Mary Place is a retired Clinical Social Worker, spending 41 years serving. Sixteen of those years she was Director of Harding Hospital’s Social Work Department where she provided mental health services to many people in the community. The last 8 years of her career, Mary worked at OSU-Harding where she worked with individuals whose mental illness required a cri- sis inpatient stay. She continues to periodically fill in for vacationing social workers at OSU.
Mary and her husband Bob, who is a retired Chemistry Professor at Otterbein, have been married 47 years. Mary is most proud of being a mother to her two daughters, Michelle and Melissa. Unfortunately in 1996, at the age of 27, Michelle passed away. This is the moment Mary had the choice to give up and be bitter or to look for opportunities to honor Michelle’s life.
If you have ever lost a loved one, whether it be a family member or friend, you know the grieving process. You might shut down, give up, and not want to talk to anyone. Mary Place is now helping others as they go through those same emotions.
To help with the many tears and guilt they had, Mary and her husband found Compassionate Friends, an international self-help organization that provides educational and emotional support for parents, siblings and grandparents whose child, brother, sister or grandchild has died. Since 2000, Mary and Bob have co-facilitated most of the Columbus monthly meetings where 20 to 30 parents or family members come to share their pain. Mary has listened to the attendees sharing their stories and has helped hundreds of people move through their grief.
To help Mary find time to balance everything on her full plate on any given day, she likes to meditate and when the weather is nice, takes 4-mile walks around Westerville several times a week. Plus, since both Mary and Bob are retired, she insists they schedule about 3 months a year to travel around the country. This provides her many opportunities to reflect on and clarify her involvements. That’s the reason Mary could not be with us at the celebration event – she’s off celebrating in her own way.
For the future, Mary plans to continue to be available to help those who are grieving to find hope. “I plan to keep living the life that comes to me and responding to needs as I become aware of them. I hope that all of us can find the courage, hope, and support to slowly, painfully and lovingly allow ourselves to be transformed by our losses. Whatever the loss, I hope that all folks who are living lives they did not want to live will be open to experience unexpected joy, peace and love.”
For more information about Compassionate Friends or to find your local chapter, visit www.compassionatefriends.org.