Mary Lynette Larsgaard

 

Almost 71, she was too young to leave us! I thought she would be around long before I passed. I have always viewed her as THE invincible superhero of Map Librarianship.

She never gave up. Although retired at the end of June 2009, she continued to be a guiding light. If, somehow, the outpouring of love and respect for her could miraculously open the skies and bring her back, but alas, she knew her limitations; we all think she was too modest.

If we were surfers, instead of librarians, we would create a gigantic "Paddle Out" in honor of Mary.

Here in Santa Cruz, this month, there was a similar event for Jack O'Neill, inventor of the wet suit, where an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 surfers formed a circle in Monterey Bay, joined by 700 more in 83 vessels, and thousands mourners on the cliffs of Pleasure Point near Jack's house.

Mary's magnum opus, Map Librarianship, is our wet suit. It will keep us, snug and warm, out of harm's way.

Her dedication, her kindness, her humor, and her consideration of others is her hallmark.

I like her modesty from the Preface of Topographic Mapping of Africa, Antarctica, and Eurasia: "This monograph and its companion volume have been for me a massive research work, occupying most of my so-called leisure time for the past fifteen years. I have frequently had to lash myself - first toward and then to - my desk, not particularly looking forward to the drudgery awaiting me, soon to be barricaded behind musty, dusty, dreary walls of books. Always within a half an hour I was once again in the steamy jungles of Central America or French Equatorial Africa, or on a mountain ledge in the Rockies. It has been well worth all my efforts."

Knowing Mary Larsgaard for fifty years has been one of my life's pleasures, and I join with her extended family in celebrating her legacy.

 

Stanley D. Stevens

Santa Cruz, California

July 24, 2017