This included their harrowing, life-changing trip to Israel in September 1975. They had been invited by the mayor of Jerusalem to be his guests at the Mishkenot Sha'ananim, a residence for distinguished artists, writers, and musicians from abroad that faced the walls of the Old City. After their return from this trip, Mary noticed a decline in her husband’s health and a waning in his artistic authority. In 1977, she provided secretarial help so George could complete his final volume of poetry, "Primitive". According to Rachel Blau DuPlessis, this "help" was atypical of their practice and was related to George's decline. During this time, George's final illness began to manifest itself with confusion, failing memory, and other losses. In 1980, the Montemora Foundation published her book "Poems & Transpositions". George Oppen, died of pneumonia preceded by Alzheimer's Disease on July 7, 1984, aged 76. On December 3, 1987, his widow read from her autobiography at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.