Mary Margaret Blakley

MARY MARGARET (AGNEW) BLAKLEY, 90, died at her home in Florida City, Fla., Wednesday, March 24, 2004. She was born Jan. 30, 1914, at home in Fort Wayne, the daughter of Charles Emons Agnew and Eva Belle Drake. After graduating from South Side High School, where her Father was principal, she attended Fort Wayne Art School, graduating in 1932. She married Thomas Guthrie Blakley, July 13, 1936, in Fort Wayne. They moved to Miami in 1940, where Mrs. Blakley's aunt, Emma Margaret Drake, worked as a bookkeeper for Margaret Ann, the corporate predecessor of Winn Dixie. In 1948, they moved to the northern outskirts of Homestead and then, in 1950, to their home in what is now Florida City. Mary was a well-known ceramist who specialized in colorful low fire glazes perfected over years of experimentation. With her mastery of glazing techniques, she created watercolor-like effects that many artists tried, unsuccessfully, to copy. Though she never became a gallery artist, her work is owned by people in every state of the United States and in many foreign countries. She will be greatly missed by her many friends and by those whom she mentored over the years. She was predeceased by her brothers, Horace Brooks, Paul Charles, and John Drake; her husband, Tom; and a nephew, Thomas Wayne Blakley. She raised three sons, all of whom survive, Michael (Linda) of North Carolina, William C. (Karen) of Ft. Lauderdale, and Thomas J. of Homestead. Also surviving are four grand-children, Amanda, Christopher, Caitlin, and William C. Jr; nieces, Mary Margaret Nelson (Chip), Emily Louise Halligan, both of New York, Gwen Kinsler (Alan) of Illinois, and Laura Clark (Mark) of Fort Wayne; nephews, David Agnew (Mary) of Massachusetts, George Agnew of New York, Roger Blakley (Lynn) and Alan Shupe (Anita) of Fort Wayne; and brother-in-law, Martin Blakley (Dorothy) also of Fort Wayne. A life celebration ceremony will be held at a future date. Memorials may be sent to the Zoological Society of South Florida, the Humane Society, the Ceramic League of Miami, or the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME. Arrangements by Branam Funeral Home, 809 North Krome Ave., Homestead, Fla.