By: By Michele Dickey (Published 10/03/07)
Photos by M. Dickey
Mary Saylor Muhlhausen, 100, looks over her letter from the US President with her young friend Galen Donovan. The letter reads, “Happy 100th Birthday! We are pleased to add our congratulations to your celebration as you have led a remarkable life, and your experiences have contributed to the strength of our nation. We join with your family and friends in wishing you all the best on your special day.”
Happy 100th Birthday!
On Wednesday, October 3, 2007, Mary Saylor Muhlhausen – Lyme resident, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, world traveler, adventurer, and author – turned 100 and began a multi-day celebration with family, friends, and admirers from near and far. Michele Dickey spent time with her last week at
the lovely home overlooking Cedar Lake in Lyme that Muhlhausen has shared
for over 20 years with her longtime friend, Elmira Ingersoll, and for two years with her friend and housekeeper, Bozena Garas. Visiting at the same time
were Mary’s friends and former neighbors Deanna Donovan and her son, five-year-old Galen.
You graduated from Vassar in 1928—in what field?
General Studies. I received a Bachelor of Arts, taking mostly history courses.
(Deanna adds that Mary’s father published several books, some of which Mary still
has, and that Mary was always interested in books and publishing, a field she
pursued after graduation.)
Your daughter Betsy tells us that your father introduced you to hiking in the
Sierras, and you were a part of a group to swim Muir Gorge there for the
first time. How did you come to swim it—did you do it to be the first, and
how did you know you were first?
We swam it because it hadn’t been done before. We heard we were the first to
swim it; it was quite cool.
You were at least 67 when you trekked the Himalayas with Norgay Tensing
[who, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, had previously been first to reach the
summit of Mount Everest); how did the opportunity present itself, and did
you approach it with trepidation? What was it like to experience this at an
older age?
I was just excited. Somebody asked me if I wanted to go and I said yes. I
would’ve been ready to go at any time.
How did you decide to move to Lyme?
My husband died. [Robert Charles Mulhausen, Mary’s husband from May 14,
1937, died of cancer on May 7, 1970.] My friend Elmira was living up the
street. We found this perfect house and added on. [Each woman has a separate
bedroom wing off the main part of the house.]
Are your children, Peter and Betsy, and their families near you?
Peter lives in South Carolina and Betsy lives in North Carolina. They’re coming
Monday and staying for at least a week.
(Deanna adds, “There are lots of celebrations all week. On her birthday, there is an
open house. There will be a family picnic and a restaurant party. There will be a
big slide show of pictures of her when she was a baby, and one of her nieces,
Kathy, who lives in Utah, has put together a slide show of her travels.”)
Was the inspiration to write your memoirs your idea as a gift to your
grandchildren, or did your family and friends suggest it?
[The Memoirs of Mary Saylor Muhlhausen was published in 2002 by Xlibris
Corporation and is available in both the Lyme and Old Lyme libraries. Mary’s
grandnephew, Dan Mayland, helped her write and edit it. On the back jacket she
states, “Katy, a beloved grandchild, once asked, ‘Mimi, what was it like to grow up
with no television, no radio, walking almost everywhere?’ This book is my
answer.’]
I wish Nana, my grandmother, had written something of her life. I wish I knew
more about my mother, or my Aunt Ada. In writing this memoir I want to open
myself up to my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
(Deanna adds, “Somebody encouraged her but she wanted to do it so people would
know something about her.)
How did you feel as you mulled over the idea before beginning to tackle it?
[Laughing.] It was frightening!
(Deanna adds, “Mary has journals already and a big old antique desk/secretary
filled with journals; she charted her life early. Mary doesn’t like talking about
herself—she never complains. She’s a wonderful adventurous person but doesn’t
brag about it. It’s especially wonderful she has written the book—it opens this
[her life] up.)
What’s next?
South America. I like to go anyplace, especially new places.
Who do you travel with?
I go a lot of places alone. I made many trips after my husband died. The children
came up to me and asked me to take their pictures. They didn’t always speak
English, but I could understand what they wanted.
(Deanna adds that Mary’s son, Peter, took her two summers ago back to the area
around Huntington, Long Island, N.Y., where she had lived as a child. Much had
changed but many things were the same.)
[At this point, Bozena brings out a framed world map studded with colored pins
marking Mary’s world travels—they cover sections of Asia (China, India), the
United States, Canada, North Africa, and Europe, but there are indeed no pins in
South America…nor in Denmark or Sweden. Bozena counts to herself quietly, in
Polish, and announces, “Ninety-nine pins!”]
(Deanna adds, “With Elmira, she has traveled to many places. [Mary’s book notes
the two friends have visited England, Greece, Italy, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines,
Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands,
Australia, and Scotland.] She is very close to her granddaughter Katy and
has traveled in the United States with Katy and Betsy.”)
What activities in the Lyme community do you participate in?
St. Ann’s [Episcopal Church in Old Lyme], Friend of the First Congregational
Church—it reminds me of the church in Long Island. I’ve been a member of the
Sierra Club since 1957.
(Deanna adds that a very fond memory of Mary’s is meeting photographer Ansel
Adams, a member of the Sierra Club board of directors, when hiking in the Sierras.
He is pictured in her book. Deanna elaborates further, “When Mary came here [to
Lyme], they opened the house to be “Harmony House.” Several times every week
groups of different cultures meet here. On Monday and Thursday it’s Subud, a
spiritual organization requiring participation in a quiet spiritual exercise called the
latihan, a “prayer that moves.” On Thursday they host “A Course in Miracles,”
(www.facim.org) a book study/religion/spiritual group. They’ve been hosting it a
long time. There’s also a Monthly Peace Meeting; this group made a video about
Elmira, and Mary speaks. They do something called “Namaste,” a motion that they
do as a group with their hands together as in prayer and they say, “The god or the
light in me honors the god or the light in you.” It’s mostly women, all ages, and they
meet every month and do some fun activities. Mary also does Tai Chi on Tuesdays,
and she loves the beach. We go to Hammonasset or Rocky Neck. We’ve got a
wheelchair with wide wheels for the sand, but Mary pushes it rather than rides in it!”)
Do you have any other hobbies?
Reading—I love to read.
What book are you currently reading?
I read more than one at a time. [Bozena brings them out.] Faces of Hope—
Children of a Changing World, by Alison Wright, from the Sierra Club. The
children and mothers pictured in this book remind me of children I’ve photographed
in my travels. [Bozena now brings out prints of pictures Mary took in her travels,
many of children, sometimes with their mothers—children of the former U.S.S.R.,
Bhutan, Morocco, Indonesia, Thailand, and others.] I’m reading Betty Ford’s The
Times of My Life and Max Perkins, Editor of Genius, by A. Scott Berg.
(Deanna points out that Mary’s father knew Max Perkins.)
To what do you attribute your
longevity? Any secrets?
A lot of walking.
Is there any single item of change
in your lifetime that you find most
amazing?
Computers. I still don’t understand
them!
Mary (left) sits with Galen (right) and Deanna
Donovan (center, sitting) while Bozena Garas
stands behind
When you were a teen or young adult, was there a corresponding
development of the day that your grandparents or elders found most
incredible?
Cars were new. We drove across the country. I drove the “Bookworm Express”
to summer camps with another friend when I was in college. [As explained in her
book, this was a Dodge truck fitted with bookshelves that she and two friends
bought from another Vassar student the spring of her junior year. They divided the
territory with Leslie Frost, daughter of Robert, who was operating a similar
book-selling vehicle. The three girls traveled around New York, Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine, visiting camps to sell books, with Mary and one friend
sleeping under the stars, the more timid friend wedged in the truck between shelves.
At the end of the summer, after all expenses were paid, each girl realized a profit of
$160; Mary used hers to purchase a silver fox fur.]
What are your hopes for Lyme’s future?
I hope it doesn’t get too big.