Mary Lundquist ministered to many in our area. Including the residents at the Royal Manor and parishioners at both Gustav Adolph and First Lutheran Church. She enjoyed teaching others and hosted painting classes for many folks of all ages.
Proverbs 18:16 describes how Mary lived very well: “A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.” She shared the gifts she was given with everyone she met, and she has left the people of Middle River a gift beyond comprehension.
Years ago, while considering how her possessions would be distrubuted after she was gone, she approached her good friend, Laurie Stromsodt, and asked if it might be strange to leave a gift to Middle River. Mary didn’t have any children and she wanted to leave something for the people of Middle River.
This gift was announced at the August City Council meeting, with a letter written by Laurie after speaking with Mary’s closest friends and Mary’s brother, Mark.
This is the letter that was presented to the Council: The people of Middle River are thankful and grateful to the late Mary Lundquist for her generous gift to the Legacy Foundation. Her wishes were for it to be used to provide for kids and community members to enjoy arts and creativity. She wanted to leave money, and therfore a legacy, for the people of Middle River that would be used to benefit the citizens. She talked about giving to the community in a way that would not only be something for people to see or do, but to enjoy for many years to come. She talked about what she enjoyed, like walking her dog Sophie on the walking path and how the path was such a great addition to the city. She talked about seeing things to help kids, like th eBarb Geer Memorial Library, and how this was so great for this small town. She loved to prepare and serve meals to her fellow residents at the Manor, it was something she could give back. She could see there was a lot of potential in this small city of ours and wanted to make it better when she left this Earth. A few ideas would be to help towards resurfacing the walking path; benches downtown in her memory; money towards the Library’s future which provides opportunity for our kids to learn and enjoyment of the arts; or maybe, as she often spoke of trying to help those that were struggling, some dollars could be used to help in paying water & sewer bills. Mary was a passionate woman of the arts, she was a wonderful neighbor, giver, and sister in Christ. We are appreciative to her for this amazing gift and what it offers the people of Middle River.
Thank you, Mary, may we use this wonderful gift as you intended!
