PETERBOROUGH, N.H. —
Mary S. Blair, 83, died peacefully in her sleep on Friday, February 3, 2006 at her home at RiverMead in Peterborough, NH. The daughter of Kenneth Seymour Barnes and Dorothy Locke, she was born on July 16, 1922 in Montreal, Canada. As a graduate of McGill University, she met William S. Blair on a train returning from Vancouver when she had escorted British children escaping from the Blitz and he was serving in the Canadian Army. They were married in Seaford, England in February 1945. At the end of the War, they moved first to Montreal and then to Old Greenwich, Connecticut, where she was a social worker and earned her Master’s degree at the Columbia School of Social Work in New York. In 1965 the family moved to New York and also bought an old farm in Guilford, VT. Mary continued social work until 1973 when the couple moved full-time to Vermont where her husband started the magazine
Blair and Ketchums Country Journal. In 2000 she and her husband moved to Peterborough, and he died shortly thereafter. Mary and Bill entertained regularly throughout the years, mixing guests from all walks of life and all over the globe.
Her love of cooking led to
Mary Blair’s Hors d’Oeuvre Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Hors d’Oeuvre Cookery and Festive Menus, published in New York in 1985. In addition to recipes, her book was laced with her advice on living. She was active in a wide variety of civic, social and cultural affairs. She served on the board of the National YWCA from 1955 to 1967, and she worked for Planned Parenthood all her adult life. A longtime supporter of the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, she recently stepped down from the board of the Sharon Arts Center. She was very active in local Guilford affairs, including the library, the school and the fire department. As one of her oldest friends commented, “She had a lot of good innings.”
She is survived by her sister, Anne Hodgson and her brother-in-law, Dr. Harvey Beardmore, both of Morin Heights, Quebec, three children – Colin C. Blair of Arlington, MA, Fiona S. Blair of Brattleboro, VT, and Sheila S. Blair of Richmond, NH – as well as two grandchildren, Felicity and Oliver Bloom of Richmond, and numerous nieces and nephews.he is predeceased by her youngest daughter, Felicity, and two sisters, Perks Ross and Frances Beardmore.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, 89 South Main Street, West Lebanon, NH 03784, or the Felicity Blair Memorial Fund, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755. Her remains will be buried in the family plot on Carpenter Hill in Guilford. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
1922 - 2006 (83 years)
Siblings
. Colin C. BLAIR, b. 23 Sep 1945 (Age 78 years)
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