COQUILLE — At an age when some are considering retirement, Mary Loofbourow was starting from scratch.

Her husband had gambled away her retirement savings. And after 27 years of marriage, she left — with little more than her faith.

“It was a scary venture giving up everything,” said Loofbourow, who had a combined income of about $150,000 before leaving her husband. “I felt pretty alone.”

Several years later, that faith has been tested. Earlier this year, the 63-year-old was on the brink of losing everything, again — her home, her savings, her mom. Then a mysterious friend stepped in. 

In 2006, three years after the divorce, Loofbourow was living in an apartment in Portland without health insurance and  struggling to replace her retirement funds.

Even though the mother of three did not want to move more than 200 miles from her friends and family, when a cartography position opened at the Coos County Assessor’s office, she sent in her resume. The job came with a retirement plan she desperately needed.

The assessor called her in for an interview, and Loofbourow, her sister and dog made the four-and-a-half-hour drive.

“I really had no intention of leaving Portland,” Loofbourow said.

That afternoon when Loofbourow was offered the job, she made one excuse after another as to why she couldn’t take it. She had to live close enough to walk to work to save on gas money and had to go home at lunch to feed her dog.

The chief deputy assessor said she had a house for rent down the street from the courthouse, and assured Loofbourow she would have an hour lunch break.

“That didn’t get me out of it,” said Loofbourow, who has an associate degree in drafting. “That’s when I knew this is where I was going to be.”

Loofbourow packed her bags for Coquille. Her goal was to retire at 80 with a full pension.

“I couldn’t have been happier,” Loofbourow said. “I felt like I was working with family. This was where I belonged.”

Loofbourow was doing so well that in November 2007 she bought a house, and her debt dwindled from $30,000 to $15,000.

“I was so excited to be a homeowner again,” she said.

That was also when Loofbourow, after being absent 30 years, decided to start going to church again.

“I always believed, but didn’t practice,” she said.

Last Christmas Eve, the assessor’s office restructured. She was bumped out of her job into a clerk position. Her monthly pay dropped about 35 percent. Loofbourow couldn’t keep up with payments on her new home.

“The process of finding out was a roller coaster emotionally,” she said, her blue eyes welling up with tears.

By February, Loofbourow had fallen too far behind — and filed for bankruptcy. She could barely afford her living expenses. Then that spring her mother died.

“Emotionally, I had been beat down.”

But one June afternoon, she came home from work to find an envelope slipped through the mail slot in the front door. Inside was a cashier’s check for $200. There was no name.

The mysterious envelopes came at the end of every month for the next four months. The giver never came forward.

“At a point when I was starting to feel down, it was a blessing,” Loofbourow said.

She placed her home on the market for short sale in October, and Loofbourow moved into a smaller rental in the same Coquille neighborhood. But she says it was that anonymous act of generosity that reminded her of everything she has to be thankful for. Faith, wisdom and community.

“God never gives me more than I can handle,” Loofbourow said. “Instead of sitting here crying, I am grateful for what I have.”