Indiana University professor Mary Waldron died July 22 at 52 after her three-and-a-half-year battle with metastatic lung cancer. Waldron was a faculty member in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at IU’s school of education.
Waldron was born in December 1972 at Portsmouth, Virginia, and her family eventually settled in Seattle.
She studied psychology at the University of Washington and then earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. Her work brought her to Washington University in St. Louis, where she joined a long-running research team studying genetics, development and mental health.
After marrying fellow researcher Rick Viken, Waldron moved to Bloomington and became a tenured associate professor in the School of Education, winning awards for both her research and teaching. She remained passionate about psychology, genetics and child development throughout her career.
During the course of her career, Waldron received 23 honors and awards for her research contributions.
In early 2022, she was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer linked to a spontaneous genetic mutation. She dove into the research, participated in clinical trials and gave her all to treatments in hopes of gaining more time with her family.
Waldron lived three and a half years past the time doctors said she had left to live at the time of her diagnosis. She made it to family milestones, renewed old friendships, and even took a final trip to Paris.
She is survived by her husband, Rick; her sons, Jon and Nils; her mother, Demetra Waldron; her brother, Elliott; sister-in-law, Amy; niece and nephew, Maxine and Niko; and cousin Alethea, whom she saw as a sister.
At Waldron’s request, no service will be held. Friends are encouraged to remember her in small gatherings, as she would have liked. Those wishing to honor her can make donations to a local animal shelter or rescue group. Waldron loved dogs all her life and believed every dog deserved a home.
According to the obituary published on The Funeral Chapel’s website, ”In her last weeks, the effects of the disease intensified, and Waldron was only intermittently able to speak. The last full sentence she said to Rick and her sons was ‘I am so grateful,’ a remarkable sentiment for someone who had suffered so much, and, we think, a fitting coda for this amazing woman.”
