September 18, 2025
How Mary Bump's Legacy of Love Continues to Help Families in Need
This week marks four years since Mary Bump’s battle with cancer came to an end peacefully at Kavanagh House in Des Moines. But her passing isn’t the end of her story - not if her siblings and an army of friends have anything to say about it.
“She brought a lot of unique things to our life that we wanted to carry on,” says Mary’s sister, Julie Sillanpaa, “She was pretty amazing.”
Mary Bump was the middle child in a family of nine siblings growing up in Washington, Iowa. She was known for her love of the Rolling Stones, rec softball, and big performances. That includes her surprise appearance at Julie’s wedding dressed as Michael Jackson. “She hated attention,” says Julie, “Any time she danced or sang she’d wear sunglasses.”
Donate to EveryStep
Mary is still getting attention – now as a beacon of fundraising and community support through the organization her family and friends started in her honor, the Mary Bump Memorial Foundation. EveryStep is honored to be one of the recipients of a financial gift from the foundation, the result of a fundraising event held earlier this year at Reclaimed Rails in Bondurant.
“Mary felt so cared for and loved in her last few weeks of life at EveryStep and we want to give back to help show what that meant to her and our family,” Julie wrote in a note to EveryStep after the fundraiser. Julie says EveryStep gave her family more than she could ever have asked for in Mary’s final days.
“She was worried about going into hospice care because she thought that meant she was giving up,” Julie remembers, but she relented and turned her care over to EveryStep to relieve the stress on the caretakers in her family.
“We were able to have some actual good times with her at EveryStep,” says Julie, “We got to know the nurses pretty well ... they were very accommodating with anything we could ask. She could wake up and say she needs chocolate pudding and Jello, and they’d get it.”
Find Care with EveryStep
Julie recalls one day as Mary’s condition deteriorated “she wanted to go on a walk, but they let us take her bed outside because she was too weak to walk.” In her final days, Mary’s dog was by her side in her room. When Mary passed, Julie remembers Mary’s nurse holding her dog in the hallway as family and friends said their goodbyes. “The nurses talked with family and cried with family … they were just pretty amazing.”
In March 2022 – six months after Mary’s passing – her family launched the memorial foundation in Mary’s name. The organization is managed by a team of family and friends with a mission to find and support those going through life’s hardest times.
Each year, the foundation hosts three major fundraising events inspired by Mary’s some of Mary’s favorite things – music and softball. In June, they hold a Battle of the Bands at BrickHouse Fitness in Bondurant. It’s a day of food, fun, and music –featuring performances by the Bump family.
In August, the family returns to their hometown of Washington for their biggest annual event: the Mary Bump Softball Tournament. The third annual tournament was held on August 31st. “It was one of the most fun times we’ve had in a longtime,” Julie says about the tournament and reunion of family and friends that comes along with it.
EveryStep News
Their final big event of the year is just a few weeks away – the Ashley Carpenter Classic Softball Tournament at the Bondurant Little League Fields. The tournament was established in 2014 in honor of Ashley Carpenter who passed away at the age of 20 after a battle with cancer. The 12th annual tournament will be held on September 27th. The funds raised at the tournament will be used to support local kids fighting cancer.
Julie says the events are about more than just the fundraising totals for her. Friends and family from across the state reunite, pulled together by their love for Mary. “The tournament was just a perfect day of hanging,” she says, “Mary drives us to bring everyone together.”