Mary Lou Husted

Mary Lou Simpson Husted died peacefully on June 27, in Carmel, Indiana, at the age of 78. She was ridiculously kind. She never knew a stranger-exchanging recipes with the woman in front of her in the grocery line or learning the life story of the man sitting next to her at her son Mike's football game.

She was kind even when it was hard. Mary kept a sort of ongoing tally in her mind. When she managed to be kind in difficult circumstances, she would say, "Oh, I can feel my angel wings growing!" And she would notice them shrinking when she wasn't able to live up to her own lofty ideals.

Mary had a host of talents, but most of them had to do with helping or comforting others.

She trained as a nurse but never practiced, except on any child or animal in need within a three-block radius. She was the go-to "Dr. Mom" in the neighborhood, on the class field trip or on the diamond at her daughter Sue's softball games. She even tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to use her medical knowledge to keep her husband George, who had diabetes and heart disease, on the straight and narrow.

She baked the best chocolate chip cookies ever. She made them at any time for anyone who asked and even for those who didn't, and she lovingly packed them in plastic containers with Garfield stickers and sent them in care packages to her daughter Jana at college.

Mary was smarter than she thought. She helped her kids with homework and hosted several of her nieces and nephews during the summer to get them caught up with school work when they fell behind after their mother's death.

She volunteered at schools, churches and hospitals, with hospice, Meals on Wheels, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and even at a non-profit movie theater designed to give small town Texas kids something to do.

Mary could decorate cakes, upholster furniture, arrange flowers, and she could sew like crazy. As one of eight children, she was tasked with sewing clothes for her two younger sisters and was paid in fabric so she could sew her own. She made and tailored suits for a high school play like a Savile Row pro. Her three children, and her grandson Reese, always had Halloween costumes that were the envy of the neighborhood.

She could regale you (repeatedly) with funny stories about growing up in O'Donnell, Texas. Her kids numbered them; and when she started in on the one about stealing watermelons, they would cry out for her to stop telling "O'Donnell story #113" again.

As her Alzheimer's progressed, the stories stopped. She wasn't able to keep track of the cookie ingredients and couldn't remember how to use her sewing machine. But always, she was kind. In her memory care unit, she would lead other residents to their rooms when they were lost and would help her caregivers clean up after meals.

At the end of her life, Mary was sporting some pretty hefty angel wings. We are talking glorious Abbott Handerson Thayer-type angel wings. (Go ahead. Google it.)

The friend to all, aunt of 22, sister of seven, mother of three and grandmother to one, always will be remembered for her kindness.

You can remember Mary by being kind when it is difficult or by donating to the Alzheimer's Association online or at PO Box 96011, Washington, DC, 20090-6011.