Mary Meanor Naef

August 23, 1943 – September 30, 2024

Mary Meanor Naef was born on August 23, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois. Shortly after birth she was adopted from The Cradle society by Margaret and Edward Meanor of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Mary Attended The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr from kindergarten through high school. Her talent at drawing and sculpture was recognized early, and she participated in extracurricular art instruction from an early age. Mary also excelled at math but did not pursue that subject academically.

During the 1950s and 1960s she regularly traveled with her parents and older sister, Jane, to New York City for theater and art museum visits. During the winters they traveled to the island of St. Croix in the Caribbean Sea and in summers to Eaton’s Ranch in Wolf, Wyoming.

After Baldwin in 1962 Mary matriculated at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Leaving Philadelphia for California was evidence of Mary’s very adventuresome spirit. At Scripps College Mary pursued a major in fine art with a focus on sculpture.

In a Scripps College ceramics class, she met her future husband, Weston Naef, who was enrolled at Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College), where he was pursuing pre-law studies, and taking classes in fine art and art history as electives.

Mary and Weston fell in love, were married and remained together for more than 60 years. In 1964 Mary persuaded Weston to drop law studies and to pursue an advanced degree in art history. Together they continued studies at Ohio State University, where Mary earned her B.A. degree in sculpture.

After OSU Mary enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she earned an MFA degree in sculpture. At RISD Mary’s sculpture evolved from figurative to abstract shapes carved in wood or stone.

In 1969 Mary and Weston relocated from Providence, Rhode Island, to New York City. Rather than live uptown where some of her Philadelphia friends chose to be, Mary decided a downtown location was more desirable, and she took on the challenge of transforming the fourth floor of an empty warehouse space into an unconventional residence that provided her with a studio in a neighborhood filled with artists that was soon called “Soho.”

In NYC Mary devised an entirely new way of creating sensuous abstract sculpture outside the traditional stone and marble materials. She stretched canvas over a plywood matrix to realize an entirely new system of shapes. When the stretched canvas-over-plywood was primed and coated with vinyl spray paint, the results had a look that was somewhere between hand- and machine-made.

Even more than her life in art, nothing was more important to Mary than her family. In 1975 a son, Edward, was born, and in 1980, a daughter, Ella.

After the arrival of children, Mary’s sculpture took a new direction. She committed herself to the task of giving shape to the lives of her offspring. In 1984 Mary and Weston relocated from NYC to Pacific Palisades.

The children were enrolled in St. Matthew’s Parish School, and Mary became active in matters pertaining to school, and Parish management and direction. She also became an active volunteer for the St. Matthew’s Thrift Shop for more than 20 years.

Mary loved to travel and was intensely curious. There was no trip without serious preparation for what to see and what to do. Art museums and galleries were a special interest when she visited new cities, and she rarely stayed in a new place less than a week.

Travel inspired a love of food, and when back home, she would add a dish or two to her culinary repertoire, which she was eager to share with family and friends.

Mary lived a life true to herself, not the life others expected of her. She was loved by all who knew her for her grace, generosity, intelligence and character.

Mary is survived by her husband, Weston, by her children Edward Naef (Jana) and Ella Naef (Lisa), as well as by her sister, Jane M. Hastings (Joe deceased), and by her niece, Elizabeth Block (Luke), and her nephews, Richard Hastings, William Hastings (Diane), and Robert Hastings (Alison).

Almost every day during her final months Mary visited online with her grandchildren, Natalia and David Naef, who live in Boston.

The family extends sincere thanks to those who remembered Mary in their prayers, to Patricia Eshaghian, M.D., and the doctors involved with her care, as well as the caregivers who comforted Mary during her final months: Marva, Saalma, Bridgette, Kristina, Amy and Michelle.