Martha Jane "Happy" Yancey

After several years the last time I called Happy, she came to the phone "Hello", I said, " Hi happy it's Bruce" With no hesitation she said, "Bruce Davis, How the Hell are ya." So like Happy. I don't think she ever forgot a single one of her summer friends from the Auburn Colony. She was such a wonderful person.

I love her still. What a wonderful person she was. My teen years were not good. It my 3 months of summer with Happy as my friend were the best

After so many years, I began researching Auburn Colony, South Harpswell, Maine, just today. It was the summer of 1959, I worked in the kitchen/dining hall..........it was my privilege to meet the Yancy family, along with Mrs. Reed and the many other summer residents of the colony. Happy loved coming into the dining hall and kitchen to visit with the few of us who were there for those brief weeks of summer. I have not forgotten her smile, laughter and joy. I will always remember the Yancey...

I met Happy in June 1961. I worked in the dining hall, Auburn Colony, South Harpswell, Maine. We spent many hours together that summer, long wonderful hours talking about everything two 16 year olds could think of. I remember her favorite play was Brigadoon. I gave her my ring which she said she still had when I last talked to her. I'll never forget Happy and will keep her memory locked in a little warm spot in my heart

I have known Happy for almost 20 years, and I cried for a week when I heard the news. She was so gentle, kind, so understated for the magnitude of her soul and her artistry. I relished seeing her smile, and I keep bringing it back into my mind so that I won't forget it. We shared conversations, music, hugs, motherhood stories, and passion for live theatre done well, with presence and honesty. She had a way of stripping false veneers off of any interaction or endeavor. Pretense and Happy...

A room in my heart now opens to the sky because Happy just flew through the ceiling.
People ask me how I met Happy and I honestly have no idea. I was an actor in Dallas, so it had to be a theater setting, right? We did work together numerous times, but when I think of Happy, it is not as a costumer (a word too small to dress her in). No, I think of Happy and all of her guitars! I'm not sure that I ever even heard her play, she was far too shy, but every time she bought one of those...

Happy was the one of the most sophisticated and least pretentious persons I’ve ever met. College days at S.M.U. were the richer for having her amazing apartment -- on Normandy, I think it was -- to repair to with friends. Almost like a salon, it seemed to me ¬– miles of books; a lamp table fashioned from a giant Corinthian capital; and a big bruiser of a cat named Boris who held sway over all. And, of course, Happy’s wonderful welcoming presence. Jillions of years later, when we...

Very sad to hear about Happy. I used to spend a lot of time with her and Michael O'Connor in New York City where she shared a huge apartment on the upper west side with two other young women. I remember once riding with Happy and Michael as we drove from Boston to Cape Cod in her bug and had a great time. I tape-recorded some of our conversation during the ride. I think I still have that tape somewhere in my stuff in L.A. If it hasn't deteriorated beyond comprehension, it will be a great...

I remember Happy from the Arkansas Arts Center days. I never got to wear a 'Happy costume' but I was dazzled by them all and especially by Happy herself. I didn't know her as well as I would have liked, so she was always a bit of a legend to me. I think she would have enjoyed that. Happy's circle was far and wide. It was impossible to work anywhere without someone knowing Happy and her name was never mentioned without a huge,huge smile.