Mary Carol Williams

Mary Carol (Matthai) Williams

Danville - Mary Carol (Matthai) Williams, 65, an artist, small business owner and nurse, died of leukemia July 24, 2018. Born in Baltimore, Md., to John and Ruth Matthai of Dundalk, Md., Mary is preceded in death by brother John "Jack" Matthai and sister Peggy Ruth Matthai, and survived by husband John M. Williams of Kulpmont, Pa., brother Charles Matthai of Fort Wayne, Ind., son Timothy Zink of Towson, Md., stepdaughter Jaimesin Breach of Elysburg, Pa., stepson Graham Williams of Bloomsburg, Pa., and grandchildren Noah, Easton, Elin and Hawken. A graduate of Seton High School and Essex Community College, Mary was a Registered Nurse who cared for patients for over 20 years total at facilities incl. Fort Howard Veterans Hospital and the Hanover General Hospital. Mary left nursing in the mid-1990s and, with husband John Williams, opened The Mercantile coffee shop and Morning Star Carriage House art gallery in Lambertville, N.J. For the next decade, Mary's warm smile and kitchen creations greeted customers daily. After selling the business, Mary picked up her husband's paintbrushes in earnest and never put them down. Her self-taught, primitive style of painting developed a strong following - her works have sold to collectors in every single U.S. state and several foreign countries throughout multiple continents, including Europe, Asia and Australia. Mary attributed her artistic success to her ability to insert a smile onto every canvas, and her hard-working nature ensured that she shared a prolific number of those smiles with the world. Mary was deeply proud of her family's history with the Bethlehem Steel Corp. and had a passion for gardening - the scenes from each became frequent subjects of her artwork. Mary was a voracious reader who conveyed her love of the written word to each of the young lives that had the privilege to be shaped by her. She was an honest and spiritual individual whose intelligence and creativity were eclipsed only by her courage. Upon her August 3 interment in Ester Furnace Cemetery in Catawissa, Pa., Mary's family and friends celebrated the rare combination of ability, wisdom and love that she shared so readily with everyone.