Mary Elizabeth Bolling

Mary Elizabeth Moore was born January 17, 1922 in Knoxville, Tennessee to the parents of Margaret Russell Moore and Porter Moore Sr. The oldest girl of eleven children she assisted raising her younger brothers and sisters. As a young woman she worked at Oak Ridge Nuclear facility and then moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1940’s during World War II. There she worked many jobs including office maintenance where she met Preston Louis Bolling in 1947. They were married in November 10, 1956. On November 4, 1957 after many miscarriages Mary gave birth to a daughter Catherine Rose Bolling. Named after Preston’s mother who past that same year and grandmother. They pooled their money together and bought their first home 4041 South LaSalle Ave in 1962 for 15,000 dollars. Mary resided there for over 39 years. During those years Mary was a stay at home mother to her daughter until Catherine started school where Mary worked with the Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA) and assisted with the Board of Education through elementary to high school. Mary was also very active in politics. Mary worked with Democratic Committee Groups in addition to having neighborhood forums in her home for district elected officials. She also volunteered her home as a place to vote during elections. During her husband’s time working as an AFL-CIO union representative with American Airlines Mary helped Preston with rewriting his meeting notes, union forms and other paperwork to make everything more legible. Mary would often say that Preston had the worst chicken scratch for handwriting she had ever seen. As a hobby Mary enjoyed sewing and worked part time in the garment district doing piece work and packing. She did this so she could get stylish clothing with her employee discount for 10 dollars an outfit for her and her daughter which helped with expenses. Preston passed away November 5, 2000 of heart failure after 45 years of marriage. During Preston’s declining years Mary was his total caregiver with help from her daughter and other family members. In July of 2001 Mary sold her home and moved to Denver, Colorado to live out her senior years with her daughter Catherine. Together Mary and Catherine bought a larger home where Mary witnessed 3 blizzards, 2 severe hail storms and temperatures below zero. This made Mary miss the warm weather of California. But, Mary loved seeing the four seasons of Colorado. However, she never grew to love winter but thought it was beautiful at Christmas. In 2006 Mary became severely ill with a gastric blockage. During this time she underwent 3 surgeries and 2 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit where her daughter worked where she received loving care by Catherine’s friends and co-workers. Mary recovered well only to have another surgery in 2008 for another gastric blockage. After this time she grew weaker over the years. In June of 2015 Mary was placed on Hospice care. Her Daughter Catherine was the care giver to Mary from 2006 until the night she passed. Catherine was at her bedside holding her hand as she was called home. Mary is truly loved and her warm spirit will be missed.