Sylvia Lucy Marsh

Old Lyme - Sylvia Lucy Eden Marchant Davis Marsh died at her home on Thursday, May 16, 2013.

She was born in 1912 in Kilmacolm, Scotland, one of six children and the daughter of an Anglican minister. She was sailing to the United States in 1939 when England declared war. Soon thereafter, she took up permanent residence in Old Lyme.

While her husband E. Lea Marsh Jr. was alive, she traveled the globe as he promoted the Jersey breed of cattle, and made regular visits to her native land. Sylvia retained her British citizenship and British customs yet she enjoyed the American free spirit. On her 100th birthday, she was very gratified to receive a personal letter from Queen Elizabeth II acknowledging her unflinching loyalty to the crown.

Sylvia was well known for her watercolor artistry and she was very proud to have been elected an artist member of the Lyme Art Association in her late 80's based upon her current work. Her landscape paintings decorate many homes in Connecticut and elsewhere. Over 40 years ago, she began an annual tradition involving her whole family, making intricate hand-painted Christmas cookies that are so highly prized that they are often varnished rather than eaten. These too can be found gracing many china cabinets in Old Lyme.

Until her last days, she taught creative writing in her home, enhanced by cookies and muffins she had made just before her students arrived. For most of her mature years, late nights would find her curled up in her chair, working difficult crossword puzzles whose margins had been filled with sketches of every face she had seen on television that evening. She also quietly wrote beautiful poetry and funny children's stories to delight her grandchildren. Sylvia was a wonderful mother to her children and grandchildren and to many others from the town, who were brought by their parents to experience the fun-loving and beguiling way in which she could blend learning and happiness.

Sylvia is survived by her sister, Denise "Jane" Ashworth of Storrs; a son, Dr. George Peter Beardsley of Old Lyme; a son, James Timothy Beardsley of Charlestown, R.I.; her twin daughters, Elizabeth Lea Marsh and Jane Rowley Marsh, both of Old Lyme; a step-daughter, Carol McCord of Port Washington, N.Y.; and a step-son, Edward G. Marsh of Old Lyme; and many fine up-standing grandchildren.

The memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 25, 2013, at the First Congregational Church in Old Lyme and a reception following at the church with English tea and homemade cookies.

In lieu of flowers, the family would be pleased if donations were made to the Lyme Art Association.