Mary S. D. Morain

s 6 68, 2001 7 5 n Memoriam Mary S . D. Morain 1911-1999 Lloyd Morain's Memorial Address, April 26, ative. The house was once occupied by a mem- 2000, Carmel, California . ber of the Boston Tea Party and later by the president of the first anti-slavery group in cry's life had consistencies which make New England . Mary's parents both had Pil- the endings and the beginnings a reality grim ancestors and even an ancestor in com- moreM real than virtual reality. In her declining mon . Mary shared her parents' interest in months, when the removal of much of her humanism, general semantics, and birth control . small intestine was taking its toll, several times In 1926 Mary's father, a Harvard professor, she told me how fulfilling life might be after the had a sabbatical and took the family for a half inevitable . Eight widows, divorcees, or spin- year's immersion in the cultures of Egypt, sters were thoughtfully spoken of in terms of Greece, Italy, Germany, and England . France someone whom she thought might possibly was largely omitted, for he didn't trust the ease my life as a widower. Perhaps, needless to intentions of Frenchmen . When the family say, one or more may be here with us today. crossed France in a rail car, the blinds were This was in keeping with Mary, a concern for pulled down . me, for others, and not just how she herself Historically, a number of Mary's relatives might be. had died of tuberculosis, and Mary was Mary's mother had given up teaching at thought to be vulnerable and was sent to the Smith College to marry her father. When Mary South with its milder climate for a couple of was born in 1911, the Philosophy-Psychology years. For a while she attended Rawlins faculty at Simmons College consisted of her College in Florida . two parents . Her mother, the fifth female Ph .D. With the Great Depression deepening, it from Radcliffe-Harvard, was considered a wasn't surprising that Mary left Radcliffe and "bluestocking" by her relatives . Mary's father's enrolled in the Social Work School at Simmons . family-due to the economic panics of the Before long she was working part-time in the 1870s, '80s, and '90s-had run boarding hous- Italian settlement houses in the area which is es in Cambridge, Massachusetts . now in part covered by Logan Airport, and in Mary was the eldest of three daughters, and the Irish enclaves in Boston's South End . had a very satisfactory childhood . The house- In the middle 1930s Mary received her M .A. hold was given to much reading, reciting poet- degree from the University of Chicago. On the ry, tales of Emerson, the Alcotts, and many side, she volunteered at the Home for social reformers and friends including William Incurables and the newly forming Institute of James. In the warmer months they lived in a General Semantics. house in Newton which was built by an ances- In 1938 she came to Hollywood to work on tor in 1782 . It had been sold out of the family Donald McLean's staff of therapists as the and then repurchased in 1923 from another rel- specialist in how to think clearly, that is, gener- 76 General Semantics Bulletin al semantics. It was here that we met . Those partum women several weeks away from their were heady intellectual days, many of which children. Some of these women considered were involved with the General Semantics these two- or three- or four-week periods as Society-Robert Heinlein, Irving Wallace, their only vacation . They hadn't wanted yet Aldous Huxley, Hans Reichenbach, Bertrand another child . Mary was so concerned with Russell, and Allan Hunter. their unhappiness that she gave up working and To indicate how unorthodox Hollywood became a volunteer for Planned Parenthood, was for Mary, she acquired at arms length a later becoming president of the Planned somewhat girlish crush on Charles Boyer, that Parenthood Association in Boston, as well as is, until I took her to Warner Brothers Studio the League of Women Voters . to meet him. Yes, his voice was wonderfully Mary's interest in Planned Parenthood appealing, his hand-kissing elegant, but his escalated. She circled the world explaining clever toupee and built-up shoes successfully birth control, often meeting with only two or deflated the crush. three midwives. She even helped Dr. Clarence During Mary's early days in Hollywood I Gamble and Mrs. Olivetti open a birth-control discovered that she limited herself to a ham- clinic in Rome, Italy. Margaret Sanger, who burger for the evening meal so that her salary also shared her humanist philosophical and could take care of others, including three ethical views, became an intimate and they refugees from the Spanish Civil War . Our dates spent time together in Hawaii, India, and often became adventures in getting more to eat. Arizona. Mary never quite adjusted to my Hollywood In the mid-1950s, '60s, and '70s, we lived in friends, whom she felt were too given to money, San Francisco where Mary became president of possessions, career drives, and somewhat Planned Parenthood and Altrusa, and was a superficial lives . Although accepting of all peo- director of other organizations including the ple, she was subtly negative toward Dave YWCA. One of her special activities was the Wynn, author of The World, My Oyster, Lee planting of trees in San Francisco . She cooper- Frances (Miss Amber), the cross-eyed Madame ated with a friend who headed Trees for the of Hollywood; and the Wilkie Mahoneys of City. The Park Department looked after the Captain Billy's Whiz Bang fame, who all in var- trees they planted in at least a dozen locations, ious ways valued my supposedly insightful all with bronze memorial markers . analyses. She received satisfaction in getting the The Second World War took both of us newly erected Bank of America skyscraper to east. Mary at first lived in Greenwich Village fly the United Nations flag and the Crocker and was a social worker at Presbyterian Bank to have a monthly display of the works of Hospital and then became a teacher at Keuka United Nations organizations . She worked on College in Upstate New York. I recall one of an adult literacy program, and when the her aunts commenting that the college couldn't Lombard School for children with special needs amount to anything because it was west of the couldn't find a male scoutmaster, she stepped Hudson River. forward and was the boy's scoutmaster. Upon my return from service with our Air These were months of much entertaining, Force in England, we married in 1946. Mary with affairs for the Julian Huxleys, Brock gave up teaching while I went to work for Chisholm, Chester Arthur III, Alan Watts, H . J. Porter Sargent. Mary worked part-time for the Muller, Scott Beach, Abraham Maslow, and S .I . New England Home for Little Wanderers, an Hayakawa, among others, including some of institution that provided pregnant and post- my friends who could be counted among the Numbers 65-68, 2001 7 7 world's disenchanted . Mary had many daring of being invited to be a Fellow of the World and innovative ideas, and a highlight in those Academy of Art and Science. In 1994, the years was our election as Fellows of the World American Humanist Association named her as Academy of Art and Science. their Humanist of the Year . Together with her Toward the end of the 1970s we felt it was husband Lloyd, she co-authored the book, time for quasi-retirement and came down to Humanism as the Next Step (1954), reprinted in this area where we had acreage in the Santa 1998. Lucia Range . Earlier we had co-produced John Mary Morain, whom I have personally Steinbeck's film Flight on Stuyve Fish's adjoin- known since 1939, was a trustee of the ing property. Institute of General Semantics. She was also Mary didn't exactly retire . She put together an important leader in the International and edited four books on general semantics, Society for General Semantics, serving on their and revised Humanism as the Next Step, which Board of Directors in a number of roles, Eleanor Roosevelt had applauded in the 1950s including that of president, for many, many and recently of which Steve Allen wrote, "The years . Most recently, she was membership edi- best compliment I can pay Humanism as the tor for ETC. Next Step is to order three additional copies of She attended her first seminar with Alfred it, which I have just done ." Korzybski before the Institute was established . Mary also served as president of the Through her activities in the Los Angeles International Society for General Semantics . Society for General Semantics, she met Lloyd, To the end Mary maintained an active interest and they both continued their outstanding in the psychological well-being and economic roles in the work . welfare and needs of other people . It is hard to In 1992, she was given the J. Talbot Win- adjust to living without her. For 54 years I was chell Award by our Institute trustees . The blessed and spoiled, a condition from which I plaque read in part : . in grateful recognition of haven't quite recovered and may never. her over forty years of leadership furthering the understanding and use of General Semantics in our human society. She has been ever helpful and generous in her thoughtful interest and support Mary Stone Dewing Morain A whenever needed. We honor her with warm appre- Remembrance by Charlotte Schuchardt Read ciation.

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