary Anne got close to people, that was her nature.  She simply let people in. 

One of those relationships brought her to her church in Charlottesville, Virginia. It brought her to a whole new group of friends, but she never lost touch with old friends. 

She was very much involved in her church and loaned all of her talents.  She really believed, and proved, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:15, “Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit was at work in Mary Anne.  Her worship used all her talents.  She sang, of course. She painted, even doing so as an active part of a worship service.  She painted a mural of children at her church.  She was doing illustrations, pictures of children, part of a book for children, a book that a friend was writing to teach children about God and faith.

That same Spirit was also at work when Mary Anne took in a homeless person, a woman who had fallen on hard times and who was living in her car, as winter set in.  That turned out to be fortuitous, despite all the warning bells about inviting a stranger into your home that her family (this writer included) and friends sounded. It was that very same woman who talked her into going to the hospital and drove her there.  Had she been alone in her home…

“...For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.   But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” Ecclesiastes 4:10

As I said previously, she had a large, warm, open heart. 

On a personal level, she was not only my sister-in-law, but she was also my friend.   We could talk for hours about nothing and about everything, about deep matters and about nonsense.  We shared our faith experiences often, but just as often, quoted Monty Python bits.

That ability would turn out to be a blessing to me. 

Last year, I underwent a bout of anxiety, which I have written about elsewhere in this blog.  I was never able to express to her how much she helped me get past that darkness, or how grateful I was.

It didn’t matter what time it was, or what she was doing, Mary Anne would drop everything to talk to me, to calm me down, in whatever way she could.  She even sang to me over the phone on one occasion.  She said that she didn’t know what else to do for me.  

It worked. 

There is a large hole in every life that she touched.

“Return O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” -- Psalm 116

Shalom, Little Sister.