Mary Jo “MJ” Berry
Mary Jo “MJ” Berry was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi on December 12, 1947 to Lucille (Schmutte) and Travis Berry Sr. She shined her light on this world into the wee hours of November 15, 2020.
When a serious auto accident almost took her life in 1979, doctors said she would not likely walk again. But reaching out to what she experienced as a Higher Power, MJ regained her ability to walk and began a long and active spiritual and political life in Lincoln, Nebraska.
A lover of music and participatory democracy, she always supported Lincoln’s KZUM community radio station and served as a leader in the Nebraska Green Party, Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, and other peace, social justice, and environmental groups. When the internet emerged, MJ started her own “Mostly Good News” online service, collecting links to positive news stories from a wide range of sources and passing them along to a growing list of readers in more than 1,100 installments over 20 years. She earned the Peacemaker of the Year Award from the local Alternatives to the Military group.
MJ advocated for medical marijuana to deal with the pain she lived with since 1979. She came to believe that our collective human consciousness can evolve to a greater harmony with nature, to world peace, and to a collective healing with social and economic justice for all. Always the optimist, she believed, as the poet Pablo Neruda wrote, “You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep Spring from coming.”
It is MJ’s wish that any memorial gifts be donated in her name to Lincoln’s KZUM radio station at kzum.org and/or to: Nebraska Green Party; P.O. Box 85442; Lincoln, NE 68501. A memorial service will be planned for in 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic threat has passed. MJ will be interred next to her mother in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.
For condolences, please use the form below.
Funeral Home assisting is Aspen Mortuary, 4822 Cleveland Avenue, Lincoln, NE 68504. To view an on-line obituary or email condolences please visit Aspen Mortuary’s website at www.aspenaftercare.com.
Aspen Cremation Service represents the ideal combination of price and quality. We have low overhead and can pass on the savings. Let us earn your trust.
Accreditations
Condolences for Mary Jo “MJ” Berry
Mary,
You are all about love yet I find myself focusing on what the loss of that love makes me “hate” ~ MISS!
I hate that I will never be able to write to you any more ~ and get a response.
I hate that I was not able to see you again & hug you & tell you a proper good by.
I hate that you will not be doing any more card readings for me.
I hate that I won’t be receiving any of your mass emails on important issues in the world that gave me a glimpse of the broader world beyond my home.
I HATE THAT YOU ARE GONE FROM ALL OF US HERE WHO WERE DRAWN TO YOUR LIGHT & CAME TO DEPEND UPON YOUR ETERNAL HOPE & ENCOURAGEMENT TO BRING US BACK UP WHEN DOWN, reassure us when anxious & insecure, feeling tired & defeated & without hope.
YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE… YOUR PRESENCE HERE… You lifted people up & gave them direction & showed them the way they needed to go.
Mostly you raised downtrodden spirits & comforted betrayed hearts & were a beacon to the lost & alone, sad & discouraged & gave them a connection to yourself that was steady & true, good & giving & ALWAYS BELIEVING IN THE POWER OF US ALL TO BE ABLE TO UNITE & form an impenetrable barrier to the dark when joined in positive spiritual vibrations.
You empowered people with the belief that we hold within us the POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER… IF ONLY WE COULD BELIEVE AGAIN… develop unwavering FAITH IN THE IMAGE OF THE FLUTTERING WINGS OF A SINGLE BUTTERFLY THAT CAN CHANGE WIND CURRENTS ACROSS THE GLOBE…
YOUR PASSION PLAY VISION OF CHRIST ~ arising from his bodily shell discarded, no longer needed or useful, as he ascended up into the heavenly eternal where JOY, PEACE & LOVE reigns supreme eternally… waiting to welcome our arrival home, after our earthly trials have ended.
Your passion for people to seek PEACE here on earth as it is in Heaven…
BECAUSE WE ARE ALL part of ONE intricate, delicately intertwined mass of connections which make up the whole of what life is… what living together SHOULD BE / COULD BE… CAN BE. Our planet’s life giving & sustaining force of nature providing for all living things upon it, beneath it, above it… visible & unseen ~ of which humans are but one element within it.
Yet, we fail to even grasp that people we know & are unknown, people we seek & those we avoid… THAT WE ARE ALL CONNECTED … we all share an existence of which is created for all & made by all together… we are all just small cogs & gears running a truly brilliant, magnificent, expansive Cosmic Machine… TOGETHER we are the WHOLE, which is BREATH TAKING & AMAZING beyond actual comprehension.
Your Vision Quest of a Passion Play for Peace was REALIZED…. you lived it out every single day with every person you ever met. You modeled to all what it is to help heal one another & awaken in them their ability to SEE & HEAR & FEEL & PARTICIPATE IN OUR GRAND INTERTWINED PLACE WITHIN THE WHOLE OF WHAT WE WERE CREATED FOR… to play out our small part in the massive design of life TOGETHER … our threads wound around & through all others bringing into life the interdependent parts which creates the magnificent, brilliant tapestry of the whole.
YOUR LEGACY CONTINUES ON in the hearts of all who had the privilege of knowing you. YOUR SPIRITUAL CONNECTION TO ME & OTHERS IS ALIVE & FELT….
THANK YOU for EVERYTHING… a most valued friend for 40 years that is greatly missed!
Joni
Rest in peace to a dear friend who reentered my life a few years ago.
Just going through some of MJ’s emails and realized they’d stopped so I searched up their name only to find this sad news. MJ, you made a difference to me and to many. Sending all good energy to you, your spirit, your loved ones.