Mary Ella Howell Bird

is honored with a Large Paver from Daniel Keith Bird, Joan Bird, Micahel Bird, and Mary K. Bird-Guilliams.

Mary Ella Howell Bird was loved by all who knew her and they numbered many because she had an abiding interest in people. As her family members, she lives at the core of our spiritual and emotional selves. We are honoring an individual whose worldly accomplishments, while impressive, are not the largest part of her legacy.

Her dreams were often hindered in life: by early poverty, by limits upon women, by the demands of raising three children, and most finally and devastatingly, by her own body. Her effect was profound upon the countless individuals with whom she interacted for 61 years.

Virginia Bird, her sister-in-law, said "there are so many lovely memories... the love and pride she had in her family, the boundless interest she had in people, places and things, the unselfish giving of herself and her talents to others in so many ways, the thoughtfulness that was an integral part of her being."

Her family exemplifies her ability to inspire. After their marriage, her husband quit dropping out of college and completed three degrees at Wichita State, including a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering. All three of her children obtained graduate degrees.

This motivational gift was also evident in other aspects of her life. As the eldest of five siblings, she served as a second mother. The Methodist church, of which she was an active and lifelong member, has recognized her contributions in Kansas, Washington and Ohio, where she launched church libraries, taught lessons and organized programs. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Wichita Children's Theater, 20th Century Club (president of Cornelias in 1962), Newport Way library board, Swedish Hospital Volunteers, Red Cross (a plaque in her honor is mounted in the Xenia, Ohio, office), Mended Hearts, and Toastmasters are all groups enriched by her work.

She had great intelligence (valedictorian of her East High class), creativity and talent for drama, music and writing. She played piano by ear, accompanying silent movies and ballet classes, and produced marionette shows with lovely hand-crafted marionettes. She taught English and drama in high school until 1942. In World War II she crawled through Boeing aircraft as an inspector until her first pregnancy made it difficult. Volunteer work and her children were her focus in the fifties.

Applying to graduate school in 1962 a routine chest x-ray disclosed an enlarged heart from childhood rheumatic fever. Her last 15 years alternated periods of illness with periods of limited activity. For her, limited activity included working as an award-winning journalist, traveling to Europe, moving to Ohio and working for the Red Cross, plus the usual array of personal projects and volunteering.

Her attending cardiologist said "she was a heroic person, and I know she lived though tremendous ordeals that would have stifled the spirit of a lesser woman." Two major operations allowed her to continue with newer technology of first pacemakers and then an artificial heart (mitral) valve. When she died, we wept for our own bereavement but not for her. She was not afraid of dying. In her lifetime she was an example of loving courage and the measure of her life's work is beyond mortal tally.

Her surviving husband and children welcome the opportunity to pay homage to a wonderful wife and mother.

September 15, 1998