A community memorial service will be held Sunday, March 11 for activist and ally Merry Mary, who died Dec. 30 after a short battle with cancer. She was 77.
The memorial will be 2-4 p.m., at Cellblock bar, 3702 N Halsted, Chicago.
Mary was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a Friend of the Community in 2005. The honor was based on her dedication as a volunteer to numerous LGBT health and cultural groups, starting in 1979.
Mary was especially passionate about the city’s two gay choruses, Windy City Gay Chorus (under the umbrella of Windy City Performing Arts, or WCPA) and Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus (CGMC), and the Chi-Town Squares. Other groups that benefited from her volunteer work included Howard Brown Health Center, the NAMES Project, Unison, Dignity/Chicago, Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach, Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly and Vital Bridges’ GroceryLand Pantry.
Her first volunteer work in the community was in 1979 with what was then known as Howard Brown Memorial Clinic. In 1987, she was honored with HBMC’s Friend for Life award and in February 2005 the clinic honored her for 25 years of volunteering.
See full obituary here: windycitytimes.com/lgbt/PASSAGES-Community-ally-Merry-Mary-dies/35468.html.