What I want you to know about my Aunt Mary

My aunt Mary passed away last Sunday October 11th at her home after a year long battle with cancer.

Yesterday was her funeral.

I hadn't seen her in about 4 weeks since the bake sale and knew I wasn't prepared to walk through the door. I"m not going to lie, it was really hard.

I have 26 years of memories with her.

I was lucky enough as a kid to grow up down the street from a grandma, an aunt, uncle & 3 cousins and down the street the other direction from another aunt and uncle. Kellie was a built in playmate and the closest thing to a sister. Her brothers Bob and Steve were way older than us and didn't want to hang out with us. They were actually never really home. Anyways. Point is. We spent a lot of time together.

I remember in their old house, we'd do cartwheels up and down the back hallway until one of us would kick the wall and then we'd get yelled at. We'd run from one end of the hallway, veer into Kellie's room and jump on the bed. Mary would yell from the kitchen, "You're going to break the bed!! Stop it!!" We'd laugh and run into the toy room looking for something else to destroy.

One of my favorite things in Kel's room was this large Crayola crayon that hung from the ceilling. I think it was yellow. Anyway, we'd stand on her bed and basically play volleyball with it. (I was such a bad influence on her!) Mary'd yell that we were going to break it if we didn't stop. We continued and sure enough, one of Kel's punches brought the crayon to the ground. She cried and I got sent home. :o)

I remember one Saturday we were at her house and decided to play truth or dare. Being 7 and 8 years old, we never really understood the whole"truth" part of the game so it was mainly just "Dare". Then we weren't original enough to come up with more than one dare. We'd spend hours daring each other to smell Bob's shoes. They didn't stink at all but we'd sniff and yell EWWWWWWWW. Mary would roll her eyes and laugh from the kitchen table.

Mary was an awesome baker. She mastered Kellie's favorite "special K bars" and eventually the duty of making those was passed on to Kellie. Mary was the only one who could duplicate my great grandmother's sugar cookie recipe. I loved the day after Thanksgiving for this one reason alone. I"d saunter down the street in the afternoon when I knew she'd be pulling the first batch out of the oven. She'd slap my hands every time I reached into the bowl for some dough. I was allowed one cookie per batch. Sometimes I snuck 2 or 3 but she pretended not to notice. I watched her bake them a few years ago trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I never figured it out.

My family has always spent weekends camping at Farm Island. My grandparents started camping on site 26 at Farm Island and eventually Dan and Mary took over. Every April, Dan and Mary called the reservation line the day "camping season" opened and reserve site 26 for the whole summer. Friday night's menu always entailed the Parker tradition of hot dogs and hamburgers. Saturday night was the real treat when we all made it potluck. Everyone would gather at site 26 and bring a dish to pass and enjoy the company. Then later on in the night, there were marshmallows to burn and torches to be made with the roasting sticks.

A few years ago Mary invited me and an ex-boyfriend out for Dan's rib night. Dan's ribs are fabulous, but it's considered a special ocasion since he only makes them a handful of times during the summer. I was really hesitant to bring the ex out because I knew how my uncles behaved and my ex was pretty much a douche. Mary's one stipulation was that I could only come for dinner if I brought him with. Inevitably, I invited him out and the teasing ensued. The ex made a total idiot of himself and Mary enjoyed every minute of it! There was a ton of email banter in the weeks afterwards about the 2 hours spent with the infamous ex.

Growing up, my mom worked for the school district. I was the oldest of me, Kel and Monkey. When I entered school, the question from teachers was always who my mom was. Everybody knew her. Then Kel started school and she'd giggle every time a teacher asked her if my mom was her mom or if she and I were sisters. Then Monkey started school, and he was always asked if Kel was his sister. It was handed down from kid to kid to kid. Fast forward 20 years later. I took a job with the Unified Judicial System at the Clerk's office here in Pierre. Aunt Mary worked for the Information and Technology division of UJS for 30 years. Everybody knew her. It was like elementary school all over again but this time, the golden question was, "Are you Mary's daughter? Oh we just love Mary!" After my first week I stopped by their house and she laughed as she told me that she'd been asked that question all week long. I'd managed to lock myself out of my computer 4 times that first day, and the guy that unlocked it at BIT, also happened to live across the street from Dan and Mary. Small town USA. She knew alllllll about my troubles but it was fun. I loved it when people asked.

You would not believe all of the phone calls and emails I got at work on Tuesday. People from here in town, clerks from all over the state and even attorneys. Mary was never one to make a fuss over herself, but she had a ton of friends and they all cared.

I always teased Mary telling her it was okay, that I knew I was her favorite niece. She'd laugh and say Sarah Lynn, you are my ONLY niece. In 26 years she never called me just Sarah. It was always Sarah Lynn. She didn't do that with Monkey. Her own mother always called her Mary Ellen. It may seem inconsequential to many, but to me, well that is just awesome.