Mary Hawes succumbed to cancer on September 8th, 2020. Mary was born in Washington, DC in 1938 and grew up in Galveston, Texas. She attended Pine Manor College before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she met her husband, Peyton S. Hawes, Jr. She worked at the UVA Medical School to help support them while he was in law school. She would later work at Emory University and as an educational consultant. Above all, Mary enjoyed the company of others. She was known for a wide circle of friends and enjoyed making new ones wherever she went. A friendly interrogator, she would ask dozens of questions of everyone she met. She was a central figure in the “Mother’s Network,” an informal intelligence gathering agency that kept track of the far flung offspring of her friends.
In fact, questions abound about her intelligence gathering abilities. Was she a part of an operation to bring Nazi war criminals to justice? The Israeli government won’t say. Did she help run the “Argo” mission to get American diplomats out of Iran in 1978? The CIA will neither confirm nor deny it, because we didn’t ask them. Did she help pry confessions from Sammy “The Bull” Gravano to bring down the Gambino mob? The FBI has never denied it. (Again, we maybe should’ve asked them.)
Above all, Mary enjoyed laughing with her friends and family and hopes that they enjoy this. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Greg Hawes and Rachael Ryan; her daughter and son-in-law, Taylor Hawes and Rob Buirgy; and her grandsons, Peyton and Lachlan Hawes. Her two brothers, Fred and Charles Gregory also survive her, as does her sister-by-another-mother, Margaret Hunter. Finally, she is survived by her many friends and a string of jilted suitors who tried but failed to win her away from her husband, including Robert Redford, George Clooney and Ellen Degeneres. In lieu of flowers she asks that donations be made to the American Cancer Society, because cancer sucks and she really hated it. A service will be held in December.
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