Mary Ann Giles Lewis

MARY ANN GILES LEWIS

Mary Ann Giles Lewis, 72, died early in the morning of July 2, 2013, at Big Bend Hospice House from complications of probable Alzheimer's disease. She was born in Winter Haven, Florida, on March 29, 1941. She is survived by her husband of fifty years, George E. Lewis II, three children, Mary Byrd Lewis Sims (and husband Ramsay H. Sims), Anne Cameron Lewis Barton, and George Lewis III (and wife Sarah S. Lewis), and five granddaughters, Melissa Byrd Sims, Virginia Holland "Holly" Sims, Isabella Collins Barton, Stella Mae Lewis, and Clifton Wren Lewis, all of Tallahassee. She was a kind and gentle spirit, whose grace enriched the lives of those whom she touched.

Mary Ann attended schools around the country while her father was in the United States Air Force, and graduated from Leon High School in 1959. She attended Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a year, and graduated with a B. S. in Elementary Education from FSU in 1962, and an M. A. in Art Education in 1968. She taught at McIntyre Elementary School in Albemarle County, Virginia, while her husband was in law school at the University of Virginia, and at Lillian Ruediger School, Caroline Brevard School, the art curriculum at Holy Comforter Episcopal School, concluding with over twenty years as a third-grade teacher at Maclay School, from which she retired in 2001. One of Mary Ann's great gifts was teaching the whole child. She possessed an amazing ability to excite otherwise reluctant students to become avid learners and flourishing individuals. She was an inspired and inspiring teacher, with a loving and positive influence on her students and other teachers. Her two daughters have followed in her teaching path at Maclay School. She was a wonderful pianist, and a talented artist.

She was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, where she taught Sunday School and directed numerous children's pageants and plays, and was a member of the Vestry. She was also a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority at Queens and FSU, the Junior League of Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Garden Club, and the Tallahassee Literary Society. She had been a board member of LeMoyne Art Foundation and of the Tallahassee Junior Museum, as well as the Board of Trustees of Maclay School after her retirement.

Service arrangements are not complete at this time. Mary Ann's family requests that gifts in her honor be made to the Mary Ann Lewis Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation of North Florida, Inc, for the benefit of Maclay School, 1621 Metropolitan Boulevard, Suite A, Tallahassee, FL 32308, or on line at www.cfnf.org, or to a donor's chosen charity. The lovely Mary Ann was gracious to all to the end.