Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. Ruth 3:3

On November 14, 2014, Mary Singletary wrote on her FB wall: My recent trip to Malawi a couple of weeks ago visiting the Lumbadzi Primary School on invitation by Honorary Mrs. Patricia Anne Kaliati, MP, The Minister of Gender, Disability and Social Welfare.

Stay tuned for more information!

To the posting, were 15 likes and 8 comments all inclusive of mine that read: “Continue your great work. Awesome picture story.”

Mary passed away on July 6 and was buried on July 14, 2017.

Accolades continue to fill her Facebook wall.

Star Darko writes: Today I buried a very dear friend I was blessed to have had her in my life. Over the last month i saw her ups and down as we listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong she never stopped fighting the good fight. In the hospital I arranged meet ups and took notes because she refused to leave any projects unfinished. She has worked her whole life to advance african americans, women and children and even to her last she worked to pave a way for the next generation. The Pastor said to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ and if we truly believe in the work she has accomplished in her life it is up to us to continue it so her Legacy lives on. Rest in peace Mary E. Singletary my beloved friend and mentor. A helping hand and guiding light to so many. To the Lindsey/Singletary family I pray for your continued strength through this loss.

Gayle Walton writes: We lost a great leader and pioneer for women and children. I give thanks for her mentorship and example of service. Rest in peace Mary E. Singletary.❤?

Najah Shakir writes: RIH Aunt Mary E. Singletary. I never forget your kind words at my wedding & my mothers funeral. My mom, great grandpa Marshall & Aunt Mary reunited. 90 years old & a phenomenal woman. Rest on Aunt Mary.

Link to some of the tributes and the video that was made of her 2014 trip to Malawi: https://www.facebook.com/gayle.waldon/posts/10207060773134871

The gal from New Jersey, attended New Jersey City University and later Howard University, Singletary was a registered nurse who practiced for many years. A great admirer and scholar of Sojourner Truth, the African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826.

In working on the fashion show to raise money for the fistula hospital she worked with in Lilongwe, it was a joy for me to work with Gyllian Art in the inspirational portrait of African American women and Martin Luther King – the portrait of Michelle Obama, Shirley Chisholm, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Maya Angelou.

Who was Mary Singletary was answered on May 10, 2017. In a great wonderfully and divine-inspired tribute, friends of Mary Singletary on June 3, 2017 honored the lifetime achievements of this phenomenal woman, who like Madonna, Rihanna and Roger Federer, had chosen Malawi to focus her philanthropic work.

She had insisted that I attend. I am glad I did. That was the last time I saw Mrs Singletary alive.

On that Saturday June 3, 2017, President of the National Council of Women of the United States (NCW/US) Mrs. Mary E. Singletary, received multiple honors at a tribute luncheon, hosted by the Friends of Mary E. Singletary. The event, held at Mayfair Farms, was held in recognition of the enormous work Mrs. Singletary has done in New Jersey, nationally and internationally.
Among the accolades flowing in the room, embellished with her friends from all the years of her work, were that
QUOTE: She is a woman of quantity, quality and longevity;

***She goes out, seeks people and push them through the glass ceiling;
***Mrs. Singletary “goes out seeks people and push them through the glass ceiling;
***She’s is a modern day heroine like Sorjouner Truth and Harriet Tubman;
***She should be immortalized as a learning tool for other young women;
***As an 88-year young New Jersey resident, four days a week, she treks to office – an hour ride into New York City (across the UN Headquarters);
***The Newark Council President, Honorable Mildred C. Crump cupped the accolades declaring that “everyone should have a Mary Singletary;”

I would add my own: Mrs. Mary E. Singletary never wants anyone to fail; but more importantly for me, she loves connecting people to work together for greater good of marginalized people around the world.

Who is Mrs. Mary Singletary? And why all the pomp? Why all the circumstance? I was privileged to meet Mrs. Singletary when she invited the Ambassador and staff of the Malawi Mission to the UN, to attend a breakfast and later in the day a seminar. After reading that there would be Ann Gloag, who wanted to build a fistula hospital in Malawi, I invested to a dawn wake up to enable me make the 8 a.m. breakfast meeting.

Right away, Mrs. Singletary introduced me to Mrs. Gloag, the millionaire philanthropist who have “been talking with Bill and Tom (former President of the US Bill Clinton and billionaire Tom Hunter). She’d been talking to these two about space in their Lilongwe hospital. She had asked them for 12 beds to set up a fistula hospital.
She got my 100 percent attention. Malawi would be the second.

But the two big lads wouldn’t have it. She was told to get permission from the Government of Malawi; and as she was having trouble, could I help her? The request was echoed by Mrs. Singletary. With permission from my Ambassador Steve Matenje, I connected Mrs. Gloag to then Vice President Joyce Banda, who ensured of its completion.

Malawi has a fistula hospital. Slightly changed, the new fistula unit at Bwaila District Hospital, has a new major theater and a 28 bed inpatient unit.

The next Malawi project Mrs. Singletary had was collating items into Mama Kits. These are bags (similar to layettes for mother and baby, would be given to pregnant women; by the time they have the baby, they would already have basic provisions required. Eight hundred sets were assembled with the assistance from college students from the NYU.

Mrs Singletary did not stop there; always calling to her office so we could strategies on the next project to raise funds and submit them to Malawi.
The highlight of our relationship, reached a crescendo when again she called me to her office and told me she had amassed books from the US and wanted to take them to Malawi. There were 50,000.

That is a lot of books, however Mrs Singletary has a vision of bringing joy to children and hear them read from the books; and she believes that that one book has the power to change a multitude of lives.,When the Malawi Mission could not afford to pick up the freight costs, Mrs. Singletary partnered with the United Parcel Service. Under the company’s “Your Wishes Delivered,” Mrs Singletary brought books to Malawi and distributed to primary and secondary students.

My role in this was to connect her with officials in Malawi who would receive the books and facilitate distributing them to the students. In this I was fortunate that Honorable Pateicia Kaliati. She graciously agreed to receive the books, arrange for three to four schools and distribute in the local schools. This was November 2014.

Mrs. Mary Singletary is a teacher, mentor, instructor, coach; she encourages and gives advice. And she’s a powerful resource for organization’s, women and girl. She is a connector: simply put, she brings powerful synergies to any group. Mrs. Singletary is also someone who connects people, creating powerful virtuous cycles of philanthropic excellence.

Other tribute speakers, which reads like a Who’s Who of philanthropists, political figures and members of African countries where Mrs. Singletary, presented Mrs. Singletary with tributes in the form of resolutions.

The tribute speakers were Mary White, Club Sister (BPW)/Friend; New Jersey Senator, Honorable Nia Gill; Assemblywoman Shiela Oliver(Speaker of the House); New Jersey Fourth Ward Councilor of Montclair, Honorable Renee E. Baskerville; Rose Ivy Quarshie, former Secretary General, National Council of Ghanian Associations Inc.

END QUOTE

Mrs Mary Singletary had to be placed in a hospice two weeks after the tribute; and she passed away on July 6, 2017. She was 90 years old.

May her soul rest in God’s eternal loving peace (RIGELP).

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Mrs Mary Singletary went to her office four times a week till the month she passed away. In her office the day she welcomed Hon Kaliati
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Mrs Singletary with the delegates from African countries she performed her charity work
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Mrs Singletary and janet Karim, they first met when Karim was social development expert at the Malawi Mission to the UN
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Mama Singletary and 50,000 books greeted by a sea of eager students in 2014