This is a painting I did in acrylic with silver paint ovelaid and rubbed. It belonged to Mary.

Ed is a very mellow dog. He is lovable.

The only problem was the cover! He couldn't get it off. Oh, well, he still was a water dog.

Ed was very good at posing.

Ed is an adorable dog. We had a good time together. He didn't figure out the knitting part though.

Linda knitted 10 scaves while at Mary's.

She loved that chair!

I did this photopainting collage for Mary on Christmas.

I painted this much later as a replacement for the original painting - acrylic

I painted this with acrylics on raw canvas back in the Ivan Hill Terrace days.

This is where is all began, how could I have forgotten pictures of the house?

Linda

I was having fun drawing this and added the dog and cat - thanks Mary for inspiring me to draw many things musical.

Linda

He totally enjoyed playing the tuba. We have Mary to thank for his interest in the instrument.

Linda

Mike was section leader in orchestra and marching band. I loved going to concerts and performances.

Linda

We went to the Los Angeles Zoo with Mary more than once. She was good with the boys and they loved her.

Linda

Over the years she worked with him. He feels a debt of gratitude to her for sure. He has said so.

Linda

Walden and Lola sitting on Mary's porch on the Terrace. This is one of my favorite pictures.

Linda

The piano is in Wally's studio and gets used by various artists. Mike has an ability to play, but prefers internet work at this time. We are all eternally grateful for this wonderful gift from Mary.

Linda

She was very patient with Walden, who was a very sweet child. He is now an accomplished muscian and plays mainly the guitar and bass. His younger brother Mike often works with his band and does photography, web page work, and they now are doing a joint effort where Mike narrates stories to Walden's music.

The piano now belongs to Wally and he is shown in another picture with his son Sawyer (who was born 8-18-2009) at the same piano! Thanks to Mary...

Linda

This may have been the first one. We went to a few. Very bonding for Larry and Mike on the tubas...

Linda

On one of my trips to Los Angeles, Mike came with me, and Mary and I took him to Knotts Berry Farm where we had these pictures taken. Fun day!

Linda

It was snowing and Mary drove out to Loveland, CO to spend two weeks with me in the winter. I had two Border collies and one needed radiation therapy on his leg at Fort Collins Vet Hospital through CO U. She was so much fun. We drove to Boulder and visited the campus that Lynn had gone to and drove up into the mountains, all in the snow. I think it was the year of the biggest snow storms - it never went away and it was below freezing all the time. But we had fun. We drove up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park and Lake Mary. FUN trip. Oh, and we stayed at my husband's brother's for free - he had 8 cats which entertained my well behaved dogs. They had grown up with cats, so no big deal. Mary made the trip so much easier for me emotionally. I will always appreciate her company and thoughtfulness.

Linda

Almost every year we would come to Los Angeles to see my family and friends and here is a good picture of Larry and I and our first-born son, Walden (Wally) in 1980 - he was about 2 1/2 at the time. We often did things like go to Disneyland with Mary. Mary got to watch my two sons, Wally and Mike (6 1/2 years apart) grow up. She was Michael's tuba mentor! We went with her to a workshop in Eugene, OR when he was about 13. I learned a lot about tubas then. My husband Larry had played the tuba and now has a small collection. My son Mike was in orchestra and marching band and I loved it. One year they did The Mambo Kings at competition and won! I thank Mary for that.

Linda

I moved up to Los Gatos with Valli and Richard in 1974 and spent 2 years moving around due to various reasons while I saved to move to Alaska. The times in the Santa Cruz mountains (4 different cabins) and San Jose (2 different houses) were moves fof unusual reasons. I did settle at a house with a new friend, Nancy, and we hit if off and are still good friends. But then I choose to move to Alaska and stopped on San Juan Island to see a friend and met Larry Cox at a Halloween dance and the rest is history.

Linda

I was an art student at Northridge, CA and Mary was very supportive. I remember her helping me to finish a gigantic off-loom weaving (HUGE macrame) and coming to my graduation. I appreciated her constant support and loved spending tme with her and Susan.

Linda

Mary and I met on Ivan Hill Terrace. I was living there then, and Susan Roberts had moved into one of the other bungalows, so we were the merry three. We often went places together, including the Sierras with friends. At this time I had moved away from Los Angeles and Mary had moved into my old bungalow. I would come south almost every year to see my family and friends and always would spend time with my dear Mary. I was blessed to have her for a friend.

Linda

The dogs were wonderful and I had known them from puppyhood. I had a dog then named Sam and they all got along famously. I think they rather liked the outdoor life!

Mary stayed here in August of 1977 when she came to be my bridesmaid. She cooked my wedding cake, a healthy carrot cake with cream cheese icing. What love  she showed me. I will always be grateful for her friendship.

Mary called me and told me she was dying, so I left NM right away and stayed until March 29th. I am so glad I was with her for those two months. She was so full of love and light and so bright she almost blinded me with her intelligence, her insight, her bravery, her innate goodness. I will always hold her in my heart and think of her with love and consider her my guardian angel.

Linda

As time has dimmed my memories, I can't even be sure I have the right Mary, but I think Mary went to the University of Wisconsin in the mid 60s.  If I am thinking of the right Mary, she always had a smile and great sense of humor.  She also had the longest most beautiful blonde hair I'd ever seen.  I could have cried when she cut it.  My recollection is that she cut it so she could try to pass herself off as a guy and to prove it, she went into the men's bathroom (probably in the student union) as a prank. I believe there was even article in the student newspaper where she told how she stood at the urinal and fooled all the guys. 

That event showed that women could be just as creative and courageous as men but with a great sense of humor.  I suspect Mary carried those attributes throughout her life.  May you rest in peace Mary.

It was a perfect day along the California coast where at Lake Shrine Self-Realization Meditation Gardens that family and friends came together for the final time to share thier stories, remember the old times, and pay thier final respects to my sister Mary.  It was beautiful.  Everyone there had thier own memories of her.  How she had helped them with something, or how she had made them laugh, taught them to understand something in a new way or even how she had been an instrumental influence in their child's life.


Thank you all for taking time out of your day to share your thoughts with us and give us those final memories for closer on her life. 


For anyone that wasn't able to attend yesterday's service, I'd like to invite you to stop at this remarkable place and stroll through the medtation gardens whenever you can.  It's truly a beautiful, peaceful place that is open to the public daily without chagre, and has great parking!    Mary is now a part of that shrine and as you walk the gardens and see the old windmill chapel, you'll know Mary is all a part of all that's there and always will be.  It's just a wonderful, relaxing place to visit.


God bless you all  & keep you healthy,


Mary's little sister,

Lynn    

Mary Hsia brightend my life, as she brightened the lives of many others. I have no photos of her, so I hope others will post some.

We had fun in the Brass Chamber Ensembles at Pasadena City College, and one day, after she became a neighbor of mine, I recall driving home and hearing the Sesame Street song, "Rubber Duckie." I first thought someone was playing a radio, but then I realized it was Mary's tuba quartet playing in her garage with the door open. It was great fun, and the whole neighborhood got to hear it!

We also had fun up at the Humboldt State University Brass Chamber Music Workshop, where she played in lots of groups, including tuba quartets and tuba ensembles. She told me many times of her youthful interest in playing tuba and how later in life she finally came to embrace it for real. I once wrote her a tuba etude, and I dedicated both that etude and another piece of mine to her: "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day." She and my mom are the only two people to whom I've dedicated more than one piece of music.

We had many chats over the years. She was fun company. She loved teaching and her students, and it seemed clear that her students loved her, too.

Mary loved her pets, both dogs and cats. She selflessly and lovingly took in my dog, Sophie, when I had to be out of town.

Several years ago, feeling much gratitude to Mary for many reasons, I wrote her a poem and pinned it to a poinsettia plant as a gift. It now takes on new significance for me. Here it is, in honor and remembrance of my good friend.

A Poinsettia Poem

by Raymond David Burkhart

Christmas, a time for giving to friends and

Family and strangers our love, which sends forth in

Cards, gifts and smiles,—even poinsettia plants—

Blessed wishes for good, which tend to enhance

True meanings of Christmas throughout the long year,

That selfless compassion and unbridled cheer

Might buoy us and others and strengthen our prayers

For peace in the bustle of daily affairs.

Places and persons we loved on a day,

And traditions once honored, might all pass away,

But loving and giving, they never wax old,

And our meaning and joy can hardly be told

By the things we possess, unless they incline

To represent that which outlasts even time.

And so now I give this poinsettia to you,

Remembering all of the good that you do.