Seniors Shine: Music motivates Mary Lynch

By Christopher Warner

For centuries, the Moonflower (botanical name: Ipomoea alba) has captivated the imagination of creatures big and small with its iridescent white pedals and alluring sweet perfume. The nocturnal flowers (hence the name) awaken at night and majestically expand, only to retreat at sunrise.

Owing to its rare blooming pattern, the Moonflower is often associated with mystery and love as well as symbolizing the cycle of life. Fittingly, this unique plant can be found in the garden of Mary Lynch, a lifelong Niagara County resident known for dancing to the beat of a different drummer.

In a recent interview, she discussed a wide range of topics (see answers below), including her love of music and a renegade spirit that took root during her parochial school days in Niagara Falls.

“Every year in August, I would call Madonna High School, and give them my name and tell them I wouldn’t be going there anymore because I was changing schools,” Mary said. “But every September, I was back on the bus to Madonna!”

Her attempts to ditch the all-girls institution were primarily motivated by wanting to join her friends and the “cool kids” at the local public school. But her mother, a devout Roman Catholic, had a different agenda and insisted that her daughters received a more rigid education, where the school’s staff maintained order with an iron ruler.

“Those nuns were mean,” Mary recalled.

Undaunted, she drew strength by cultivating a sense of self-expression and agency through the power of music.

“I adored Bob Dylan,” Mary said. “My favorite music was folk music. … I liked rock ’n’ roll, of course, Chuck Berry, Dion … but I loved Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.”

So did millions of other young people, who resonated with Dylan’s lyrics and advocacy for social change. The man born Robert Zimmerman (he later changed it to the hipper-sounding Bob Dylan) would go on to influence a bevy of artists from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix and usher in a different kind of songwriting that was more intimate, provocative, and personal than the early catalog of rock ’n’ roll tunes.

Years later, Mary used her political connections to honor the legendary musician by getting a Robert Zimmerman Day in the Town of Lewiston, replete with an official proclamation.

Take a bow, Mary!

Mary Lynch (Submitted photo)