Mary Graff Holcomb

Born: March 18, 1929 - Ironton, Ohio

Graduated Hillsboro High School – Hillsboro, Ohio, 1947

Marshall College – Greenup, Kentucky, 1948-1949

Substitute Teacher – 1957-1960

University of Florida – Gainesville, Florida, BA in Teaching, 1962

Portland State University – Portland, Oregon, MS in Teaching, 1982

Teacher – North Clackamas School District, Milwaukie, Oregon, 1962-1987

Retired in 1987 after 25 years of service in the same school district.

Moved to Warren, Oregon, and enjoyed 20 years of retirement with family and friends, traveling, golfing, bowling, playing pinochle, and gardening in a BIG way.

Died: July 23, 2007

The daughters of Mary Graff Holcomb, Stanley Gae LeMaster-Cappoen and Jonquil Bea LeMaster, are honoring their mother by including her in the Walk of the Heroines and would like to share these comments about her life and times.

Mary Graff Holcomb had a love of learning and shared this love with everyone she met.  She believed that knowledge is the most important thing for a child to have.  Mary started teaching her four little brothers when she was still a young girl.  She spent her entire life increasing her own knowledge and passing that knowledge on to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  During her 25 years as a school teacher she changed the lives of hundreds of children.  Mary Graff Holcomb was a formidable woman who added positively to the conscience of the three generations.

Mary was raised to have a strong work ethic and she championed the belief in family unity.  These values were impressed upon her children and her students.  She taught the basics of reasoning and problem solving.  She made all her students believe they could do anything they wanted to if they persevered.  She insisted on their best and always gave hers.

Everything under the sun was fascinating to Mary.  She wanted to know “How Things Work” – and she wanted everyone else to know it, too!  Mary had an extremely interesting personality full of energy and enthusiasm.  The depths of her intellect, her style of teaching and communication skills were amazing.

In the late 60s one of her students blinded himself in an accident at home.  His parents and teachers thought he would have to be sent away to a school for the blind.  Mary thought otherwise! Brian Charlson was in her 6th grade class and she took on the challenge of teaching him anew way of life.  This became a year long classroom project.  Mary got everyone in her class to agree to learn, and to help Brian learn, new ways of dealing with and understanding a sightless world. She invented programs, rearranged the classroom, and involved all the students. Everyone benefited.  Brian Charlson learned to be considerate, caring and helpful.  Everyone benefited.  Brian Charlson learned to persevere, acquired values and attitudes that led him to a healthy, happy life and a career at the National Institute for the Blind. Like many of Mary’s students, he returned to visit her year after year.

As her daughters, we were continually in “The School of Mary.” She was a math genius, a walking dictionary, encyclopedia, and spell check.  “I don’t know” was not the answer to ANY question.  If, by some slim chance, Mother did not know the answer to our questions, her reply would be: “Let’s find out” or, another all time favorite: “LOOK IT UP.”

Some of her favorite sayings were:

“Never say can’t.”

“You can be and do anything you want to be.”

“Some things you have to practice – go do it over and over until you get it right.”

Mary was a voracious reader, an excellent seamstress, a dedicated record keeper, Census volunteer and a Master Gardener. In addition to all these attributes and accomplishments, Mary was an engaged and loving mother.  She delighted in her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren’s company.  They were always welcome in her home, cherished and loved without reservation.  She was the heart of our family.

Stanley LeMaster-Cappoen
Eldest daughter of Mary Graff Holcomb

I am most proud of her strength of character and dedication to her quest for knowledge. She left the world a better place than she found it. People will always remember the kind of person she was. She was the best teacher I have ever had. 

Jonquil Bea LeMaster
Second daughter of Mary Graff Holcomb

For years and years I spent all parts of my life trying to be like my mother. As a result I have accomplished many things.  I attribute my perseverance, and striving for excellence in life, entirely to my Mother’s extraordinary belief in me. There is an extraordinary love for me, alive in the world through her, on which I can lean for strength which will “get me through.” In Mother, there was always enough love for everyone.  No one went without, whether family, friend or colleague. She was however, not very tolerant of ignorance.