Mary Adams-Lackey

Mary Faith Adams-Lackey died Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, peacefully at the hospice unit at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. She was 78. Mary Faith Almquist was born in the southwest Iowa town of Red Oak, on Feb. 9, 1943, to Reynold and Gunhild Almquist. She grew up in Essex, Iowa, and lived her adult life in Ames, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Pikesville, Maryland. She was a scientist, journalist and small-business owner who managed to combine all those occupations with her love of animals. While working at a biochemistry lab at the University of Iowa, she saved a few favored lab rats from a life of experimentation, bringing them home as pets. At The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, she had a regular part-time gig taking photos of dogs and cats up for adoption from area shelters, and her work helped place hundreds of them into homes; for years, she maintained a wall displaying those photos. Also in Virginia, she had a pet-care business – the Dog Nanny – and customers would come home to find reports from their beloved pets recounting their adventures. Her own life was filled with dogs, as many as four at a time: Arlo, Nails, Clipper, Woofda, Maggie, Lefty, Oscar, Sonnier, Tessa and Happy. (There were cats, too – Topper, Edith, Bijou, Emma and Bix – but they knew where they stood.) Her life was also filled with running, dancing and her family. In Iowa, she was a marathoner and also founded the Running Dog Race Committee to organize local road races (despite the committee’s name, the races were for humans). In Maryland, she was a regular with her husband Patrick at area swing dances. During years she lived close to her grandchildren, she attended nearly every concert, play, meet or game, often serving as the team statistician. At Christmas, her children and grandchildren would find themselves the recipients of a tower of gifts, each one picked out weeks or months in advance and expertly wrapped. Her house was wall-to-wall with books, from political nonfiction to fiction that ranged from Jane Austen to Harlan Coben; she loved befriending favored authors such as Laura Lippman on Facebook or at signing events. She was also active in the Sudbrook Park Neighborhood Association. She graduated from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and attended the University of Iowa. She married Patrick Lackey in 1981 and they had just celebrated their 40th anniversary, although by then Mary was weak with metastatic cancer that had affected her lungs and brain. In addition to Patrick, she is survived by two sons from a previous marriage: Timothy Adams and his wife Deborah Lewin of Catonsville, Maryland, and Christopher Adams and his wife Caralee Adams of Bethesda, Maryland. She is also survived by stepdaughter Michelle Mitchem and her husband Corey Mitchem of Indianapolis, Indiana, and by nine grandchildren: Sophia Lewin Adams of Chicago; Maxwell Adams and his wife Courtney Adams of Auburn Hills, Michigan; Nicholas Adams of Brooklyn, New York; Spencer Adams of Berkeley, California; Holly Adams of Bethesda, Maryland; and Tyler, Asia, Myles and C.J. Mitchem of Indianapolis, Indiana. Also surviving are sisters Kathleen “Kitty” Metzger of Johnston, Iowa, and Christine Beckman of Pleasant Hill, California. She was preceded in death by her parents and by siblings Constance “Hai” Almquist-Buvollen of Oslo, Norway; David Almquist of Petersburg, Illinois; and Elizabeth Louise Almquist of Essex, Iowa. Memorials can be directed to the Maryland Food Bank or the Maryland SPCA. A memorial service for Mary Adams-Lackey, will be held Saturday, April 9, 2022, at Milford Mill United Methodist Church, 915 Milford Mill Road, Pikesville, Maryland. Family and friends are invited for visitation at 1 p.m. The service will be at 2 p.m., followed by a lunch at the church. Masks required. For questions or to let us know you are coming, email Caralee.Adams@verizon.net.