Mary Stewart Simmons

Mary Simmons lived life well. She died in her sleep on January 17, 2017 at the age of 91. She was born Mary Stewart Fagan on January 1, 1926 in Vancouver British Columbia to Helen Fagan and Harry Fagan. Mary’s early years were spent on a farm in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. After her father’s death by pneumonia at the age of 5, she and her mother moved to Vancouver and lived in North Vancouver with her Aunt. Mary had good friends and family there and always loved that area. She went on to attend the all-girls’ boarding school at Shaughnessy Lake. There she made life-long friends and graduated early at 17 years old. Mary went on to the University of British Columbia at 17 and studied English Literature. Like many freshman students the first year was rocky due to all the dances and parties! The dean called her into his office and got her onto the straight and narrow. Studying literature lead to a passion for reading literature that endured throughout her life. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, she went on to pursue a Masters in Social Work at UBC which would allow her to work in a profession focused on helping people but lots of variety. At UBC she met and married George A. McGregor. After graduation they moved to Chicago, where George continued his studies at University of Chicago and Mary worked on the south side of Chicago as a social worker. During that period, she had the first of her three children, Margaret. Later they moved to Seattle Washington, where Mary had two more children, John and Joan. Within a few years, they were off to California and lived in the Bay Area during the late 50s, 60s, and early 70s. San Francisco was an exciting place at that time, with radical ideas about living, interesting arts, and the protests around the Vietnam War. Mary was passionately against the Vietnam war and worked for its end. Further, while in the Bay Area working in social work, she got interested in the women’s movement, self-actualization, studied drawing and painting, and became a student of Zen Buddhism. She always loved the arts, one of her enduring passions, and opened that life-long love of the arts to her children. Her own artistic talents would develop and blossom into her 80s. Excited about the vibrancy of New York city, she left California and moved to NYC for a couple of years. Her own mother’s age, took her back to British Columbia where she worked in mental health and ultimately ran a mental health clinic in Vancouver. She always commented that she “loved her patients” and was always compassionate to their plight. In fact, Mary always loved what she did and often commented about the work she did as a social worker, and therapist. Eventually she moved from Vancouver to Victoria to be close to her mother. While in Victoria she met George Simmons whom she later married. She and George lived an active life of tennis playing and traveling, lots of traveling. They were very happy for many years. After George died, Mary moved to Gig Harbor Washington, where she was involved with AAUW, went to a Presbyterian church and continued her love for travel. She took all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren on trips to Europe, China and Disney World. She loved to talk and argue and was intensely interested in politics, literature and the arts. Throughout her life she loved and was loved by her family and friends and was always generous and compassionate. It is certainly true to say that she lived well and made the world a better place. A memorial will be planned in the coming months.