Her given name was Mary...
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Her given name was Mary Ann, but no one ever called her that. She had worked since she was sixteen at the snack bar of the local sports complex. When she reached the age of 65 she asked for and received permission to work there as long as she was able. Every child who came to her booth was loved -- unconditionally. When she was younger she treated them as a brother or a sister. She was the one person that all the children knew they could talk to. No one in town was quite sure when they stopped addressing her as "Mary Ann" and called her "M.A." or "MA" instead. MA never got married. She never bore children, and yet at her funeral thousands of people called her MA. MA died at the early age of 68. She died as she would have wanted to -- suddenly, while she was at work. She didn't even know that she had heart disease. As news of her death spread, her children began to come home to that small town. The arena was the only place in town big enough to hold them all. At one point in MA's funeral the pastor asked if anyone had a word that they'd like to say about MA. There wasn't enough time to listen to everyone who wanted to talk about how MA's love had changed their life for the better. Many of them said, "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for MA. I'd be in jail or six feet under." One of MA's kids put it this way: MA taught us more about how to love like God loves -- unconditionally -- than listening to a lifetime of sermons ever could.
-- Conroy
-- Conroy
