In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared August 25 "Brownie Mary Day."

"My kids [people with AIDS and cancer] need this and I'm ready to go to jail for my principles... I'm not going to cut any deals with them. If I go to jail, I go to jail," she once said.

She was named a "Living Saint" in 1994 at the San Francisco Saints Alive Benefit. In 1997 the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dubbed her "Saint Brownie Fucking Mary" at Mary's request as she was a lifelong atheist. Mary was also included in the Sisters' Nuns of the Above AIDS Memorial Quilt for her work with and advocating for people with AIDS. Brownie Mary died of a heart attack at a Laguna Honda nursing home for the poor at age 77.

They are fantastic people,hope i just live that long!!!

They're the ones that give others hope.

In Japan, they declare people like these "Living National Treasures". Only one is allowed in any given area of achievement at any given time. I have a tape of an old documentary from the late '80s on the then National Treasures. One was a calligrapher who also made her own paper, another was a flower arranger, another made katanas in the traditional style (note the emphasis on the arts).