It is with a heavy heart that I am telling you that Mary Starkweather-White, who was tireless in her efforts to end the death penalty in Delaware and who as our Secretary kept exemplary minutes of each Delaware Citizens Opposed to the Death Penalty meeting from April 1992 through our June 24, 2019 meeting, passed away this Tuesday at around 2 am after experiencing shortness of breath.  

It is very difficult for those of us who worked to end the death penalty and who depended upon her minutes, as well as her volunteerism, service, generosity, goodwill, and humor, to wrap our heads and hearts around the depth of her loss.  She was truly remarkable in all that she did for returning citizens through Moving Forward, the Pardons Project, New Beginnings Next Step and through programs such the art project that she initiated at Baylor Women’s Prison.  Mary was truly the Saint of Second Chances.  Along with Bryan Stevenson, one of her heroes, she believed that each of us is more than the worst thing that we have ever done.  She turned this conviction into life-changing opportunity, acceptance, and encouragement to each person whose life she touched.  Those of us who knew her are and will continue to be deeply blessed.

She was a peacemaker, a doer of good deeds, deeply generous, and a dear friend to many.  Her heart was limitless in its goodness and our memories of her friendship and of her quiet, but endless service, will continue to give us the energy to carry on in her spirit now. 

Mary was born on October 18, 1951 and died on July 9, 2019.  We will never find another secretary as fine as she was. Mary is survived by her husband Earl White, 316 N. Ogle Avenue, Wilmington, DE 19805

Thank you, Mary.  May you rest in peace.

Sally Milbury-Steen