Our ‘Magic Mary’ made crazy ideas come true
MY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW MARY McDOWELL
EVERYONE knew my daughter-in-law as ‘Magic Mary’ because she could conjure up miracles out of thin air. She just had that knack of making the craziest ideas a reality.
And the best example of that was when she and her friend Claire organised a huge fundraising event called the Pink Tie Ball for charity. They persuaded Sittingbourne Golf Club to host it free, then arranged wonderful auction prizes, including a VIP box at the Manchester United football ground. They raised more than £9,000 for the Medway Maritime Hospital.
Sadly, the only magic trick Mary couldn’t pull off was beating breast cancer, although for ten years she gave it everything she had.
Mary was born in Gillingham, Kent, the only girl in a family of seven and perhaps that’s why she grew up sports-mad, especially football (Gillingham FC) and playing netball and badminton.
She met my son Rob and there was a special bond between us from the start. I even made her wedding dress — a fashionable, bouffant affair (pictured).
They went on to have two children, Samantha, born in 1988, and Ben, two years later. To celebrate, Rob bought her a gold necklace from a local jeweller. To their shock and delight, it turned out to be one that had been stolen from her in a burglary a year or two before.
With her own children at school, Mary trained as a teaching assistant. She had left with few exam passes herself, but was in her element helping others.
As a family, they loved camping and caravanning, taking their children to festivals and open-air concerts all over the country. At home, they hosted wonderful barbecues for the family. It seemed a charmed life to all of us.
So when Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, it was devastating news. But she was typically upbeat, although realistic: ‘I know this thing is going to get me,’ she said to me once, ‘but not yet.’
Mary McDowell, born March 18, 1960, died January 27, 2018, aged 57.