Sen. John Kerry, the former Democratic presidential nominee from Massachusetts, said the gathering was a like a class reunion of the Nixon enemies list. An earlier Democratic presidential nominee, George McGovern, said Mary Travers was the voice of the people in a troubled time in our country—a voice against bigotry and racism.
The four-hour memorial for Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, was held on Nov. 9 on what have would been the singer-activist’s 73rd birthday. She died on September 16. The celebration was led by her partners in the group—Peter Yarrow and Noel “Paul” Stookey and held at New York City’s historic Riverside Church.
The memorial opened with Peter and Paul asking the audience to sing Mary’s part on Leaving on Jet Plane, the hit song written in 1966 by John Denver. The pair noted it was the first time in 50 years they had sung without Mary at their side.
---
Mary was noted for her mesmerizing beauty, fierce activism and an opinion that was laser sharp. “Never ask Mary how she feels about something if you don’t want to know the truth,” said an old friend.
Whoppee Goldberg, who got a big laugh when she said she once wanted hair like Mary’s, noted that when Mary sang this land is your land there was something deeper to the meaning. “If you don’t like it, get up and move and move, move, move,” Goldberg said. “When Mary spoke, people were with her.”
---
George McGovern said he knew many people who died with huge amounts of money. “In my mind, that’s not a test of greatness,” he said. “Greatness is when people can listen to and be moved by songs for 100 years into the future.”
---
Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, told of growing up with Peter, Paul and Mary, seeing them first in 1962. He held up his original album cover, which he has kept to this day. He later befriended, Mary, sending her onions from Georgia when he learned she was an accomplished cook. Cleland quipped “Without Mary, Peter and Paul would have sounded like two men drunk in a bar.”
---
Judy Collins talked of the old days in Greenwich Village when Peter, Paul and Mary were all young. She said Mary had “that thing” possessed by great performers that make the audience want to join her. Collins sang Amazing Grace.
---
John Kerry said he always liked Peter, Paul and Mary but “really, really liked Mary” when he first saw her perform while a student at Yale in 1964. She single handily put an end to the 1950’s beehive hair style, he noted.
In 1971, when Kerry first met Mary in person, it was at a Vietnam rally in Washington, D.C. in front of a million people. He said Mary walked up to him, hugged him and gave him a big kiss. “That was it,” he said, “in front of a million people. That was the beginning of a special friendship.” The group sang at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 when Kerry was nominated for president.
---
Peter, Paul and Mary shared Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman. Because of that, they made hits of several Dylan songs, including Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right and Blowin’ in the Wind.
Blowin in the Wind —one of the final songs of the night—was a favorite that left Mary fascinated throughout her life. She noted, even in her final days, that the questions raised in the song remain unanswered to this day.
Pete Seeger and his grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, rehearse before going on.
Later, on stage.
Tom Paxton sings The Last Thing on My Mind, a song he wrote in the early 1960s
The group, with the addition of Tom Chapin and Theodore Bikel, closes the concert with Dylan's Blowin in the Wind.
Mary Travers looked down from the video screen.
