A word of sorrow is mandatory for Mary Lee Christensen as she passed away last week.
For those who just got now to bodyboarding, it is worth mentioning that Mary Lee Christensen was the Morey team manager in the early years of the sport and she was also the one who put it into practice the annual world contest at Pipe.
She is in fact an unsung hero, as many consider, who played one of the most important rolls in building and creating our beloved sport. This amazing woman worked tirelessly for years behind the scenes to help create the sport we love, organizing contests, promotions, advertising and running events.
Here’s a few words written by Jay Reale on social media:
“In my nearly 59 years on this planet, I can point to a few people who have positively impacted the direction my life took. I woke up this morning to find that one of those people, Mary Lee Christensen had passed away.
As a young man, obsessed with bodyboarding, Mary Lee took me on as a team rider for Morey 
Bodyboards/Churchill Fins and gave me opportunities that I could only dream about. Travel, adventure, TV commentary jobs, speaking engagements, media coverage… the list goes on. I was just one of many of us that were helped by this wonderful woman.
She invited me to the very first Morey Pipeline event in 1982, and gave me my first pro contract in 1987 giving me the motivation to move to California to join the fledgling Pro Tour, and put me up at her house for my first month living out west, which set my life on a path to everything I have today – business, wife, children, travel. I write this from a hotel room in El Salvador where I’m on a surf trip with my wife and son, in part thanks to Mary Lee’s influence so many years ago.
She did so much for our sport that many will never know about including annual events at Pipeline, getting TV coverage for the sport, promoting riders, etc. Though she’s been out of the sport for many years, her legacy will live on.
My sincere condolences to Jennifer and Christian, her children, and to all those of us who were positively impacted by this amazing human.”
Rest peacefully, Mary Lee.
