Condolences on the Passing of Mary Magavern Worrell

WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness that this House has learned of the passing of Mary Magavern Worrell. Ms. Worrell was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1942, and was the beloved wife of Rick Worrell; and

WHEREAS, Mary Magavern Worrell was presented in 1960 at the th Century Club in Buffalo and later graduated from The Buffalo Seminary. She studied at Bradford Junior College for two years and spent one year studying at Reid Hall in Paris, a city she dearly loved, before she graduated from Boston University in 1964; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Worrell married a close Dartmouth College friend of her two Dartmouth brothers, and settled down in Providence, where she worked as a teacher at Classical High School, and later, at the Lincoln School. In 1967, she and her husband undertook much of the work as they restored and revitalized an old home in Providence’s Fox Point Neighborhood that had been boarded up since 1940; and

WHEREAS, Beginning in the 1970s, Ms. Worrell began her service and devotion to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, where she served with love and dedication as the Volunteer Director of its Sunday School, and later as its Senior Warden; and

WHEREAS, Thanks to her studies in Paris, Ms. Worrell developed a calling and desire to work in the field of landscape architecture and embraced her belief that “the gentle hand of man in nature” should be a guiding principle of the profession. Ms. Worrell commuted to the Radcliffe Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where, after much hard work and studying, earned the designation of Registered Landscape Architect, all while caring devotedly for her family; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Worrell was a talented landscape architect who worked collaboratively with many skilled craftspeople and clients to create enduring spaces of beauty and nature. In 2013, a book of Ms. Worrell's works was published with a special inscription to her grandchildren. She also designed a second family home with many flower gardens and a vegetable garden on a hill in rural Vermont near several ski resorts; and

WHEREAS, The Vermont home brought great joy to Ms. Worrell and her family as it was surrounded by forests, fields, mountains, and a river, all of which instilled in her children and grandchildren a deep love for nature, skiing and outdoor work; and

WHEREAS, In her free time, Ms. Worrell also enjoyed tennis, boating, skiing and working long hours in her garden. She especially loved her boating sojourns out of Westport, Cuttyhunk, the Vineyard, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay and Block Island. She also enjoyed playing tennis at the Clarksburg Club near Buffalo and with her Rhode Island tennis friends, and was always up for a good game of Scrabble; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Worrell served with distinction on the Boards of the Swan Point Cemetery and the Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT). She was the first woman to serve on the Agawam Hunt’s Board of Governors in 1984. She particularly enjoyed her time with the SCLT, where she spent many hours working tirelessly to promote and sustain urban agriculture, believing always in the power of community gardening and farming to empower and connect people. Ms. Worrell was a woman who made wherever she resided and worked a better place. She was always devoted to her family and her many friends, and she will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved her; and

WHEREAS, Mary Magavern Worrell leaves behind her husband, Rick, her son, Jamie and his wife, Kimberly, and her daughters Elizabeth Carroll and her husband, David, and Hope Martin and her husband, Chip. She also leaves behind her nine grandchildren, and her sisters Margy Hargraves, the wife of the late Skip Hargraves, and Jane Beebe and her husband, Spencer, as well as many nieces, nephews and godchildren; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of Mary Magavern Worrell; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Rick Worrell and Family.