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Mary's Story
Mary Travers has lived at Caritas House for four years. She is quick to tell you that she is not originally from Baltimore, having grown up in the District of Columbia in a row house just off of Bladensburg Road. She describes her neighborhood as near the intersection of five roads—that would be Bladensburg and Benning Roads, Florida and Maryland Avenues, and H Street North East. She remembers walking to school with her brother to the Holy Name Parish School where she was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Her favorite and best subject was math. She remembers that the sisters used to give her a hard time when she did not do as well in other subjects. She must have taken their admonitions to heart, since later in her academic career she graduated from St. Joseph College and became a teacher. That’s how she came to Baltimore to teach in primary and secondary grades as well as in high school where she taught all subjects.
Some of her fondest memories of childhood in Washington were times spent after school at Grandmother Bennett’s with her older brother Paul. Mary also thinks that she favored her grandmother since they had the same auburn hair. She also remembers trips on the trolley with grandmother and all the grandkids to Glen Echo Park for picnics and all of the rides. Another memory was when she was five or six years old watching her grandmother do jigsaw puzzles. As it happens, Mary has kept that interest in jigsaw puzzles over the years and today it is among her favorite activities. At some time on most days you will find her in the Parlor working on a puzzle that might take up the entire round table. Mary’s other interests include reading novels and keeping up with current events. She is not much on politics; although, she did follow the Presidential Elections. One trip that she would like to make now that the weather has turned nice is to visit her old parish in the city —St. Ignatius. Mary says that the Parlor is her favorite room at Caritas House because it is the gathering place for social activities, singing around the piano and dancing.
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