by Derek Muir, June 11, 1998
On behalf of family members and with some help from Mary's friends, I'd like to say a few words about Mary. In thinking of what to say we came up with the working title of 'Mary Muir, Mother, Friend, Artist, Traveller'. Her role as mother and grandmother, her interest in the fine arts, and her travels were the things that sustained and motivated her all her life and especially in the last 17 years since Greig died.
From our 1990's, 40-something with kids, perspective, Mary was a remarkably supportive mum especially in our late teenage years and early 20's. She cheerfully tolerated unconventional dress, and ideas, and children moving in and away again. She was always very interested in what you were doing and how you were feeling. She was also very good at deflecting questions about her own feelings and especially about her health. Her friends and family will never forget her warmth and generosity.
Fine Art, that is painting, pen and ink sketching, lithography, pottery and so on, was Mary's passion. She did Art School in Bristol in England and then worked for the British Admirality drawing maps. After coming to Canada and marrying Greig in 1947 she worked as a draftsperson (she insisted it was draftsman) at Bell Telephone. She was a member of many arts groups first in Toronto, then in west island Montreal and finally in the Bedford area. In 1977 she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University after spending many years commuting in to Montreal for evening classes. Audry Craighead, who was also studying at Concordia, fondly remembers her adventures driving in and out of Montreal with Mary. These included a car breakdown which left them temporarily stranded in the early morning hours in Laprairie and more than one encounter with black ice on the highway during the winter.
Travel was a more recent passion of Mary's. In the last two decades, she literally traveled the globe, occasionally on organized tours, but more often than not, all on her own. Italy was one of Mary's favorite destinations; she actually studied Italian for two semesters at Concordia University.
Venice was Mary's favorite destination in Italy. When she arrived there she would check in at her favorite pensione in the Academia area, a charming little hotel which unfortunately had only one telephone which was always broken. At least thatŐs what she told us.
Each day in Venice Mary would hop on the Vaporetti, or water taxi, with her paints and easel and set up beside a canal somewhere and work all day on another watercolor. Mary was very happy in Venice, and without a phone handy she would completely forget to call anyone back in Canada or England, and many worried telephone calls were placed between relatives wondering "Where on earth is Mary, we haven't heard anything for weeks!" And then suddenly she would resurface in London, after taking the train across France and Switzerland, with a heavy load of new sketches and unusual momentos and gifts for her friends and family.
Mary traveled to Hong Kong and China and saw the Great Wall and Tianemmon Square the year before the uprising. She also traveled to Russia, experience Glasnost, and sailed the Volga River. She went to Greece and was especially moved by the ancient mountain sanctuary at Delphi. And then there was Mexico, and Portugal, and Slovenia in former Yugoslavia, not to mention the far flung places in Canada where her children, grandchildren and her friends were living such as Winnipeg, Whitehorse in the Yukon, St. John's, Calgary and Victoria.
My brother Eden recalls how Mary loved New York. She visited frequently and would keep herself busy all day with a full itinerary of Soho galleries and midtown museums, and she would always insist on a Broadway play each evening.
But there was one visit to New York that Eden will never forget. Mary suddenly announced that she wanted to take a helicopter ride over Manhattan. Eden hates flying and has a fear of heights, but Mary would have none of that. "Nonsense," she said, and off they went in a yellow taxi to the heliport on East 34th Street. They clambered aboard a flimsy looking machine with glass side panels that reached down below their ankles - a recipe for severe vertigo. The pilot said "Buckle up" and soon they were up and banking around the towers of Manhattan. By the time they returned from the Statue of Liberty Eden was turning green, but Mary was happily admiring the intricate shadows in the canyons of the Wall Street area and the delicate patterns of the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally they swooped in to the landing pad, and the pilot said to undo seat belts... Eden looked across at Mary and saw to his astonishment that she had never even buckled her safety belt. She grinned sheepishly and said "Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to strap myself in?..."
That was how Mary traveled... and lived... with gusto and spontaneity, in constant search of artistic inspiration and always with a wonderful faith that things would work out.
And always, Mary would come back to her home and gardens and studio on the edge of the hill west of Bedford and develop her travel sketches into larger paintings, or work with her dear friends at l'Estampie art studio in Dunham on a new silk-screen series.
We often wondered if Mary would decide to move back to England or even to other parts of Canada. But she loved the Eastern Townships and especially this corner of it. The rolling hills and small towns were similar in many respects to those in Somerset in the west of England. She appreciated the support of neighbors and friends nearby. She was actively involved with this Church. She did several paintings and sketches of this church especially for the 150th anniversary of the parish in 1982.
I haven't said much about Mary's visits to England because I'd like to leave that to my cousin Bernard Glass, who just arrived from the UK last night and who would like to say something on behalf of her friends and relatives there.