Mary’s Story
Our Mission:
The mission is to promote the compassionate and empathetic care provided by passionate Nurses through Scholarship to deserving Nursing students and recognition of practicing Nurses who enthusiastically provide care with respect and integrity to others.
How we came about: “Mary’s Story”
Mary Margaret Trant was born on June 30th 1999. She was a “miracle baby”. Mary was a bold, strawberry blonde, dimpled-cheek, happy infant with a contagious laugh that lasted throughout her lifetime. As other family members were dealing with serious complicated illnesses, Mary from a very young age instinctively worked to provide comfort and relief; perhaps these were the first signs Mary was destined to be a healer.
As Mary grew older, so did her potential and call to help others.
While committed to Salem State’s RN-BSN nursing track, Mary had worked part-time as an in-home aid helping the sick, elderly and disabled before beginning her training to become a certified Massachusetts EMT.
While college courses were in session, as a commuter student, Mary’s favorite study spot was on her bed or spread out across the kitchen counter. If you watched Mary studying for her exams, you would witness her feverishly flipping through medical texts, reviewing lectures, and writing down content to review on thousands of brightly-colored flashcards, in effort to help her master key nursing skills & terminology. Mary’s favorite academic journal was a 5×7 bound notebook dressed in actual blue scrubs, complete with an inscription on the front cover “Nurses Change Lives For The Better”. Mary’s dedication to her studies helped her achieve A’s on campus in advanced courses such as Pharmacology, Medical Surgery, Microbiology, Anatomy & Physiology and Organic Chemistry. In addition to her time spent in the classroom, Mary was also able to build nursing confidence and her test her developing nursing abilities in on-campus labs and while working at local hospitals.
Although Mary’s academia largely helped to teach her all that she would need to know to succeed as a nurse after graduation, perhaps what Mary such a remarkable and memorable caretaker & nursing student was her intelligence and empathetic approach while aiding patients. Past patients of Mary’s commented her charming personality and calming bedside manner helped to make them feel comforted and less lonely while staying in local hospitals on ‘lockdown’ due to the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic. Other patients commented that Mary’s gentle touch had a soothing and angelic feel that seemed to have the ability to emotionally connect with anyone and put their minds at ease in moments of distress. Her wittiness and dry sense of humor also afforded her instructors and fellow nursing peers temporary moments of laughter and lightness during long shifts of stress and fatigue.
Mary knew studying to become a Nurse (and later, simultaneously, a certified EMT) was going to be challenging and demanding of her mentally, physically, and emotionally but she believed helping to heal others as a nurse was her calling and life’s purpose.
Mary unexpectedly passed away in a motor vehicle accident in January 2021. After overwhelming support from family, friends, nursing community and general public, the MMTrant Foundation was established shortly thereafter to continue spreading Mary’s passion for nursing and helping others in her memory.
With the continued generous support and engagement of the community, sponsors, and donation contributors, we are committed to carrying on Mary’s mission through thoughtful donations, acts of kindness and academic scholarship opportunities. We thank you for spreading our nonprofit’s mission and joining us on this journey.