Friends Say Goodbye to Civic Leader Mary Margaret Farabee
Mrs. Mary Margaret and former State Senator Ray Farabee at the KUT Public Media Studios Grand Opening in NovemberAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Friends and family of local philanthropist and Texas book festival co-creator Mary Margaret Farabee met this morning at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to remember a woman who they say made Austin a better place to live.
Farabee’s work in Austin spanned much more than her high profile creation of the book festival. From rebuilding the Paramount Theater to placing the Philosopher’s Rock statue in Zilker Park, she had a hand in helping numerous projects succeed. Her friend Nona Niland read some descriptions that friends had sent in on how Farabee worked.
“She was like an octopus with tentacles reaching out into the community. She was like a friendly spider trapping us all in her web of linkages. She was the glue that brought the whole team together,” Niland read as the audience chucked at the descriptions.
Friends said she was never interested in the spotlight after a successful job. Just in how each project would make Austin better.
Although her friend H.W. Brands, reminded the crowd she was one to keep a tight schedule.
“It’s, I think, appropriate that we get started on time. Mary Margaret would be very disappointed if an event she organized got off to a late start,” Brands said.
As friends left after the memorial, one leaned over and said: It was a Mary Margaret event…it ended exactly on time.
