Volunteer editor amazed by Fig Tree stories

By Kaye Hult

Almost from the inception of The Fig Tree, Mary Mackay has been there to lend a helping hand. She is one of The Fig Tree's longest standing supporters and volunteers.

She joined the Advisory Committee, helping wherever needed, including with deliveries in the memorably hot summer of 1984, just after the first issue came out.

"I attended the Advisory Committee for three years," she said.

She backed away from volunteering to further her education.

"Even when I was not active, with The Fig Tree, it was always an interest," she said.

Since shortly before she retired in 2002, along with her husband, ophthalmologist Alan with whom she worked, Mary has been a mainstay among The Fig Tree's volunteers.

She continues to help out in a variety of ways, including with editing since before she retired, when she helped occasionally.

"I find it amazing every time we see articles for the first editing round," she reflected.

"The stories are so interesting! People we write about have been working quietly, getting things done, helping people, seeing where there's need," she continued. "Some people are courageous in taking on difficult jobs. Every month I discover things I didn't know."

Mary also participates on the Development and Benefit Planning Committee, where she helps with financial planning, organizing the annual Spring Benefit Lunch, the Breakfast-Time Benefit and other projects.

Once a month, she joins another group of volunteers for a morning to prepare the mailings.

"My passion for giving of my time to the community came from my parents and wider family," she said.

"I'm a first-generation immigrant. My dad was born in Scotland," Mary said. "My mother was good at making people see on the other sides of things.

"I was born in Charleston, W.Va., where my dad worked for Union Carbide. From there, we moved to Willoughby, Ohio, where a neighbor took me to a Methodist church.

"When we moved to Scarsdale, N.Y.," Mary continued, "my family belonged to a nondenominational Congregational church. Dad taught Sunday school. My grandmother took us to a Presbyterian church in Yonkers. We'd take the trolley and then walk.

"From 1949 to 1955 we lived in Middlebury, Vt., where I attended high school at St. Mary's in the Mountains at Littleton, NH," she said. "I met students from other countries there."

My mother moved to Cambridge and went to Holland. In 1956, Mary and her sister met her mother, aunt and uncle for a bus trip to France, Holland and other European countries.

"I particularly remember Nancy, France. It was 11 years after the war had ended," she said. "That town had pretty well recovered. Some people we met on the bus took us to their homes and told us what happened in Holland where the land had been recovered from flooding. In Holland and France, we could still see marks of devastation from the war. Seeing men who had been wounded in war and the destruction around the cathedral in Cologne brought home how devastating the war was.

"At home, we didn't see wounded people or scarred communities," she said, noting that those experiences widened her world view.

Mary attended Radcliffe for two years before transferring to the University of Vermont in Burlington to be near Alan. She began studying chemistry but transferred to biology and earned a bachelor of arts in 1959.

"While there I had a woman mentor," she said. "I worked with the University of Vermont pathology department for two years in blood coagulation studies, testing the accuracy of a new type of blood cell counting machine."

She and Alan moved to Rochester, N.Y., for his residency in ophthalmology. There she attended graduate school at the University of Rochester, earning a master of science in biology in 1963.

Then Alan was drafted into the Air Force for two years, and they moved to Missouri. They returned to Rochester, so Alan could continue his ophthalmology studies, and Mary worked in biochemistry research.

"In the winter of the record-breaking snow in January 1969, we moved to Spokane, and Alan started his practice," she said.

Mary began to find her way in this new community. She joined the League of Women Voters, becoming their scribe.

Mary went to Episcopal churches in Vermont and New Hampshire. When they were married in an Episcopal Church in Cambridge, they were encouraged to find a church home. They joined First Congregational in Burlington, Vt., while Alan finished medical school. After her older sister married a Jewish man and converted, part of their family gatherings included Jewish traditions—especially Hanukkah at Christmas. She and Alan joined Westminster United Church of Christ in Spokane.

In the mid-1980s, she began volunteering with The Fig Tree until she decided to further her education. She went to Eastern Washington University, receiving a bachelor of arts in education in 1989. For a while, she went to Plummer as a substitute. Then she taught anatomy and physiology at Spokane Falls and took computer programming classes.

From the late 1980s until the early 2000s, Mary worked in Alan's office, doing the computer work and billing.

Beside working, Mary began to play violin again and joined Monday Musicale—singing in their Madrigal group—Spokane Falls Community Orchestra, the Project Joy orchestra and a string orchestra. Recently she has given up those groups because she and Alan are going frequently to Bellingham where both their daughters live with their families.

"I was still working when I started editing for The Fig Tree occasionally, but I have done more since Alan and I retired in 2002," she said.

Once she retired, Mary said, she decided volunteering at The Fig Tree would be a neat thing to do. "I like ecumenism. I like the stories. They excite me.

"I went to The Fig Tree 2003 Breakfast and agreed to volunteer," she said. "The next summer, I came on the Board and served for about five years, including as secretary."

After Westminster UCC asked her to become clerk for their board, she left The Fig Tree board. Even so, Mary continues to find ways to bolster the work of the Fig Tree.

"I believe in the concept of people working together and finding common ground," she reflected. "Articles show different ways of life, the joys and problems of life, and people who make a difference. There are a lot of people of goodwill around.

"To me there are new articles about people each month. It's amazing what people of different faiths do," Mary said.

For information, call 535-4112 or email info@thefigtree.org.