Mary S. Baird left her body and passed on from her life at age (83) on December 22, 2024.  She is survived by Ed Hunka her lifelong partner, her sister Barbara Baird, her two sons, Christopher Bugbee (Katie) and Geoffrey Bugbee (Payal), their children, Avery, Halen, and Kian, her adopted daughter, Colleen Roberts. and Nemo, her little dog.

Born in 1941 to William Baird and Martha Schreiner, Mary's early passions included riding her horse and playing the piano.  She lived in Pittsburgh, PA, through her Mt. Lebanon High School years (1959) after which she resided in several places until 1978 when she settled in her Cleveland home for her remaining years. 

Mary's formal education includes a BS degree in English & Psychology at Allegheny College (1963), a Master's degree in Special Education at Indiana University (1972) and a Master's degree in Adult Learning at Cleveland State University (1996).  In addition, Mary lived in and grew to appreciate an unfamiliar culture serving as a teacher in the US Peace Corps in Chumphon, Thailand, from 1963 to 1965 with her first husband John Bugbee, and returning in 1969 with their first born son, under contract with the Thai Department of Education to serve on the faculty of a teacher training college in Phitsanulok, Thailand.

For seventeen years, Mary wore a hard hat and carried a ladder for Ohio Bell (Qmeritech) working mostly outside, spending her years at the phone company as a Repair and Systems Technician.

By her mid-thirties, Mary had survived many difficult months as the first and only woman on Ohio Bell's payphone installation crew.  To defend her job rights, she relied on union grievances and became actively involved in the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 4304 as a Union Steward, writer, and newsletter editor of Crosstalk.

In 1989, Mary received the CWA/Ohio Bell "Women of Career Excellence" award for leadership on behalf of working women.

Deeply loved by many, Mary was described by a friend as "tiny in stature, but enormous in insight  and spirituality."   Always exuding kindness and compassion, her consistently forward-looking, cheerful, and positive nature influenced others to see the bright side of life.

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