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Pushing 90, Tampa General Hospital volunteer just can't slow down

"I'm not ready to slow down," she said.

If you want to catch Mary Bosy, you had better pick up the pace.

“We have over 800 wonderful volunteers here,” said Ellen Fiss. “Mary is a true inspiration.”

Bosy has been volunteering at Tampa General Hospital since 2006. For 12 years, she’s been a runner.

A peculiar job description for someone her age.

“I’ve been retired for years and I’m certainly not ready to stay home,” she said as she pushed her cart through the hospital halls. “I liked it from the beginning. I enjoyed it very much.”

Bosy, who is bilingual, will turn 88 in August. She has lived a life of servitude. She worked in the Peace Corps in her late 60s.

She volunteers at TGH and spends some of her time there working on the Compassionate Companions team, which meets with ailing seniors in their final days. She’s always on the go.

“I’m not very good at standing still,” she said. “I enjoy it. I honestly do.”

Bosy not only walks a few miles during her shifts at the hospital but she walks to work as well. She lives about a mile away from TGH, near the Straz Center downtown. It serves as a nice warm-up for her day.

“I’m not ready to slow down,” she said.

Bosy was a school teacher most of her life and lived overseas. A friend invited her to volunteer at TGH after she moved to Tampa in 2006. Mary will bring her 27-year-old grandson with her on Wednesdays to help her make deliveries.

“She never stops and we can’t say enough about her,” said Fiss. “We wish we had half her energy sometimes.”

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