PROGRAM FOR Video of Mara's Memorial Service, November 18, 2007

Sorry, We are having some technical dificulties up loading the video. Hopefully we will have this fixed by tomorrow (Thursday the 29th or Friday the 30th)! For people who did not attend the memorial service and/or get a copy of the program, below is a copy of the program that was handed out at the memorial service that will be on the video .

THE MANY FACES OF MARGUERITE ROSE “MARA” GALATY
March 29, 1969 – November 3, 2007


Mara at 18 months in Cyprus her first international stint as a UN Peace Force troop


Mara Green Bay Wisconsin, 1974 brushing her teeth… already into preventive health care



Marguerite Rose “Mara” Galaty, a life force and an extraordinary presence in the field of international development, died Nov. 3, 2007, of metastatic melanoma. She was 38 but lived a life so full, she could have been 98. Mara, who at the time of her death was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Amman, Jordan, had battled cancer since she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 32. Scarred by surgeries, reeling from radiation and chemotherapies, she nevertheless embraced life with energy and joy. She had an extraordinary ability to connect to people and consequently had an enormous circle of friends all over the world. The day before she departed Jordan for treatment, over a hundred colleagues and friends from the US Embassy and non-government organizations, as well as high-level representatives from the Jordanian government, stopped by her hospital room to visit her.

Loyal to her friends and colleagues, Mara loved and related to people on an intimate basis. From birth a serious, thoughtful, hard working person, Mara also loved to have fun and dance. She brought warmth, light and laughter to family, friends, and their children as well as to large formal gatherings. Briefly a cheerleader, albeit not a very good one, at junior high Mara became the first female manager of the boys’ football team with locker room privileges at High School. A multifaceted leader, her life reflected her willingness to try almost anything and forge new paths as she attempted to achieve her ideas. In both her personal and later professional life she was brave. She was not afraid to look silly or fail, and never boasted of success, moving on quickly to new projects.

Mara’s great skill was developing bridges between people who were traditional enemies. One of her enduring legacies stemmed from her work in 1997 and 1998 at the Aspen Institute in Berlin, Germany. Not content to organize typical conferences and talk-fests, she applied a knack for innovation to the policy area, skillfully disarming critics along the way with her infectious charm and talent for “inclusivity.” Hand-picking up-and-coming young leaders from the entire Balkan region, she managed to form a working group, with participants reflecting all sides of the conflict in former Yugoslavia, to thrash out concrete proposals to solidify peace in that troubled corner of the world. Many of the recommendations from the group were implemented and a number of young leaders now serve in positions of authority in their countries; two serve as European members of parliament. The network continues to meet on trans-Atlantic relations today. The connections forged in this group proved enormously helpful when the Balkans were thrown into a new crisis during the violence in Kosovo in the late 1990s.

More recently, Mara brought her talent for coalition-building to bear in Jordan, bringing together non-governmental organizations, the Jordanian government, USAID and the European Union to focus on democracy-promoting initiatives. In her short time in Jordan, she developed more than $30 million in new programs that directly assisted local communities throughout that country. Her last major initiative was a series of programs to support Jordan’s upcoming municipal elections. She was looking forward to watching the polls on November 20th from afar. Sadly, she did not survive to see her efforts bear fruit.

Capitalizing on her disarming and infectious openness, she shared her cancer experiences widely, becoming an international resource for women who had breast cancer. She gave numerous interviews and spoke candidly about the disease, often in one of the eight foreign languages which she spoke with proficiency. Her candor about the disease helped to demystify it and encourage countless women to undertake regular self-examinations and mammograms.

As she fought her last battle with melanoma, Mara began a blog, http://maragalaty.blogspot.com. Originally conceived as a way to keep her circle of friends informed of her progress in fighting the disease, the site eventually attracted thousands of followers, who continuously checked the blog for updates and rooted for Mara’s recovery until the end. Both the blog and the responses it engendered brought together strangers from U.S to Bangladesh, from Russia to Kenya.

Mara began her international career at birth when she entered the world in Heidelberg, West Germany. She grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Washington D.C., and Potomac, Maryland, with a high school semester in Kassel, Germany, extended living experiences in Merida, Mexico, and a college semester in Bonn, Germany.

While a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mara raised funds and gathered a group of students who flew to Mexico following Hurricane Hugo to repair damage in the small villages near Merida that the government was not able to reach.

By the time she left the University in 1991 with a BA degree, Mara spoke, with fluency and a reasonable degree of proficiency, German, Spanish, French, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian. When serving with the Peace Corps, she picked up Bulgarian; she later added Turkish and Dutch to the mix, and was working on Arabic in Jordan.

After the Peace Corps, Mara taught English in Istanbul, Turkey, and attended Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, where she served as class vice president during her second year. At SAIS, she so floored people with her knack for languages she earned the nickname “Poly-galaty.”

Mara was able to focus on her commitment to help bring peace to the Balkans when she became an associate of the Aspen Institute during a stint in the prestigious Bosch Fellowship program from 1996 to 1998. In addition to her work with young leaders, she tirelessly recruited senior policy-makers to engage in discussions to solidify peace in the Balkans. Her charm and diplomatic skill, with a touch of steely determination, proved too much for many leaders to resist, and her high-powered working group, organized in parallel with the young leaders group, demonstrated considerable clout when it weighed in on the Balkan disputes in 1998, immediately preceding the conflict in Kosovo.

Her heart, however, was in working with the grassroots, and this is what she dedicated much of the last ten years of her life to. Leaving Europe, she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she took on a civil-society development program at the international NGO Mercy Corps. By the time she left the organization four years later, she had been instrumental in developing projects in nearly every corner of the world, from Africa to Asia and Central America. The work that gave her the greatest satisfaction was at the most local of levels, encouraging people to form interest groups to improve their lot. A land conflict project she initiated in Guatemala, for example, eventually blossomed into a multi-million dollar program that so far has resolved nearly 150 land conflicts and has attracted funding from both the U.S. government and European Union.

When asked in the final days of her life if there was anything she felt she needed to do before she died, she said she was happy with what she had done. While not wanting to die, she said, she had no regrets that there were things she had left undone or still needed to accomplish. She exited the world as she lived life, surrounded by those who loved her, and more concerned for those she was leaving behind than for herself.

Mara is survived by her life partner, David Mees, a Foreign Service officer also serving in Jordan. In addition to David, she leaves behind her sad but proud parents and step-parents David and Debra Galaty, Carol Galaty and Gil Hill, her grandfather Ambassador David Popper, her sisters and brothers, Elise Alpen (Joachim), Andrew Hill (Gwen Kaplan), Bruce Hill (Kim Jung), Kassel Galaty, and Laurel Galaty, her nephew David Alpen and nieces Julia Hill and Anna Alpen, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom had a special relationship with Mara. Friends around the world on all continents join her family in mourning her passing.



MARA GALATY’S GRAVESIDE SERVICE
11:30 am, Saturday, November 17, 2007

11:30 “Simple Gifts" Aaron Copeland from Appalachian Springs - Trumpet Solo by Kevin Dines
11:35 Interring Mara’s Ashes
Wreath Laying – Brothers, Sisters and In-laws
11: 45 “I Dreamed a Dream” – Elana and Jacob Kraft
11:50 Carol Galaty, Mara’s Mother
Slightly modified excerpts from W.H Auden’s Poem, “In Memory Of W.B. Yeats”

Earth Receive an honored guest;
Mara Galaty’s laid to rest;
Let this wondrous vessel lie
Passing on her poetry.

She disappeared in the early winter…
O all the instruments agree
The day of her death was a dark cold day.

November 3 was her last afternoon as herself,
Surrounded by loved ones; resting peacefully,
The provinces of her body revolted,
The squares of her mind gently emptied,
Silence invaded the suburbs,
The current of her feelings failed: she became her admirers.

Now she is scattered among a hundred citied
And given over to familiar and unfamiliar affections;
To find her life’s fulfillment in another kind of way
And be translated under foreign codes of conscience.
To have her drive and love
Modified and carried on by the living.

12:00 Peter Malnak, Mara’s US AID Boss in Jordan
12:05 Richard McKee, Director DACOR-Bacon Foundation
12:10 Laying of Bouquet by David Mees and
“Amazing Grace” - Trumpet Solo by Kevin Dines


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MARA GALATY’S MEMORIAL CELEBRATION
10:00 am, Sunday, November 18, 2007


Goldberg Variations - Bach

10:00 Lewis Popper Master of Ceremonies, Uncle
Beethoven’s 9th, Ode to Joy

10:10 Carol Galaty, mother, Gil Hill, step-father and David Galaty, father

10:20 Elisa Beth Galaty Alpen, Sister and her husband Joachim Alpen, Brother-in-law

10:25 “Our Love is Here to Stay” – Written by Ira and George Gershwin, the last song written by George Gershwin before he died at age 38 of brain cancer – Sung by Liz McKeon

10:30 Jodi-Burg-Torzewski, Grade School friend and KSK, Jr. High School, High School and College Friend

10:40 “For Mara” – Composed an Played by Jamie Galaty, Cousin

10:50 Luke Zahner, Friend from SAIS, Aspen Institute and Foreign Service friend and Elizabeth McKeon, US AID Friend

11:00 Sally Kux, State Department Friend, and David Mees, Mara’s Partner

11:15 Please join the reception, after the closing song: “Somewhere over the Rainbow” – solo by Joan Maisel Leiman, Cousin and then joined by all present at the Celebration of Mara’s Life.

Family and Friends are invited to mount the stairs to the reception and go through the receiving line if they desire. Mara’s scarf and mask collection, her gifts from around the world will be on display. People will be posting their captioned pictures of Mara on the bulletin board for all to see, and are encouraged to enjoy light refreshments, reminiscences of Mara and to sign the Memorial Celebration Books. Follow-up information on the Mara Fund will be posted on Mara’s blog and will be distributed to all signing these books.

Closing Song: OVER THE RAINBOW

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Music for leaving the Reception - Little Wing - Steve Ray Vaughn, If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out - Cat Stevens, 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) - Simon and Garfunkle

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THE MARA FUND
A fund to combat shame associated with breast cancer,
Residing at Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Mission Statement
In memory and continuation of the work of Marguerite “Mara” Rose Galaty, the fund supports Komen for the Cure’s cancer awareness and education activities in countries where shame is the major obstacle to early detection and treatment. It also targets under-privileged communities, including those in less-developed countries, the type of place where Mara was active.

Purpose
Always speaking about her own experience and sharing her story, Mara was a strong champion on behalf of breast cancer patients and the need to be vocal about the disease without shame. Mara participated in a number of Komen for the Cure activities and was even featured at the Portland, Oregon’s first Race for the Cure.

With “The Mara Fund,” Komen for the Cure addresses the issue of overcoming shame through its international breast cancer awareness programs. Using the example of Mara Galaty, who was “un-embarrassable” when speaking of her fight with breast cancer, the Komen for the Cure Mara Fund will promote the local emergence of breast cancer survivor networks in countries in order to spread the message that cancer should not be a cause for shame, that symptoms should be immediately checked out, and that survival rates will go up dramatically the earlier diagnosis take place.

With the “Mara Fund,” Komen for the Cure will strengthen a segment for civil society in countries where citizens do not necessarily have a tradition of organizing themselves around a cause.

Komen for the Cure will have access to photographs of and stories about Mara Galaty and will use them to help other cancer patients overcome shame and fear. Mara’s birthday of March 29, a day on which Mara’s vast circle of friends and colleagues have pledged to perform acts of volunteerism, may be used to rally (breast) cancer survivors around the awareness cause, encouraging them to speak out and educate others who do not know where to turn when they develop a possible symptom of cancer.

Supporting the Mara Fund
Mara’s family requests, in lieu of flowers, that gifts in memory of Mara be made to “Susan G. Komen for the Cure – The Mara Fund”, PO Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265 or online at www.komen.org/marafund and encourage Mara’s friends and family to keep this as an annual, tax-deductible charity in her memory.