Community Remembers Life of Mary Duffy

Author: Lindsey Whitton

Mary Smyth Duffy, former director of The May Belle Chellis Women's Resource Center, or Chellis House, and the wife of Middlebury College Lecturer in English David Bain, passed away on Sept. 17 at the age of 46. She died of congestive heart failure and complications following heart valve replacement surgery on June 13.
Duffy's life was celebrated at a memorial service at Sanderson Funeral Home in Middlebury last Saturday. Good friends read passages in her honor from The Bible, Buddhist texts and Walt Whitman's poem, "Song of Myself." Relatives shared stories illustrating Duffy's devotion to her two children, Mimi and David Bain, to her husband and to her extended family. Others remembered Duffy's legendary hospitality, creativity, sense of humor and generous spirit.
Duffy was a painter who exhibited in Vermont, New York and Massachusetts and taught art courses at various colleges in Vermont. She had most recently been working on a series of paintings set at Punder Bay on Lake Champlain.
She touched many lives in the Middlebury College community through her work at Chellis House and as a supporter of progressive causes. Her friend and successor at Chellis House, Deborah Grant, spoke at the memorial service.
"Mary was a true force at Chellis," Grant said. "Despite the health problems which she struggled with over the years, Mary had seemingly boundless energy. Not only did she work on a myriad of social justice issues herself, she also supported the students and staff in their activist efforts.
"Her dedication to Chellis did not end once she left," Grant went on. "She continued to be a resource for me and the students and staff who knew her. Her generosity of time and spirit is evidenced by the many items she donated to Chellis after she left; her returning to speak during Breast Cancer Awareness week and other events; and her stepping in for me during my maternity leave. Her loss has been felt deeply."
Gillian Wood '03 was one of many students touched by Duffy. The following statement by Wood was read at the service on Saturday.
"My first October at Midd, as a new face to the campus, I spoke about my mother at the Breast Cancer Awareness Month fundraiser. Mary was a big support and also spoke of her own experience with the disease. She said that she appreciated my thoughts from a child's perspective because it helped her to understand her own children's reactions.
"My sophomore year she organized a trip for a few of us in FAM to go see the Vagina Monologues performed in Madison Square Garden in New York City. I'm glad I went. It was one of the most amazing and empowering experiences of my life. I sat in the seat next to her, stood alongside her when they asked us to stand if we knew any survivors of domestic violence, [and] shouted in unison with her and the other concerned women and men in a cry to break the silence around the issue of violence against women."
"I've always thought of her as a truly remarkable woman and a great role model for younger women," Wood wrote. "Her free-thinking, justice-seeking, good-hearted living was not only inspiring but igniting. Her charisma and insight and activism ignited a flame within those who knew her to think and do as she did."
The entire college community extends their deepest sympathies to the Bain and Duffy families. Memorial contributions may be made in Mary Smyth Duffy's name to the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, Addison Country Home Health Care or the National Association for Woman.