ROCKPORT — Mary Grace Ginn, 96, passed away peacefully on January 30, 2025.

She was born April 13, 1928 in Boston and grew up on Washington Street, Roslindale, Massachusetts. Mary's father was Earl Stuart Ginn from an old Maine Yankee family, and Charlotte Donald Kennedy whose father had traveled from Scotland shortly before Charlotte's birth to be head gardener at an estate in America.

She graduated from Girls Latin School, which was located next to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. All the girls had free admission to the Museum.

Mary graduated in May 1945 at the age of 17 years, one month.

In May of that year, she and a classmate went to the Roxbury Latin School on their own and walked on the stage at Rousmaniere Hall. She remembered seeing the Pater Noster opened on the lectern in the middle of the stage.

Mary was an only child as was her father and his father. Her mother had one sister, Elizabeth, who had no children, and one sister, Mary Grace, who passed away at the age of 12.

Mary was born "en caul," which is a rare occurrence where the baby is born completely encased in the intact amniotic sac, also known as the caul. Only one in 80,000 live births occurs this way. Mary's mother attributed this birth as causing Mary to have what is known in the Scottish Highlands as the "Second Sight." In Scottish folklore prevalent in the late 19th century the second sight was the ability to see the future and other worlds. Sometimes considered a blessing and a burden, the second sight is considered lucky.

Mary was hospitalized at the age of 4-5 with an ear condition. During her convalescence, Mary saw a vision. This may have been the beginning of a life-long belief in Christianity.

Her mother took her to the home of a friend on Third Avenue in West Hyannisport, Massachusetts, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Each morning Mary and her mother would walk the length of Third Avenue to the West Hyannisport Post Office to see if her father had mailed her a postcard.

When Mary's good friend Jean Gillespie (Farrell) bought a house nearby, Mary and her son Bill often went past the post office on local trips and Mary recognized the post office as appearing much as it had years earlier.

In 1946, Mary traveled to New London Connecticut, to tour the USCGC Eagle then named the Horst Wessel, when it first arrived in America.

In the late 1940s, Mary was the nanny of Arthur and Charles Shurcliff of Sharksmouth, Marblehead, Massachusetts, and became close with their mother Joan Shurcliff.

Mary attended Boston University and started teaching first grade in Athol, Massachusetts.

She married Calvin Wallace Maddox on September 1, 1950. Ellen Kennedy Maddox was born soon thereafter on August 23, 1951 and Jon Rice Maddox was born December 11, 1952.

As a consequence of an extremely high grade on the Graduate Record Exam, Mary was accepted into graduate school at Harvard University. After matriculating, Mary's husband promised her that she could return to the Harvard degree program after leaving school to raise her children. While this did not happen, Mary retained a lifelong reverence for Harvard.

Mary used her ingenuity and intelligence and her husband's GI Bill to get a home on Hutton Road in Dover, Massachusetts and start teaching at the Charles River School a short walk away.

At Charles River, Mary became close with the Headmistress Gladys Lucy Adshead, author of the "Brownie" books and "What Miranda Knew."

In time, Mary had three more children, and taught at the Tenacre Country Day School in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Mary was involved in several Civil Rights activities, including wrapping up and sending school books for black children in Mississippi.

Again Mary used her ingenuity and intelligence to move the family to Meadowbrook Road in Dover. When her beloved Aunt Elizabeth passed away, Mary used the proceeds to design and build her own Deck House on Pine Street, Dover.

After Calvin retired from WBZ Boston after 36 years, the couple moved to Summer Street, Rockport, Maine, in 1987.

It was then that Mary started her overseas travels. She and Calvin went to England and Scotland on a special trip wherein Calvin turned to Mary after they had settled in their seats on a train, "Watson, the game's afoot."

The couple also went to Bermuda where Mary's father often visited during his WW I Naval career, and stayed at the Rosedon Hotel.

When Calvin passed away of a heart attack in October 1989, Mary stayed at their home on Summer Street.

Mary found great solace from her Massachusetts and Maine sisters in the philanthropic women's group PEO. She traveled with PEO throughout New England, and attended a conference in Colorado.

Mary also stayed in numerous houses of sisters on the PEO B&B program in Florida. Mary became active in local church affairs and went with her church group to a Holy Lands trip visiting Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Beginning in 1997, Mary and her Son Bill began a series of worldwide overseas trips.

One of Mary's unique abilities was to find special picnic spots during her worldwide trips. Mary would buy sandwiches and lunch items at the start of the day, and randomly chose where to eat later.

Once, Mary and Bill enjoyed a peaceful lunch at an off-limits enclosure at Westminster Abbey, and once they ate at Joan of Arc church in Rouen, France.

Memorable lunches also occurred at La Tour d' Argent overlooking Notre Dame, the Piz Gloria Schilthorn, Switzerland, and the cafeteria at the top of the Sydney, Australia Law Court Building.

Mary and Bill had witnessed a murder appeal at Sydney. At another time, they heard an appellate argument in Edinburgh concerning the Lockerbie plane crash.

Always up for adventure, Mary and Bill went on a toboggan run in Salzburg Austria, and flew in a four-seater from Windhoek, Namibia to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mary saw Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben island, and visited Nelson Mandela's home and the exterior of Desmond Tutu's house in Johannesburg. She also went on Safari in Botswana and Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Mary also liked to go barefoot and walk in waters worldwide, including Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 6, 2000, the Indian Ocean off Durban, South Africa, Bondi Beach, Australia, and Lido Beach off Venice.

Mary loved New Zealand, where she visited nine locations on a cruise that started in Sydney, went to Tasmania, and finished in Auckland.

Mary visited Monet's house twice, stayed overnight at Mont Saint-Michel on June 6, 2000, traveled by rental car throughout Europe, including Monaco, went to Mount Fuji by bullet-train, and saw the terracotta warriors in China. Mary loved the people of China, saw Tiananmen Square and Hong Kong.

Other escapades included having to have the hotel at Iona opened up just for them after missing the last boat off the island, and almost missing the QE II departure from Barcelona.

Back in Maine, Mary was Board Member and President of the Talbot Home Assisted Care facility, and President and Board member of Kno-Wal-Lin Auxiliary, both in Rockland. One year, Mary was awarded Volunteer of the Year by Maine Governor John Baldacci.

Mary was a lifetime member of the St. Andrews Society of Maine.

Mary loved to read, garden, arrange flowers and play bridge. For many years she was a member of the Rockland Congregational Bridge group. Mary loved cats and dogs, including her special dog, Buck.

Predeceased by her husband in 1989, Mary is survived by her children, Ellen Kennedy Blanchard of Carver, Massachusetts; Jon Rice Maddox, of Belmont, Massachusetts; Martha Jean Aucoin, of Ashland, Massachusetts; William Stuart Maddox, of Rockport; Robert Wesley Maddox, of Ashland, Massachusetts; her grandchildren and their spouses, Bethany (Spencer) Haller, Melanie Davis, Stefanie (Andrew) Lam, Timothy (Kate) Blanchard, Grace (Millie Ness) Ginn Maddox, Paul (Tom Handel) Mickens, Rachel (David) Methven, Rebecca (Matthew) Hain, Marie (Louis Ramos) Aucoin, Terri Maddox; and her great-grandchildren, Abigail, Molly, Ryan, Jasmine, Wyatt, Adelaide, Elena, Liliana, Liam, Brenden, Audrey, Ethan, Arran, Davy, Maverick, Mikayla, Xavier, Ezekiel, Anastasia and Ariana as well as great-great-grandchildren, Brooklyn and Asher.

A celebration of Mary’s life will be held Monday, February 10, 2025, at 11 a.m., at Rockland Congregational church, 180 Limerock Street, Rockland. The Rev. Dr. Irven Gammon will officiate. A reception will be held immediately following.

She will be laid to rest in the spring, next to her husband at Seaview Cemetery in Rockport.

Those who wish may make memorial donations to either, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, or Pope Memorial Humane Society of Knox County, P.O. Box 1294, Rockland, ME 04841.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.

To share a memory or condolence with Mary’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.