Mary Ann Esty, age 97, of Austell, Georgia passed away on December 28, 2023. She was born in North Egremont, Massachusetts on August 9, 1926, and was the daughter of the late Jarvis Morandi and Jessie McGowan Morandi. Her four sisters, Francis Donaldson, Margaret (Peggy) Pape, Elanor (Norrie) Miller, and Martha Bright predeceased her.
Mary Ann graduated from Searles High School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. After High School, she became a Registered Nurse (RN) through the U.S. Army Nurse Cadet program. She later studied art at the Pittsfield Art School, with Norman Rockwell in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and at the Memphis School of Art.
Mary Ann enjoyed careers as an RN and business owner until she achieved her lifelong goal of becoming a successful portrait and landscape artist. She had numerous portrait commissions and many showings of her artwork in art galleries in Memphis, Tennessee, Jackson, Mississippi, Atlanta, Georgia, and Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. Upon seeing her catalogue for her 1966 exhibit in Memphis, Norman Rockwell sent her a letter saying, “It looks wonderful and you are certainly on the ball” while recalling the wonderful time they had at sketch class.
Mary Ann was a member of Clairmont Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia. She loved traveling, singing, decorating, and visiting with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mary Ann married Seward Doty on November 6, 1948. He died October 10, 1954. Later, she married Rev. C. Phil Esty on July 3, 1971. He died on February 1, 2019.
Mary Ann has three children, Joyce Yager (deceased), Stephen Doty (Joann), and Michael Doty; five grandchildren, Doty Anzovino (Tony) of Plano, Texas, Marcia Collier (John) of Alabaster, Alabama, Stephen M. Doty (Carol) of Jacksonville, Florida, Christopher Doty of Helena, Alabama, and Cara Ryadi (Mounir) of Chicago, Illinois; and her much-loved great-grandchildren, Maddie, Isabella, Camilla, Olivia, Katie, Sophia, Lila, Lauryn, Carolyne, and Kathryn.
A Celebration of Life Service for Mary Ann will be Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 11 a.m. at Ridout's Southern Heritage Funeral Home, 475 Cahaba Valley Road, Pelham, AL 35124.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.11.0