Mary "Molly" Reynolds Edman's Obituary
Mary "Molly" Reynolds Edman
Born in Pittsfield, MA on February 5th, 1928 to Elisabeth Lee Hilles and George Stoddard Reynolds, M.D. with her twin sister, Sally (“Broie”), Molly died peacefully at home with her family and husband of 62 years at her side and just shy of her 89th birthday. Molly grew up with her four siblings, her future husband, and the Pittsfield “gang” roaming the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. She attended The Shipley School during World War II, followed by Smith College, graduating in 1950. After five years working initially at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and later at Harvard and Skidmore College,
Molly married F. Talmage Edman (“Tal”) in Pittsfield on May 1, 1954. Then, during the early years of Tal’s employment in the forest products industry, their four children were born as they moved from Corinth, NY, Wayne, IL, and St. Charles, IL, to Clinton, MA, Harvard, MA, Wilton, CT, and finally Lakewood, WA in 1968.
Molly was a “renaissance woman”. In Lakewood, Molly’s interest in human services made her aware that lack of access to health facilities for many was occurring together with potential overbuilding of the county’s hospital facilities. She soon joined the Pierce County Health Council, its regional Puget Sound Health Planning Council and Facilities Review Committee and as a co-founding member of the Family Clinic. Molly volunteered early with the Associated Ministries’ Food First program, an effort which led in 1974 to the formation of the Lakes Area FISH Food Bank. She remained actively involved with this service for over 40 years, training each of its volunteers.
Lakewood was unincorporated at this time and lacked many social services. Earlier attempts to strengthen the community led to the formation of Lakewood United, an effort eventually resulting in cityhood. This civic involvement turned Molly’s focus toward land use planning. Sequential appointments to the Lakewood-University Place Citizens Advisory Committee and to Lakewood’s Advisory Commission preceded her realization that increased urbanization could jeopardize preservation of open space. Thus, in 1992, she co-founded the Tacoma Land Conservancy, later absorbed into the Cascade Land Conservancy and now called FORTERRA. Additional Board assignments included six years on the Board of Trustees at Charles Wright Academy and with Lakewold Gardens and several years as an Elder of the Little Church on the Prairie. From 1977 to 1992, Molly was employed by Pacific Lutheran University’s Department of Development.
She derived great pleasure from choral singing, participating for most of her life in church and school choirs and with several community choral groups. She enjoyed sports – tennis, and in later years, 9-holes ladies golf – her needlepoint, bridge, and coffee klatch groups . At the core of her soul and spirit lay her love for her extended family of all generations and her dear friends.
Molly will be deeply missed by her loving family: her husband, Tal, her brothers, Dewey & Stoddard, her brothers-in-law, Ross and Ted, her children and their spouses – George (Laura), Sherry (John), Hilles (Bill), Thomas (Ainin), and her nine grandchildren – Tal II, Whiley, Andrea, Reynolds, Chase, Parker, Mary, Will and Mac. Molly was predeceased by her beloved sisters, Libby and Sally. In lieu of flowers the Edman family would like you to consider donating to your favorite charity and/or, the FISH Foodbanks of Pierce County. A memorial service will be held for Molly at the Little Church on the Prairie in Lakewood at 2 pm on Saturday, February 18th, 2017.
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