OLHD has recently learned of the passing of Mary (Ott) Piper
Mary was a former member of the Oak Lodge History Detectives, and served as Secretary from 2016-2018. She also volunteered with the Jennings Lodge Community Council. She, along with her husband, “Smith” Piper, lived in a house built by Alexander Gill of the Gill Brickworks on the outskirts of Gladstone. Her research on the Gill Brick Works contributed a great deal to our local Oak Lodge history.
The following obituary was posted in the Oregonian News:
Mary Louise Ott Piper died peacefully on December 13, after a brief illness, surrounded by her loving family. Mary grew up in Sunnyside (Clackamas County) and Portland, Ore. She graduated from Jefferson High School in 1958. Mary studied music at Lewis and Clark College, where she met D. Smith Piper, whom she married in 1962. Mary and Smith built a loving vibrant home, starting life together in Salem, before moving to Seattle in 1971 where they raised their two children. For many years Mary ran her own bookkeeping business. Later, she brought her professional skills to the University of Washington Botany Department where she worked until her retirement. In 1999 Mary and Smith returned home to Oregon.
Mary was a woman of unbounded intellectual curiosity. She approached every conversation as an opportunity to learn something new. She loved to entertain, and applied her practical skills: sewing, gardening, cooking, and design to create a welcoming home to visitors of all kinds. Mary was a voracious reader with a fondness for science fiction. She loved music, travel, antiques, and architecture. She was an advocate for historic preservation and instrumental in the establishment of the Irvington Historic District, the largest federally recognized historic district in Oregon.
Mary devoted herself to service and volunteerism, whether camping with her troop of girl scouts in the northwest rain, leading a choir of adults with intellectual disabilities, promoting the beautification of public spaces, or opening her home to dozens of young people from the neighborhood and across the globe. She lived by the principles of leaving a place better than you found it and doing what you can to repair and improve the world.
Mary is survived by her loving husband of 62 years, Smith; children, Constance and David; and five grandchildren.
Photo from Jefferson High School 1958