Lasting Memories

Mary Haight
1932-Dec. 4, 2006
Palo Alto, California

She loved Cape May, her many children and animals, books, music, traveling and the Oakland As, her daughter, Bonnie King, says of Mary "Polly" Brownson Haight, who died Dec. 14 at her Palo Alto home, surrounded by family members.

Polly, the daughter of Claude Henry and Millicent Jacques Brownson, was born in 1932 in Montclair, N.J., where she grew up and went to school. She completed her education at Rutgers University. After living briefly in Ithaca, N.Y., and Heidelberg, Germany, she and her first husband, David King, settled in Palo Alto in 1960 with their three small children.

Following a divorce she went to work at the Palo Alto Times as the newspaper's first librarian and built up the paper's "morgue" of clipping files from scratch.

While at the Times she met then-City Editor Boyd J. Haight, who became her second husband. He later became an editor at the San Jose Mercury News and for some years chaired a history committee for the Palo Alto Historical Association. He died in 1989. Together they had two daughters and adopted three more children.

Polly was a longtime advocate for children and was an active member of FAIR (Families Adopting in Response), a support group for foster and adoptive families.

"Polly served as board member and president and was widely revered for her parenting wisdom and commitment," Nancy Ng of FAIR recalls.

After Boyd's death, Polly returned to work in 1989 as a clerk for the Santa Clara County Superior Court. After her retirement in 1999 she traveled often, finding her way to New Zealand, the Panama Canal and Alaska.

She also volunteered in Palo Alto schools, in the second grade at Juana Briones Elementary. Teacher Pamela Dappen remembers the joy in the children's eyes when Polly would arrive each week.

"Her generous spirit strengthened more than their literacy skills. Her gentle presence soothed the young learners through many days and months. She was a gifted teacher," Dappen said.

She was also an active participant in programs at the Avenidas senior center in Palo Alto.

She is survived by her brother, Ernest Brownson of New Orleans, in addition to her eight children: Laura Moon of Woodland, Bonnie King of New Haven, Conn., Thomas King of Oakland, Charlotte Haight of San Francisco, Anne Piascik of Morristown, N.J., Michael Haight of San Jose, Ebony Haight of San Francisco and Beckett Haight of Palo Alto. She is also survived by three grandchildren: Margaret Waltner of Stanford and Evan and Emma Piascik of Morristown, N.J.