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Remembering
a great friend of Gwinnett:
the Community Foundation's Mary Kistner
By Joe Estafan
Executive Director
Gwinnett Community Foundation
Special to GwinnettForum.com
Aug. 3, 2001 - - On March 29, 2001 the Community Foundation lost
a great friend and special person, Mary S. Kistner.
To try to explain the life of this marvelous lady in the few lines
would be a futile exercise. But I would like writing a few reflections
of her, since she touched the lives of many, including this writer,
and will continue to do so through the legacy she has left to our
community.
Upon meeting Mary you would immediately know this was no ordinary
woman. Her infectious smile and robust enthusiasm for life was reflected
in her countenance and warm gaze. Her laugh was distinctive as she
found humor in the seemingly ordinary events and situations of everyday
life.
No matter how the conversation started it would inevitably turn
to the arts. Hudgens Center for the Arts Curator Lucy Elliott said,
"In Mary's eyes, art always comes first, whether it's about
fine art or the art of nature and its beauty, and how it relates
to us and interacts with our lives everyday."
The arts were her life whether it was a painting, sculpture, a
garden of flowers, plants, rocks, or the sound of a symphony orchestra.
If you could see inside the heart of Mary, that is what you would
see.
She intertwined the arts into the fabric of life. She once said,
"I like to work on collages (an artistic composition made of
various materials, an assembly of diverse fragments); they are just
like life - a complex overlay of experience, people, places, smell,
sounds and ideas." This fascination with collage was a reflection
of her life, which embraced the complex with simplicity and grace.
Always the teacher, she was ready to instruct at any opportunity.
Several weeks before her passing she asked that we have "original
art" hung in the Foundation offices. She commissioned an etching
by local artist Bill Livesay. But this was not to be an ordinary
event. She insisted that Bill teach us about the process of etching
so that we would have a full appreciation of the artist's work.
Bill came to the Foundation complete with tools and materials to
explain the process, but not before Mary was put on the speakerphone
and assured by Bill that the teaching session was taking place!
What an education---thank you Mary!
And the lessons she taught will be preserved into the future. She
told her niece, Katie Marcot, to remember the word "perpetuity"-the
state or character of being lasting forever. "Everything she
has taught us---the little life lessons---will be passed on in perpetuity",
Katie said. As you have heard (me say) on multiple occasions, the
purpose of the Community Foundation is to extol the principle of
perpetuity. It is only fitting then that Mary has left not only
the lasting life lessons she taught but also a permanent endowment
with the Foundation that will last in perpetuity.
Mary lived by two sayings imparted to her by her Pennsylvania Dutch
Grandmother who raised her and was her Sunday school teacher; "Brighten
the corner wherever you are" and "Be better tomorrow than
you are today".
In 2000 when Mary received the Gwinnett Community Foundation Award
for Community Leadership and Philanthropy, her advice to the audience
was "Slow down, enjoy art and nature, and take only what you
need and give back with generosity."
Mary, we thank you for being our 'guiding light in the art of life'
not only for those who knew and loved you, but also for all of us
in this community who are enriched by your legacy.
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