Mary Otway

BIOGRAPHY

Mary Otway was born in Thompsonville, Benzie County, Michigan, on 4 April 1903. She spent her childhood in her birthplace before her family moved to Little Rock, where she became a teacher in a one-room school in the Ozark Mountains. She later met her husband, Frank Sawford Otway Jr., in New York City and joined him in modeling for the John Robert Powers Agency.

They raised their three children in Wilton, after which she assisted in Frank’s successful office in Manhattan, designing business interiors. Their marriage lasted 66 years, until her husband’s death. She also outlived her son, Frank Sawford Otway III.

In July 1985, she and Frank moved to Dahlonega, where they both delighted in their new hometown. Living independently until the age of 104, she maintained a rare and ready wit. At her 100th birthday celebration, when Dahlonega businessman Tony Owens asked her the secret to a long life, she replied without hesitation, “Oh, that’s easy. You just wake up every morning!”

Mary Otway passed away in Dahlonega, Georgia, on 1 November 2014, at the age of 111 years, 211 days.

RECOGNITION

Her age has not been validated.

ATTRIBUTION

* Mary Christine Erickson Otway – Find A Grave

* Mary Christine Otway Obituary (1903 – 2014) – McDonald & Son Funeral Homes & Crematory

GALLERY

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