- One of the key things I loved about Mary was her distinctive, clear voice and laugh. It was the perfect pitch by which to hear “y’all” across the room. (Smiling as I write this.)
- Mary (and Tom’s) home on Cadiz Street constantly offered me a warm sense of place. The interior (subtle yet colorful statements of design) and exterior (handsome, white clapboard, raised cottage with a balance of sunlight/shade) surrounded by live oaks, made me feel comfortable and always welcome. It was a genuine extension of our Logos family.
- I fondly remember book discussions there, Christmas parties, the fireplace, even a Passover Seder meal and a funeral upon the closing of Logos Bookstore.
- Mary (and Tom’s) culinary skills awakened my food senses with their kitchen partnership, especially the New Orleans favorites: gumbo, jambalaya, grilled redfish and coffee. Pure delights!!
- Our book discussions, which sometimes included friends from the Klaasen’s university professor network, set the foundation for and encouraged me to be a “life-long learner.”
- I recall several times when we had some sidebar times with Tom (on the ground floor) where I heard engaging fishing stories (all honest and true). While Mary was upstairs prepping a meal, Tom would play some banjo licks for us which he had recently learned from his music class. More delights!
- I heard a commonsense feminism from Mary, one that I appropriated. As an owner/boss/leader, she laid that foundation for me to be thoroughly comfortable with women who were in roles of leadership in various aspects of my life/career.
- As a twenty-something, I gleaned valuable insights from Mary’s occasional sharing about her Plymouth Brethren background, and how she had learned to grow beyond those roots. I felt those talks helped prepare me to deal with the sea of fundamentalism swirling about us in southern Christianity. Key books I read from the Logos shelves, by astute evangelical Anglicans (John R. Stott, Michael Green, etc.), proved to be the counterpoint to that uncomfortable sea. Grateful!!
- As I think about her now, Mary was like a prism for me, refracting and shedding colorful light on various topics, in a new/fresh manner, which I had not considered.
- Unknown to most folks, Mary and Tom kindly took me in to their Dallas home (for day visits and laundry) during the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks. More gratitude!
- In the mid-2000s, I very much looked forward to my quarterly business trips to Dallas. The three of us would arrange to meet at our favorite fast-casual restaurant, La Madeleine, not far from their home, to catch up and reconnect. We enjoyed at least 4-5 of those visits. Our conversations inevitably shifted to museums, particularly what Mary had seen at the world-class Modern, Nasher, or Kimbell in Fort Worth. Another favorite for us was the happenings and new additions to the Dallas Botanic Garden.
I count Mary as a Renaissance woman who made an indelible imprint on my soul. She will be greatly missed and always remembered by me!!
—Steve Tousey