“Always smiling, always helping, very active, a practical joker and possessing a very resilient character”. These are the words Vera Martinez, ARCH’s Program Director, uses when describing her late mother and founding member of ARCH, Mary Lees.
When Mary first moved to Arizona in the early 1960s for the sake of her 6 year old daughter’s health, little did she know that she would go on to to become a key player in establishing the first recreational programs in the area for people with disabilities.
Born in 1928 and a native of Pennsylvania, after Mary moved her 5 children to the warmer climate of Phoenix, she soon became an extraordinary advocate for the special needs population. Her third daughter, Toby, born with Downs Syndrome, unfortunately died only 1 year after their move, but this did not stop Mary from doing everything she could to support other families struggling to cope with a lack of services and programs.
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What a wonderful article. I am so proud of my Aunt Mary’s work and of my cousins who have continued in her footsteps. They are an inspiration.