Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Boots, Mary Catherine 2015
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Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net November 12, 2017, 4:30 pm

Ionia Sentinel Standard, 5 Feb 2015

Born into a missionary family on furlough in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 1, 1946, Mary
Catherine Boots lived an extraordinary life and has left family, friends and
students touched by her passion for life and compassion for people.  Mary spent
most of her magical childhood at the Friends Mission in Chhartarpur, India where
leopards, lepers, tigers, cobras and the extreme poverty of the lower castes
were formative of her later world view.

Diagnosed with early onset diabetes as a child, Mary spent a lifetime pushing
aside her physical ailments to pursue her dreams as a teacher, speech & debate
coach, principal, mother and wife.  Ailments and physical limitations did not
dampen Mary’s joy of life.  She shared that joy to inspire and motivate many
students to strive toward being the best and most they could be.  After college
Mary and her former husband Frederick Boots (deceased) took up the challenge to
move to Atlanta, Georgia, during the hot period of racial tension in the late
1960s where Mary taught in a poorer school district that was underserved by
teachers.  Her students paid tribute to her on graduation playing Simon &
Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Waters,” recognizing her impassioned teaching
style and insistence to step beyond the racial divide.

In the 1970s and 1980s Mary taught high school English in Columbus (OH),
Richmond (IN) and rural schools in southern Indiana.  In the 1990s through early
2000s, Mary taught high school and community college courses across Ionia and
Montcalm Counties in Michigan until she finally landed as the principal of the
charter school, Threshold Academy, perhaps her most rewarding challenge to lift
up children that many public schools were not equipped to handle.  She took
great pride in the accomplishments of her students.  She greatly valued the many
affirmations received from her students over the years including executives of
companies, an author, and NFL player and many, many students were simply
inspired to make better their own situations.  A common theme to all of Mary’s
career was to push students to rise higher than the commonly accepted limits of
their environment.

Mary leaves behind a loving husband, Eddie Hill.  Despite doctors telling her as
a young woman she’d never have children due to her medical conditions, Mary beat
the system by adopting two sons who cherish her memory.  On Tuesday, Jan. 27,
2015, Mary passed on to greater glory and peace.  Per her wishes, her ashes will
be laid alongside her sister and parents at Alum Creek Friends Church in
Marengo, Ohio, on Saturday, Feb. 7.


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