MaryFrances Ronan

MaryFrances Tucker Morrow Ronan recently succumbed to a lung disease at the age of 81 and died on January 15, 2024. She is survived by her husband, Peter T. Ronan, who took excellent care of her during her final illness, and for 35 years of marriage before that, and her son Gabriel Morrow and partner, her sister, Christine Gibson, her brother Daniel Tucker and spouse, and many nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews and their spouses. MaryFrances graduated with an Anthropology degree from the University of Florida, where she was selected as a Phi Beta Kappa member and belonged to the Delta Delta Delta Sorority. MaryFrances spent most of her working career as a Reference Archivist at the National Archives in DC, where she had an outstanding career working with Indian and land records. She was highly regarded for her knowledge of the records and guidance of researchers. She made a supreme effort when she retired to leave as much information as possible on the computer and in finding aids for her colleagues so her special knowledge would not be lost. MaryFrances was always active in various art and crafts. She spent many years as the proprietor of the Johns Mountain Pottery on Everett Springs Road, Calhoun, Georgia. She had an outdoor gas kiln, mixed her own clay and glazes, and won a number of special awards for her work. She exhibited her work at arts and crafts festivals. She had a group of friends who all collected Vogue Ginny dolls and met periodically to set up scenes together and do arts and crafts. She enjoyed sewing for her dolls and made most of her own clothes for years. She also enjoyed making 1/12 scale miniature scenes such as an attic scene, mountain stream and cabin, 1920s kitchen, and Santa Fe inspired scene. MaryFrances decided to take piano lessons as an adult and was lucky to engage Elizabeth Buday of Rome, Georgia as her teacher. Mrs. Buday was Hungarian, and her own teachers included some who had directly studied with Beethoven, so she was the best person to study Beethoven sonatas with. She gave master classes to help shape up her students work. MaryFrances used this experience at the piano as a basis for going to graduate school at Cornell and Indiana Universities with a major in Ethnomusicology. However, she ended up later getting a Master's Degrees in History and Archival Science instead. Visitation will be held Tuesday, January 23, from 10:00 am until time of service, 11:00 am, at Jefferson Funeral Chapel.

Tributes

MaryFrances Ronan

September 26, 1942 - January 15, 2024