HOUSE RESOLUTION EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF MARY MAGAVERN WORRELL

H7713

2026 -- H 7713
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026
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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N
EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF MARY MAGAVERN WORRELL

Introduced By:
Representatives Ajello, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Chippendale, Kennedy,
Edwards, Bennett, Solomon, Fogarty, and Shallcross Smith

Date Introduced:
February 11, 2026

Referred To:
House read and passed
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WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness that this House has learned of the passing of Mary
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Magavern Worrell. Ms. Worrell was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1942, and was the beloved
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wife of Rick Worrell; and
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WHEREAS, Mary Magavern Worrell was presented in 1960 at the 20th Century Club in
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Buffalo and later graduated from The Buffalo Seminary. She studied at Bradford Junior College
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for two years and spent one year studying at Reid Hall in Paris, a city she dearly loved, before she
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graduated from Boston University in 1964; and
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WHEREAS, Ms. Worrell married a close Dartmouth College friend of her two
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Dartmouth brothers, and settled down in Providence, where she worked as a teacher at Classical
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High School, and later, at the Lincoln School. In 1967, she and her husband undertook much of
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the work as they restored and revitalized an old home in Providence’s Fox Point Neighborhood
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that had been boarded up since 1940; and
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WHEREAS, Beginning in the 1970s, Ms. Worrell began her service and devotion to St.
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Martin’s Episcopal Church, where she served with love and dedication as the Volunteer Director
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of its Sunday School, and later as its Senior Warden; and
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WHEREAS, Thanks to her studies in Paris, Ms. Worrell developed a calling and desire to
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work in the field of landscape architecture and embraced her belief that “the gentle hand of man
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in nature” should be a guiding principle of the profession. Ms. Worrell commuted to the Radcliffe
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Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where, after much hard work and studying, earned the
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designation of Registered Landscape Architect, all while caring devotedly for her family; and

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WHEREAS, Ms. Worrell was a talented landscape architect who worked collaboratively
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with many skilled craftspeople and clients to create enduring spaces of beauty and nature. In
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2013, a book of Ms. Worrell's works was published with a special inscription to her
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grandchildren. She also designed a second family home with many flower gardens and a
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vegetable garden on a hill in rural Vermont near several ski resorts; and
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WHEREAS, The Vermont home brought great joy to Ms. Worrell and her family as it
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was surrounded by forests, fields, mountains, and a river, all of which instilled in her children and
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grandchildren a deep love for nature, skiing and outdoor work; and
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WHEREAS, In her free time, Ms. Worrell also enjoyed tennis, boating, skiing and
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working long hours in her garden. She especially loved her boating sojourns out of Westport,
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Cuttyhunk, the Vineyard, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay and Block Island. She also enjoyed
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playing tennis at the Clarksburg Club near Buffalo and with her Rhode Island tennis friends, and
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was always up for a good game of Scrabble; and
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WHEREAS, Ms. Worrell served with distinction on the Boards of the Swan Point
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Cemetery and the Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT). She was the first woman to serve on
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the Agawam Hunt’s Board of Governors in 1984. She particularly enjoyed her time with the
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SCLT, where she spent many hours working tirelessly to promote and sustain urban agriculture,
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believing always in the power of community gardening and farming to empower and connect
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people. Ms. Worrell was a woman who made wherever she resided and worked a better place.
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She was always devoted to her family and her many friends, and she will be sorely missed by all
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who knew and loved her; and
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WHEREAS, Mary Magavern Worrell leaves behind her husband, Rick, her son, Jamie
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and his wife, Kimberly, and her daughters Elizabeth Carroll and her husband, David, and Hope
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Martin and her husband, Chip. She also leaves behind her nine grandchildren, and her sisters
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Margy Hargraves, the wife of the late Skip Hargraves, and Jane Beebe and her husband, Spencer,
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as well as many nieces, nephews and godchildren; now, therefore be it
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RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby
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expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of Mary Magavern Worrell; and be it further
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RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to
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transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Rick Worrell and Family.
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