Mary Brady

In 2007, the McCook National Bank is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the bank's founding. In those 100 years three names, among a host of serious minded and capable personalities, come readily to mind -- Pat Walsh, Mary Brady, and Pete Graff.

When our family came to McCook in 1957, Pat Walsh was long gone, having died in 1928, the year I was born, but Mary Brady, his niece, was very much alive. She came to work each day, spending her time in her office -- away from the people coming into the bank to do business, but still very much in touch with the pulse of the bank.

George Moss, our neighbor, was president of the bank at the time, but Pete Graff, who came to McCook in November 1957, as did we, was being groomed to take over that job, which he did in 1963 and served as President of the bank until 1998, when he turned over the reins to his son, Mark.

Mary Brady was born in Beardstown, Ill., in 1881, but after her mother died, when she was just 7 years old, she was cared for and educated by the Visitation Sisters in Hastings. She attended Lincoln Business College, after which she served as Clerk of the Nebraska Supreme Court.

But in 1907 her life took a new turn. Her Uncle, Pat Walsh, had started a bank in McCook and needed her. She came west and never left. She was named a director of the bank in 1917, and remained an active member of the McCook Nation-al Bank family until her death in 1978.

Mrs. Brady was a well-known figure in McCook, but was very much a private person, and a lady whom few people knew well.

Her husband, Edward J. Brady, served for a time as McCook's Postmaster, and later worked for the Citizen's Gas Co. (the forerunner of Kansas-Nebraska Gas), of which his brother-in-law, Pat Walsh was President. Edward died in 1940. There were no children from that marriage.

Mary Brady was ever mindful of the Catholic Church -- her family. During her lifetime, she expressed the wish that someday St. Pat's school would be expanded to include a High School as well as a Grade School.

Though a Catholic High School in McCook never materialized, she made provisions in her will to make sure St. Patrick's Church and School would continue to thrive long after she was gone.

Mrs. Brady was also very proud of the City of McCook, and especially McCook College. In her will she was very generous with funds to be used for the betterment of the College. Today, Mary Brady and her Uncle, Pat Walsh, are remembered in the beautiful Walsh-Brady building on the eastern edge of McCook College Campus, as well as through the many Walsh-Brady scholarships at McCook College. Yet, her serious nature entered into her provisions for the College.

She deemed athletics frivolous, and while she tolerated the athletic programs at the college, she felt that somebody else could pay for them. In her will she stipulated that none of the monies she left for the college should be used for athletes or athletic programs, or athletic scholarships.

Mary Brady was a very proper person at all times, and a very private person. One time, not too long before her death, she was a passenger in a taxi cab, which was involved in an accident. During a police investigation of the incident the cab driver and his passenger, Mrs. Brady, were asked their age.

The accident was reported in the Gazette, which listed the driver's name and age, and Mary Brady, passenger, age, "over 21". Mary was quite indignant, and felt that the police had exceeded their authority. "A gentleman never asks a lady her age!"

Mary Brady was very guarded concerning her privacy. One of her friends related that Mary was very particular about whom she entertained in her home. She had a little trick, which she used to keep her out of situations she wished to avoid. When the doorbell rang she would put on her hat before answering the door. If the caller was someone she did not care to see, she could say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I just put on my hat and was ready to leave the house."

If the caller was someone she wanted to see, she would say, "Oh, please come in. I just got home and haven't even had a chance to take off my hat."

During her lifetime Mary Brady was an active and generous participant in most worthwhile projects that went on in McCook. But it was not just large donations to institutions that Mary Brady remembered. Even though she had no children of her own, she loved children and liked to watch their progress through the school system.

When our daughters graduated from High School they were thrilled to get a card from Mrs. Brady -- which contained two crisp new $1 bills. Who knows how many of these cards that Mary sent each year to graduates and other young people she chose to remember.

By McCook standards -- or probably any standards, Mrs. Brady was a rich woman. But she didn't live rich. She lived very simply in a large three- story home on East 1 Street for many years. When she was quite old, her friends talked her into building a new one- story home on the same street, which would be easier for her, with fewer steps, and more modern conveniences. She was happy in her new home, but she continued to watch television on her old black and white set.

One of her friends expressed surprise at seeing the old TV in her new home. "Why Mary, you ought to get one of the new color sets. The programs are so beautiful in color." Mrs. Brady agreed, but answered that she believed that no one should ever have everything they wanted. People should always have something to wish for, and strive for. She never did have a color TV.

Mrs. Brady provided a quiet, but strong, conservative influence, as well as positive leadership for the McCook National Bank, through the Great Depression, a time which saw many banks (including McCook banks) go under -- through two World Wars, as well as the boom years following the wars.

Mary Brady passed away in 1978 at the age of 97. Though she has been gone for almost 30 years her contributions to her church and to McCook College continue, and will continue far into the future, a fitting memorial to a grand lady, who lived her life simply and frugally, so that her church and her community might prosper.