Mary Lou Norwood, 82, passed away Friday, October 26, 2007 at her home. A graveside service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at Tallahassee's Oakland Cemetery. Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home, Riggins Road (850-877-8191) is handling arrangements. In lieu of flowers donations should be sent to the FSU Foundation marked for the Heritage Protocol endowment, 2010 Levy Ave., P.O. Box 306739, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2739 or to Big Bend Hospice, 1723 Mahan Center Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32308. Mary Lou was a native of Tallahassee born to Mary Susan Sanders Norwood and William Usher Norwood Sr. on July 9, 1925. She grew up within a block of the Florida State College for Women (FSCW) campus and the campus was her childhood playground. She entered FSCW and in 1947 received her B.A. in English, the year the institution became Florida State University. She was proud to have been in the "transition" class of FSU that carried the names of both institutions (FSCW and FSU) on her degree. As a student Mary Lou served in the Student Senate, wrote for the Florida Flambeau and Distaff, participated heavily in Odd Demonstrations and Junior Minstrels and belonged to Cotillion, Spirogira (Garnet and Gold Key) and Mortified. After leaving FSU she also studied theatre arts at Iowa State University. Upon returning to Tallahassee she initiated a long involvement with the Tallahassee Little Theatre, many FSU theatre projects, and designed and ran the lighting for "An Evening of Dance" for many years. She also volunteered her theatre expertise in lighting, staging and choreography for 35 years in working with the FSU Tarpon Club, the student synchronized swimming club. Ever generous with her time and talent, Mary Lou accompanied the Tarpon Club on road trips and to national festivals, invited students into her home for meals and through story-telling taught them about the history, traditions and people of FSU and FSCW. Professionally Mary Lou worked as a writer and editorial assistant for the Florida Wildlife Magazine, served a long tenure as the feature editor and later Bureau Chief for the State of Florida's Division of Tourism and was a freelance travel writer for many prestigious publications. She loved her alma mater and donated her time and talents throughout her life to provide productions and projects for the university. She produced two films on the Tarpon Club, was lighting director for Theatre Dance, and served as Chairperson for the Class of 1947 that developed and built the Heritage Tower. She was the driving force behind the publication of Robin Seller's dissertation as a book, Femina Perfecta (the history of FSCW). Finding that many of FSU's documents, artifacts, history and heritage was being lost, Mary Lou then went to work to preserve FSU's history and she worked with University officials to develop and implement FSU's Heritage Protocol. This campus-wide innovative project aims to identify, preserve, and give access to historical documents. Mary Lou served as the Co-Chair of the Heritage Protocol Council. The protocol will likely become a model program that other universities will look to in the future as they also recognize the importance of preserving their history. This project lead to the establishment of the Mary Lou Norwood Endowment for Heritage Protocol by an anonymous donor in the amount of $100,000. Recognizing other gaps in FSU's history, Mary Lou wrote A Century of Women's Sports (at Florida State University) and was working on a history of FSU's former President's House through the experiences of FSU's first ladies (yet untitled) before she died. For her countless volunteer hours and energy on behalf of FSU, Mary Lou was recognized with the Circle of Gold Award in 1996 and the Emeritus Alumni Society Commitment to Excellence Award in 2001. The Faculty Senate recognized her with its Mores Torch Award in 2002. In 2007 Florida State University recognized Mary Lou for her many contributions to the university by bestowing upon her an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. Mary Lou was a Life Member of the FSU Alumni Association, and a member of the Friends of Dance, FSU Department of Dance and the Music Associates, FSU College of Music. Many friends at Florida State were blessed by the power of Mary Lou's personality, her quick wit, determination and her unselfish goals for the university's greater good. Many people for many years will share in the history, tradition and heritage of FSU that Mary Lou helped to save. Mary Lou was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, William Usher Norwood Jr. She is survived by her niece, Margaret Norwood Dunn of Atlanta, Ga.; nephews, William Usher Norwood III of Atlanta, Ga., and Philip Weltner Norwood of Charlotte, N.C.; cousins, grand nieces and nephews, many wonderful friends and classmates, her "Golden Girls ‘47" and "lunch bunch" buddies, and her cat Simon, who will be relocating to Atlanta Ga.