Mary Bernice Young, formerly Mary Bernice Joseph, was born on a cold 32-degree day devoid of snow on February 21, 1952, to Bernice Grenier Joseph and George Joseph in Waterbury, CT. With three siblings already roaming the earth, she joined George Jr., Margaret (better known as Peggy), and Nancy becoming the fourth offspring out of eight. The family would soon be joined by Denise, Karen, Lorna, and Cory.

Mary passed away on March 17, 2022, just three weeks and three days after her 70 th birthday.

She was a child of God but knew no church.

Mary had four home states, the second was Florida, but it was just "a phase". Her childhood was in Connecticut, her adult life and her children belonged to California, and her retirement brought her to the quiet of Middle Tennessee.

She was brought into the world destined to be "one of" something for her entire life. She would always be one of eight kids, one of your moms, one of your best friends, one of your lovers, one of your wives, one of 252,000 cousins (being that both her parents were also one of a large number of siblings, and their parents had so many siblings no one knows the sheer number), one of your community, one of a kind. Being one of a kind was her specialty.

At age 23 Mary had her first natural-born child, Koryn Lor-an Young, formally known as Koryn Lor-an Cortez-Joseph (fulfilling Mary's love of hyphens), and at age 27, Mary had her second natural-born child, Nikka Renee Young (no hyphens). While she raised and loved these two beautiful vivacious women, they would not be the only ones to call her "Mom". Before Koryn's arrival into the world, she was gifted from her partner, two bonus sons, Santiago Candelario Cortez and Jose Cortez. Forever to be known as their mom, they would give her a total of three grandsons and six granddaughters. Later, a partner would bring to her life her third daughter, Shantel McFeeters, formerly known as Shantel Bagley, giving Mary another four granddaughters and a grandson, adding "Nana" to the list of names she would be known for in her life. Many would call her "mom", her children's siblings, friends, and young folks roaming into her life, the title would eventually be a badge of honor when you truly knew you had become her family.

Her love interest list is long and complicated. She loved wholly. The players are fantastic and run the gambit. She came out of the relationships with more than she went in with. She collected their children and then embraced their future children. Because, as she would say, "you divorce the person, not the family". She will say she never spoke a broken word about any of them, but not all promises can be kept. At the end of the day, even when she felt a broken heart, and she may have spoken broken words, she was forever impacted by the relationships she kept and always found joy in the experiences she had with her partners.

In her 70 years of life, one thing you could count on is that she would bring you into her fold and make you one of her own. She would figuratively and literally make her space your home whether you knew you wanted it or not. In the art of collecting people, she was the grandmaster. If you were wandering the earth without a human to your name, she would cash in her available life chips to be sure that no person was left behind. Need to eat? Here's a plate. Need a bed to sleep in? Lay your head here. Need a shoulder to cry on? She had two. Don't know what to do next? She would find you a resource. Do you need to tell a secret? By gosh, place it in her care and she would help you work through it. Her last dollar was yours, there's another dollar to be found on another day, today you can have this one.

A child from a time where not every meal or creature comfort was readily available, Mary would be sure there was enough. She made sure there was a house full of canned goods, dish soap, toilet paper, detergent, shampoo, olive oil, kitchen appliances, tools ranging from cordless drills to lawnmowers, any size battery, cell phone covers…if you needed it, chances are she'd be stocked up on it. Her favorite store was the store that sold all the leftover Amazon rejects, she would find them a home too.

If you look up the phrase "she wore her heart on her sleeve", you will find Mary's picture and biography as the definition. On any given day the weather would reflect what was in her heart. Blue skies and mild air for a friend stopping by. Rainbows for a day she sees her grandchildren. A fluffy white cloud for the phone calls from her children. A friend passes, expect gray and light rain. Do her wrong and tornados would brew and take out a house or two. True heartbreak would elicit fire and brimstone.

Mary never met a stranger. One minute she'd be standing in line at a grocery store, and the next the stranger in line behind her was over for dinner telling her their life story.

Her most fantastical stories involved road trips that lead to visiting family and friends. She loved to travel so she could explore and allow nature to bring her peace.

She never met a TV show involving heartwarming content filled with clichés that she didn't love. If you asked her what was her favorite TV show of all time, it will be "Highway to Heaven" every time. "You know that guy was on Little House on the Prairie and he was good and then he did Highway to Heaven and then he died a really nice man.".

She never met a long drive that didn't fill her with joy.

She never met a potato she couldn't make delicious.

She never met a problem that couldn't be solved one way or another.

She mastered the art of negotiation. Negotiation was a sport. No salesman could resist her persistence.

She always embraced the inappropriate question.

She knew a bullshitter because she was one.

She knew a diamond in the rough because she was one.

Her favorite meals were her own cooking.

She would tell you she didn't have a best friend. Her best friends know that's not true.

She was who she was.

Mary is survived by her children, Koryn Young, Nikka Young, Shantel McFeeters, her bonus children, Santiago Cortez and Jose Cortez, 12 grandchildren, her surviving siblings, and a whole bunch of family and friends that will miss her terribly.

Mary asked that no services be held but we continue to celebrate her life and memories.

Rest in Peace, Mom, you deserve it. Just wait in line there, St. Peter will be right with you. No, you can't go first, just hang tight, you can breathe fine now.