Mary Louise Borg

Mary Louise Borg died on July 24, 2024, after a long and courageous fight with cancer. She was born on March 31, 1959, in New Haven, Connecticut to William and Anne (Delehanty) Borg. Most of her youth was spent in Norwich, Connecticut, where in 1977 she graduated from Norwich Free Academy. Mary graduated from Brown University in 1981, followed by Boston University Law School in 1985. She worked for several years at a large Boston law firm before transferring to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Boston Office. In 1992 she married William Darrow, and the couple settled in Burlington, Vermont. Mary had a long career at Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources, serving for over a decade as Deputy Director of the Watershed Management Division. She and Bill had two daughters in Vermont, Anna and Katherine.

Mary loved the outdoors and enjoyed camping, hiking, canoeing, biking, and cross-country skiing, as well as spinning classes. She was an avid reader. In 2020 she was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. She retired and the family moved to Massachusetts, where for nearly four years Mary received treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She continued to enjoy the outdoors on Cape Cod with long beach walks, backyard birding, gardening, and walking her heart dog, Blake. Her family credits Mary’s MGH oncology team with extending her life for several years, and thanks the nurses and aides at McCarthy Care Center for caring for her in her final weeks.

Mary adored her daughters and was strongly bonded with them. Although balancing work and children was challenging, whenever a choice between them was to be made it was in favor of her girls. The family enjoyed traveling together and spending time at a family home in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Three Mile Island Camp in New Hampshire.

Mary is survived by her husband William Darrow, her daughters Anna Darrow and Katherine Darrow, her beloved son-in-law John Paul Zelazny, and her brother William Borg. To those who knew her, her wish is that you hug your family and pets tightly today in memory of her. They are more precious than you know.