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Mary Kathryn McGinnis, 85, of Westfield, IN passed away Friday, January 22, 2021. She was born October 27, 1935 in Marion, IN to Melvin and Eloise (Brown) Snyder.
Following High School graduation, Mary began working at Paul Harris, one of the first clothing stores to focus on the modern working woman. She began in retail sales and management.
Mary soon moved on to Store Manager for Levinson’s, also a woman’s clothing retailer who provided fashion for the contemporary woman. As a clothing buyer for the chain of women’s fashion retailers, one being The Lemon Tree, Mary was a savvy businesswoman who frequently traveled to New York City and developed the respect of both management and peers. That is what led Mary to her next position at Brooks Women’s Clothing where she was given greater responsibilities and offered the position of Regional Manager.
Nutmeg Mills Sports Apparel was a typical sports apparel company looking for opportunities to grow and expand their market. A women’s and junior sports apparel business was purchased in Tampa, FL. They wanted to be the first to take fashion design principles and merge them with sports apparel. Mary was the perfect person to help their vision become reality because of her extensive background in fashion and broad experience in women’s retail.
After working long workdays for many years, Mary decided that it was time for a change of pace. She took her love of sewing, crafting, and design to her first job as a salesperson at JoAnn Fabric. Her helpfulness and enthusiasm made her a store favorite and resulted in many customers returning to the store specifically to see Mary. Eventually, she was asked to manage the store and won many awards from the company for her outstanding customer service. Known to her many loyal customers as “Mary K”, she was loved by all.
Mary’s love of music and the church was evident early on. As an accomplished pianist, organist, and accordion player, she traveled the country singing in church meetings with her first husband, Paul Hamilton. She traveled to almost every state in the country and was featured on two of the Hamilton Family albums recorded in the early 1960’s.
Mary’s love of fashion, design and sewing was obvious in her early years. Her friends caught on to her skills and passion and started requesting that she design and sew custom clothing for them. She could not say “no” to doing the thing that she loved. Over many years she designed and created dresses, bridal gowns, suits, and more for many grateful customers.
In the early 1970’s, looking to expand her social activities, Mary took up ballroom dancing. As with other interests, she gave it everything and became quite good. It was during this time that she met her 2nd husband, Gilbert (Mac) McGinnis, and together the two of them attended ballroom dancing events and participated in floorshows around Indianapolis. Mary utilized her fashion and design skills to create many unique costumes to accompany their dancing routines.
Mary was a talented interior decorator and applied her unique design talents to make each of her homes look their finest. She had an eye for color, fabrics and furniture and instinctively knew how to put them together to coordinate a room with an elegant and sophisticated look. Once again, this did not go unnoticed by her friends, and of course, she could not resist providing her expertise to them when asked.
Later in life, Mary transferred her design skills into her new hobby of scrapbooking. She created custom scrapbooks for many of the important events and times from her past and created custom greeting cards for every occasion. But these were not ordinary cards. They were embellished with intricate details, unique materials, and were definitely one-of-a-kind.
After meeting her 3rd husband, William (Bill) Smith, and getting married on a wonderful cruise ship with her family, Mary enjoyed having time to travel. She loved to spend time on a cruise ship and Bill enjoyed taking her on several cruises. Bill also took her on her first trip to Europe, visiting family in his hometown of Loanhead, Scotland. Bill was an accomplished chef and Mary loved being spoiled by his wonderful cooking.
In addition to her parents, Mary was preceded in death by her first husband, Paul Meredith Hamilton; second husband, Gilbert (Mac) McGinnis; brothers, Mark Snyder, and David Snyder; sister, Evangeline “Vangie” Greves; and brother-in-law, Ronald “Ronnie” Greves.
Survivors include her husband, William “Bill” Smith of Westfield, IN; daughter, Kathryn Michelle “Shelly” Hamilton of Westfield, IN; son, Paul Daniel “Dan” (Charles Sallee) Hamilton of Indian Wells, CA; siblings, Ina (James) Buckles of Bradenton, FL, Harold (Carol) Snyder of St. Charles, MO, and Margie (Kerwin) Frederick of Wichita, KA.
There will be a private family gathering.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in memory of Mary, be made to Northview Church, 12900 Hazel Dell Parkway, Carmel, IN 46033. www.northviewchurch.us\memorial
Bussell Family Funerals is privileged to assist the family with arrangements.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Mary Kathryn (Snyder) McGinnis, please visit our floral store.
Northview Church
12900 Hazel Dell Pkwy, Carmel IN 46033
Web: http://www.northviewchurch.us\memorial