A Matter of the Heart

One doesn't have to be around this scrappy little lady from Kansas long to realize that the strongest thing about her is her will and the sharpest thing about her is her mind. But those who know Mary Pitt will tell you the largest, the most magnificent thing about her is her heart.

After reading one of Mary's "rants," as she calls her cut-to-the-chase articles, a friend told me she wished she had the time that Mary has to speak out against the hi-jinks of this illegal government. "I'd like to trade places with Mary," she said, "I could write, too, if I had more time...if I was her age, and didn't have so much on my plate -- so many other obligations..."

That isn't likely, I wanted to retort, since you'd have to catch her first. Mary's plate long ago morphed into a platter. Not only did she care for her own family, but adopted others who had no families. Having a daughter who was mentally impaired, she established a business to legally care for her and for others like her, both young and old, so they could have some quality of life and not be forced to languish in institutions.

In recent months, Mary's platter overflowed, and is now a tray that she lugs around while stuff just keeps piling on. She was forced to slow down long enough to have stents implanted in her heart, but was up and running and ranting and writing upon returning home.

Shortly thereafter, her daughter Jerri became ill and, after an extended stay in the hospital, suddenly died. Just as suddenly, the health of her husband Ed, to whom she was married for more than half a century, began to deteriorate.

Ed died just days before Christmas.

A day before the funeral, while tending to last-minute arrangements, Mary says she "got woozy." She fell, hitting her head and was unconscious when they airlifted her from her home in Yates Center to the hospital in Wichita. There, she remained on constant monitor for nine hours, during which time she repeatedly flat-lined.

They put in a pacemaker.

She missed her husband's funeral.

Her bio at the bottom of her articles says it all. Mary Pitt is indeed "with it." She is literally a warrior for truth and justice. Upon her return from the hospital, she roared back out there, giving 'em hell.

Whether you agree or disagree with Pitt when you read her articles, one thing you can take to the bank -- her words come straight from her heart.