I did not know Mary, but I have enjoyed sitting on the bench dedicated to her memory outside the Porter Neuroscience Research Center on the NIH campus. By coincidence (if there is such a thing) we do research on motor neuron disease, and just today, when I am thinking about a presentation I have to give on ALS, I noticed the plaque and decided to google on her name. I give thanks for her life and for the generosity of her friends in donating the bench as an inspiration for those of us who work here.