Mary C. Fry

After nearly 82 years of enriching the lives of everyone with which she came into contact, Mary Catherine Fry passed away Monday night in the comfort of her own home, surrounded by just a few of those lucky enough to be considered part of her legacy. Mary is survived, first and foremost, by three children, six grandchildren, and four dogs. But to end the list there would be to shortchange a woman with far greater reach than her 5-foot-4 frame would suggest.She is survived by the hundreds of people still alive today in large part because of her efforts over more than 30 years as a supervisor at the Jackson County Juvenile Court. She went to work for the juvenile court after going back to school at age 37 to get an undergraduate degree in social work at UMKC.Upon her retirement in 1993, Mary began traveling abroad. And in a sense, she is survived by the thousands of people with which she interacted during her visits to 27 different countries. From Costa Rica to Indonesia to Israel to China, sometimes with family, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone, Mary never satiated her desire to learn more about cultures distinct from her own. She also never met an impoverished person, either in the U.S. or abroad, that she couldn't empathize with and give some spare change to. She may be survived by some of them, too.Mary developed at a young age the characteristics that would come to define her. She stuck up for her younger sister, Jo Ann – who was intellectually disabled – when other children weren't understanding. She drove Jo Ann and their mother – who never got a driver's license – anywhere they needed to go.A pupil of parochial schooling, she fell in love with the Catholic Church, and it loved her right back. She attended Mass and collected rosaries from nearly every country she visited. She helped run St. Joseph's Day Tables at Our Lady of the Presentation in Lee's Summit, and she knitted lap blankets and Christmas stockings for hospice care patients through a program at St. Charles in Gladstone. Mary is survived not only by the beneficiaries of her cooking and thriftiness, but also by the parishioners who worked alongside her during those endeavors.In Guatemala, she is survived by hundreds of children whose educations she enhanced through fundraising efforts at St. Charles. She visited them twice and returned each time even more humbled than before.Locally, Mary is survived by the thousands of people that soaked in the knowledge she dispensed as a tour guide at the World War I monument, Union Station, and the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.She is survived by her poolmates in the early morning water aerobics class at the Red Bridge YMCA, by the neighborhood friends she would take to shows at the Kaufmann Performing Arts Center, and by the members of the Red Hat Club, all of whom she loved dearly.For 55 years, she was married to Dwight Fry, and while she survived him, the love they shared survived them both and continues to serve as a model of enduring compassion and beauty. When his legs grew too weak to walk on their own, she would help guide his walker. When he would fall, she would use every bit of leverage she – and the nearest firmly planted object – could muster to help him back up. When he no longer could climb stairs, he would crawl, and she would crawl right behind him.She is survived by the witnesses of that devotion: An eldest daughter, Denise, son-in-law, Greg, and their two children, Jason and Casey; another daughter, Julie, and her son, Steve; a son, Dana, and his children, Austin, Samantha, and Caitlin.It was Denise, Julie and Dana that fulfilled her final wish – to return to Rome one last time to see the Vatican and the Pope. Through the work of her children and the Kansas City Archdiocese, Mary had a front row seat in January during one of the final papal audiences given by Pope Benedict XVI. She is survived by the Church she so earnestly tried to honor with every word she spoke and action she took.In her final year, Mary battled pancreatic cancer and, later, lung failure brought on by some of the chemotherapy she took to fight the cancer. She is survived by the four dogs – Buddy, Roxie, Pinkie and Jenny – that sat at the foot of her bed as she drew her final breaths, and by the loyalty those dogs felt toward the woman that never got too upset when they wet the carpet.Mary did so many of the things in life that she dreamed of doing, and was robbed of the opportunity to do even more. But her legacy endures, through the people that already knew her and, hopefully, through the people who just now learned of her unyielding principle and generosity.Mary's visitation will be 5 to 7pm, Thursday, June 6. A Rosary will be prayed at 7pm at Mount Moriah Terrace Park Chapel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be 9am, Friday, June 7 at Saint Charles Borromeo Parish with burial to follow at Mount Moriah Terrace Park Cemetery.lieu of flowers, the family asks that you honor Mary's memory by making a donation to the St. Charles Guatemala Project. 704 Shady Lane Drive, KCMO 64118.

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