Mary Ebmeyer

Mary Sage Doelle Ebmeyer died at the age of 81, on Sunday, August 4, 2013, at Bryn Mawr Hospital. She suffered a stroke after a long battle with sarcoidosis. Born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she was the daughter of the late Buell Arnold Doelle and the late Marie Horrigan Doelle. Mary grew up in Grosse Pointe, avidly attending Detroit Red Wings games and parties at the Boat Club, where her father was Commodore. She graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart and earned a degree in Elementary Education from The University of Michigan in 1954, where she was a member of the Tau Beta Association. Mary also completed graduate courses at Harvard University. In 1954, Mary was one of 12 finalists in Vogue Magazine's Prix de Paris competition, a career contest won by Jacqueline Bouvier three years earlier; author Sylvia Plath was a finalist the following year. After flipping a coin to decide between Chicago and New York, Mary moved to Manhattan in 1961, where she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women and met several lifelong friends. That year, she started her teaching career at St. David's School, where she met and married her husband Walter C. Ebmeyer. Together they worked at independent schools across Long Island, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, and Delaware. During those years, Mary worked as a school librarian, doted on her children, refinished furniture, hosted legendary faculty parties, dabbled in real estate, and worked on her tennis game. Mary and Walter moved to Pennsylvania in 1998 when Walter was named Headmaster of The Gladwyne Montessori School and Mary continued her real estate career at Prudential Fox and Roach in Haverford. More recently, she worked as a sales associate for real estate developers including Bentley, Nolan, and Vaughan & Sautter Builders. Mary was a talented gardener, a passionate reader, a devoted follower of the British Royal family and the Kennedys, an aficionado of classic films, and an accomplished seamstress, making window treatments for all of her grandchildren's bedrooms. Mary loved fashion and decorating, was a devout Catholic, a loving owner of numerous spoiled dogs and cats, and an adoring mother and grandmother. Mary is survived by her husband of 47 years, Walter C. Ebmeyer, her children Christopher (Whitney) and Mimi Dennis (Roger) and 6 grandchildren: Dakin, Lilly and August Ebmeyer, and Mary Sage, Fletcher and Lucy Dennis. A Memorial Mass is planned for Wednesday, August 7 at 2 pm at Our Mother of Good Council, 31 Pennswood Road, Bryn Mawr, with a reception following at The Merion Cricket Club. Contributions in Mary's name may be made to The Gesu School, 1700 West Thompson Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121. www.gesuschool.org