They lived next door to each other.
They died on the same day.
At the same age.
They had huge families.
They were college-educated professionals, as well as stay-at-home moms.
Their husbands were prominent members of the community.
They shared a first name.
They shared a religion.
They were lifelong friends.
Rest in peace, Mary Haney Wilson and Mary Kathryn Booth — nee Wilson.
They weren’t related, but that’s about the only thing they didn’t have in common.
The Highland Square residents passed away on Sept. 6 at age 92.
Booth, who had six children, received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Akron, where she earned a degree in sociology.
That training served her well in her work with the Catholic Service League and, later, Family and Children Services of Summit County (now Greenleaf Family Center). She placed babies for adoption and customized programs to assist struggling families.
Booth was active in a number of charities, including the PTA, Girl Scouts and Akron Children’s Hospital, where she assisted kids in the recovery room, and was on the women’s board at Akron General Medical Center.
Her husband, Charles Booth, was the 2003 Polsky Award winner, one of Akron’s highest honors.
After starting work as a teller at the old Bank of Akron, Charles wove his way through mergers and regime changes and, when he retired in 1987, was vice president and head of corporate banking for National City. He died three years ago at the age of 91.
Next door, Mary Wilson had 10 children. She graduated from Kent State at the age of 20 and went to work for Goodyear Aerospace during World War II. After raising her kids, she returned to college, graduating from UA and becoming a teacher at Immaculate Conception School in Ravenna.
She loved poetry, literature and music. The family says it feels blessed that Wilson, a lifelong Cleveland sports fan, lived long enough to see the Cavs win a championship.
Wilson’s third child, Dr. Caroline Wilson, told me about the remarkable coincidences in the two women’s lives.
A physician at Summa Akron City Hospital, Caroline says of her middle-class upbringing, “I can’t imagine a better life than my Hillsdale Avenue childhood,” where she and her siblings had the advantage of “affordable educations, thanks to the GI Bill, strong values and a fantastic mama.”
Caroline’s father, the late Robert Wilson, a University of Akron grad in mathematics, worked for 33 years at Ohio Edison, retiring as Kent district manager in 1978. He died unexpectedly while on vacation in 1999.
Robert was active in civil rights, especially with Fair Housing Contact Service and the Urban League. Caroline wrote in his obituary that during his time with the Army Air Force during World War II, he developed “a strong sense of social justice regarding the absence of basic civil rights for blacks and poor Americans.”
Two of Mary Wilson’s brothers, Tom and Paul Haney, were prominent journalists, particularly Paul.
Tom was a city editor at the Beacon Journal and Paul, who worked at the Beacon while earning a journalism degree from Kent State, joined NASA in its infancy and became known as “the Voice of Mission Control,” doing the play-by-play on launches.
He left the agency in 1969 and had an impressive career in both print and broadcast journalism in England and the States.
In short, both families had their stuff together.
Unfortunately, the parallels between Mary Wilson and Mary Booth are not perfect: Wilson attended Tallmadge High; Booth went to Garfield.
Oh, well. Close enough.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31