Mary A. Van Ry

Age:     Hometown:   Date of Death:   Incident Location:   Branch of Military:   Army Rank:   Unit: 1161st Unit's Base:

Written by Mary's Brother Jeff:

Mary was a reserve in the Washington National Guard. She was called to active duty shortly after the initial invasion of Iraq. Mary was part of the 1161st. She was responsible for moving supplies to troops across Iraq. Locally, when they got home the local newspaper called the group a "miracle" because they lost nobody on the tour. As an officer, Mary was very proud all of her troops came home alive. Her original tour was slated for 6 months, was extended to 9, then to 12, and eventually she served an 18 month tour. She was never able to make it home for a break because she wanted to make sure others who had families made it home first.

Mary was six years younger. She was an avid musician when she was younger and played the trumpet in a local drum and bugle corps. Eventually she found a preference for writing music and eventually she focused her artistic abilities into writing prose and poetry. She graduated from Evergreen State College with a degree in Biochemistry. As a civilian she worked a variety of jobs for local laboratories. Mary was an avid reader and was very well studied in many disciplines. As much as many I know, Mary possessed a 'renaissance mind.'

As I think about it, I realize that I really miss her sense of humor, mostly because it was so similar to my own. We shared the same biting, cynical, dry wit. We had different dads, so we didn't look alike. But it happened more than once when someone would tell me, you know, you have a sense of humor just like this girl I know from (insert location, school, work), her name is Mary, do you know her? Most of the time I feel I'm making jokes for my own enjoyment, but she always got them. We had that sibling ability to understand each other instantly. I wouldn't go so far as to say we were 'connected' like many twins report experiencing, but we were always able to finish of the other person's sentences, so to speak. While we only saw each other occasionally, we e-mailed back and forth constantly. It was always a witty, dry banter to keep the day going. It took me a while to not get excited when I saw I had a new message at work.

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