Described by students, parents, and staff as "the lady who always smiles," Loyal Heights' administrative secretary Mary Hawkinson has retired after 31 years.

A going-away party was thrown in her honor at the school Oct. 3. Kathy Katzen, her assistant of 17 years, replaces her.

"I loved my job," said Hawkinson. "The kids, staff, parents. Where else can you have all this? Now it's time to enjoy my family.

"When I first got the job I had to type 60 words a minute and know shorthand," she added. "I used a ditto machine and mimeograph machine."

Prior to her post at Loyal Heights, the Ballard-born grandmother of three was a file clerk, then data processor, at Safeco Insurance. But she found the school environment a better fit.

"Her job was to take care of everybody, and to take care of those who take care of everybody," said Ben Ostrom with admiration for his former administrator. Currently the principal at Orca K-8, he was Loyal Heights' principal from 1999 until 2002. "Nobody will ever match her phone or intercom voice. In any emergency she produced a sense of calm."

"She's lovely," said Cashel Toner, the new principal who worked with Hawkinson over the summer. "I call her 'Mary Sunshine' because of her cheerful phone voice."

"She was the heart of the building," said Loy Dahl, special education teacher for 17 years who has two children in the school.

"Mary was very structured but always had a smile when the kids would come in," said Loy's husband Michael, a flight attendant for American Airlines who also helps in the school office. "She's made a mark on the school, which will continue to use the framework she's established to keep things running smoothly. It's an end of an era."

"I feel like she's special to me because we have the same birthday, Nov. 16th," said fifth grader Claire Hostetler. Hostetler and other kids stayed after school to say goodbye to their retiring friend at the party.

"She always left a candy dish on her desk for us, little candy bars and snack packs," said third grader Olivia Thomas. "Sometimes we'd have to ask first."

"Whenever we get hurt at recess we go in and tell her and she fixes it up and calls our mom," said fourth grader Ana Bogdanovich. "I feel upset she's going, but she says she's coming back for the (Oct. 13) Jogathon so I'll feel better when I see her again."

Ana's mother, Mary Lynn, appreciated the attention Hawkinson gave Ana and the other students.

"She's a parent and grandparent herself and we've shared every bit of our lives with her. When we were proud of our kids, she was proud too. When we were sad our kids didn't make the team, she'd be sad too."

"Mary knows each and every child, their room, and their parents," said Margie Balcos, who has three students attending. "Her leaving is bittersweet, but she deserves to really enjoy this time of her life."

While Hawkinson's legacy is one of giving, she also received support of school staff and families during a tragic period of her life.

"When my brother John died in 1986 the staff here walked her through her grief," recalled Susan Anderson, Hawkinson's daughter. "My mother left Loyal Heights to work in Ballard High School's activities department when my brother was a senior. He died that year, in his sleep, and she returned to Loyal Heights the next year. I think it would have been too hard on her to remain."

Anderson said now that she's retired, her mother can spend more time with her three grandchildren.

"We've been trying to get her to retire for five years, so this is a big day for our family," said Anderson, a Lynnwood resident and mortgage consultant at Liberty Financial.

"This was the first year ever she took my kids to their first day of school."

"Our time is now somewhat our own," said John, Mary's husband of 46 years, also retired. He was director of food manufacturing at what is now SK Food Group in West Seattle. "We can sleep 'till 7 or 8, or get up at 6 to do something. We've got a cruise planned from Miami to Vancouver going through the Panama Canal. It's been a long time coming for both of us."

Steve Shay may be reached at steves@robinsonnews.com