Obit of Maygene, Giari - Washington County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Terri    16 Oct 2005
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Surnames: GIARI
from 2-9-2003 Examiner Enterprise
Maygene Giari

Giari Maygene, died in Pasadena, Calif., January 11, 2003. Her husband of 
55 years, Fred, was at her side. Maygene was born in Fallon, Nevada in 
1917, graduated from Stanford University in 1940, and received her Masters 
in Library Science from Columbia University in 1942. She worked in General 
George Marshall's office in Nanking, China, following the end of World War 
II. Later she was a correspondent for Time and Life Magazine in Shanghai. 
She returned from China in 1947 and married her college sweetheart, Fred 
Giari, from San Rafael, California. Maygene lived in Southern California 
since 1948 and made her home in Pasadena for the past 45 years. In 
addition to raising two children, Maygene was an inspirational teacher and 
librarian at Westridge School in Pasadena for many years. Upon her 
retirement from teaching, she moved with her husband to Bartlesville, 
Oklahoma where he worked for Phillips Petroleum Co. There she became 
actively involved in the League of Women Voters and the American Civil 
Liberties Union. She wrote studies on prison reform and testified before 
legislative committees on prisoners' rights. She remained committed to 
prison reform throughout her life, and will be remembered as a crusader 
for intelligent corrections policy.

Maygene was dedicated to social justice and humanitarian causes. She 
believed that "the pen is mightier than the sword," and sought to show her 
students that words could transform conditions. Thirty years after her 
retirement from teaching, students were still writing to her. She made a 
lasting impression on those she worked with. She loved her family, her 
pets, and her garden, and filled her life with activity, correspondence, 
and friendship.

Her most-often repeated quotation was "I've got so much to 'tend to." 
Maygene will be missed and remembered by her husband, daughter Helen and 
son Rick, six grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. A family memorial 
service will celebrate her life.
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