And while the ice-cream parlours and funeral homes of her youth might be long gone, the towering white dome still stands - as does Mary's faith in the power of the people.
One, who may have run with a slight limp, was wearing a baseball cap with a cream or white peak, a light blue hip-length hooded jacket and reflective strips down the sleeves.
We mixed martinis by headlamp and ate three different just-add-water camping meals from AlpineAire and Mountain House on a white tablecloth, followed by ice cream made fresh in a contraption that looks like a hamster ball.