The forest preserves touch people's lives in so many ways. For Mary Rapp and her spouse Allison Downing, the Preserves provided a place to experience wonder when needed most. Mary had always loved walking in the woods, where she felt a deep connection to the earth. An excellent nature photographer, she was awed by the beauty in the most subtle change of light or color. Her dream was to visit all the national parks.
After four decades as a teacher Mary retired in 2013 with travel savings set aside. She met Allison shortly thereafter and all was falling into place: time, savings, the love of her life to share her dream.
The necklace that Allison gave to Mary on their first Valentine's Day together in 2015, captures Mary's essence: a tree and blue stone for a woods and water person. Mary never took it off except for CT scans & MRI’s. Allison now wears it.
Unfortunately, in 2017 Mary was diagnosed with lung cancer. The dream required a new form. Allison and Mary shifted their nature travels closer and closer to home in the coming years.
In 2022 when Mary could no longer make trips to Illinois State Parks, they began weekly walks in Blue Star Memorial Woods in Glenview. These outings became a comfort, a routine, a structure for unstructured time that carried them for a year and a half through August of 2023. They marked each Sunday on their calendar with a blue star, the sort that appears on school papers (Mary, the inveterate teacher.)
“We’d get so excited every Sunday. We’d make our tea to take with us. We’d go to Fresh Market and get a little picnic. I think what was going on inside (at least for me) - we felt so good every time we came here.” Allison shared when talking about Mary at Blue Star Memorial Woods, “The experience was rich in so many ways we didn’t expect.”
“Coming here at first felt like a substitute for her retirement dreams. And I’m not going to say it made up for it. But given that we were held here, a whole world opened up to us. We were taken to the far reaches of our own attentiveness. Our own ability to be present, to notice things, to be curious. To be still."
While walking the familiar trails, Allison pointed out a leaf held in a spider web, catching the sun's light. “We traveled these same paths through all four seasons and each time it was different.”
On the trails Allison and Mary used apps on their phones not for distraction but to learn names of plants and recognize the calls of birds. They noticed the first flowers to emerge and the last trees to let go of their leaves.
“We were taken aback about how going inward felt like going farther than the dreams of traveling. And again, I don’t mean to say this for her - her loss, her grieving is something I can’t fathom. She had tremendous courage facing death. The only thing that could hold that courage was this, these trees.”
Mary passed away October 23, 2023. Though not weekly, Allison still visits Blue Star Memorial Woods, remembering Mary, feeling her love, garnering support from the trees in the face of loss.
Allison created a memorial fund at the Forest Preserve Foundation for Mary Rapp. She chose to support the Conservation Corps high school programs in honor of Mary’s dedication as a teacher, in gratitude for the sustenance offered by the Preserves, and to help create a healthy future.
Allison attended the graduation of one of the Conservation Corps programs, the Chicago Conservation Leadership Corps, an experience embodying the inseparable nature of giver, receiver, and gift.
Allison made this video expressing her love in all its facets.
If anyone would like to contribute to Mary’s Memorial Fund online, check the box next to “Dedicate my donation in honor or in memory of someone”, check the bubble next to “Memory” and in the box under “Tribute Name”, type in Mary F. Rapp. The Foundation will direct all donations in Mary’s name to the Forest Preserves of Cook County Conservation Corps high school programs.
If anyone is moved by the value of the Preserves, donations are also always appreciated to the Forest Preserve Foundation, with or without designation to an individual memorial fund.