PALO ALTO, CA – Mary Elizabeth Stone, 88, of Palo Alto, CA died after a courageous battle with cancer at home on April 29, 2016. She was born in Longmeadow, MA, and was the daughter of Edwin Wadsworth Stone and Dorothy Stelle Rogers Stone. She graduated from Classical High School and the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. She made her debut while a junior at Connecticut College, New London, CT and graduated from there in 1949 with a degree in Zoology. Her first job after college was as a research assistant at Yale University School of Medicine. She then went on to work in San Juan, Puerto Rico for two years at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and later at Harvard School of Medicine and Children's Hospital in Boston. In 1959 she moved to Sweden and worked at the Renstromska Hospital at the University of Goteberg as a pulmonary technician. She moved to Palo Alto, CA in 1961and worked at Stanford University Hospital as a Cardiac Technologist and later as the Supervisor of the Blood Gas Laboratories until her retirement at age 65. She also was involved with high altitude cardiac studies in La Oroya, Peru and White Mt, CA.
At age 65, she was looking for a new sport and signed up for rowing lessons at the Open Water Rowing Center (OWRC) in Sausalito, CA. She soon was rowing three times a week and began racing in regattas in the Bay Area. After she won her first race she was hooked. She bought a third interest in a rowing shell and traveled to races on the West Coast. For seven summers she and friends traveled to the Craftsbury Sculling Center in Vermont.
Mary Liz, or Liz, to her friends, qualified for the C.R.A.S.H.-B World Indoor Rowing Competition and won a trip to Boston in 1998, where she won a gold medal and the illustrious hammer prize in her individual event. She earned 3 gold medals at the Nike World Masters and 4 Gold medals at the FISA World Masters in addition to many other medals and awards
She was a two-time winner of the Head of the Charles Race, taking first-place position for the Senior-Veteran Singles Women Division each time. Her back-to-back victories in 1997 and 1998 were the first two years in which the division existed and she was awarded the Gold Medal Veteran, Witte Trophy those two years. She also received the Gold Medal, Grand Veteran Special Medal in 2005. In 2012, at the age of 85, she came in second in her division. In 2013 and 2014, she was the oldest rower competing in the Head of the Charles. She not only received inspiration and support from her fellow rowers and spectators along the banks of the Charles River, she was an inspiration to rowers, young and old.
Her love of rowing extended as well to her job as equipment manager at OWRC where she worked for eleven years and from which she retired in 2016. In her honor, the OWRC named the boathouse the Mary Elizabeth Stone Boat House in March, 2016.
In addition to her love of rowing, Mary Liz was actively involved in the Connecticut College Alumni Association, serving as the Class of '49 gift chair. In 2001, she was inducted into the Connecticut College Athletic Hall of Fame for rowing and in 2009, she was awarded the Agnes Berkeley Leahy Award for her outstanding service and sustained, active participation in Connecticut College alumni affairs.
She was an opera lover, excelled in photography, was active in her walking group and loved to travel. She was proud of her family history and was a direct descendent of Simon Stone, one of the earliest settlers of Cambridge, MA. She will be buried on his farm now the Mt. Auburn Cemetery.
Mary Liz is survived by her brother, Wadsworth Stone (Sara How Stone, deceased) of Bedford, MA, her sister and brother-in-law, Lucinda and Robert Bell of Kingwood, TX, her nieces, Susanna Stone Farmer (C. Davis Farmer), East Kingston, NH, Cynthia Stone Phelan, Salem, MA, her nephews, Robert Stone (Mary Ann Stone), Wilton, CT, David Bell (Brier Bell), Pleasanton, CA, Edward Bell, Austin, TX, Douglas Bell, Lafayette, LA, her great-nieces and nephews and her many friends and fellow rowers.
A burial service will be held at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA on May 14th at 11:00 a.m. There will be a memorial service at the OWRC in Sausalito, CA on June 4th. Contributions in her memory may be made to the CT. College Rowing Program or OWRC.
Arrangements are being made by the Murphy Funeral Home, 85 Federal Street (corner of North Street) Salem, MA 01970. For additional information please visit www.murphyfuneralhome.com or call 978-774-0497.