Mary Ann Smith

Born on August 16, 1927, in Broken Bow, Nebraska, Mary Ann lived a life filled with love, kindness, cheerfulness and generosity. In her younger years, she dedicated her life to providing a loving and nurturing home to her husband Harold of 66 years, and their three children.

Mary Ann’s greatest joy came from spending time with her family and close friends. In her later years, she was considered a “second mother” to several women who had lost their own mothers.

Faith was very important to Mary Ann. She was a long-time member of Trinity United Methodist Church in downtown Denver, and frequently said how good God had been to her and how blessed she was. She often said how she looked forward to being reunited in Heaven with her husband Hal, who died in 2016.

Mary Ann grew up Mary Ann Shipp, the youngest of two children of Ralph Sr. and Claire. Mary Ann’s early years were spent in small towns in Nebraska and Kansas where her father was a school teacher. Her parents joined the U.S. Indian Service, now the Bureau of Indian Affairs, during the Dust Bowl and lived for the next 10 years on the Pawnee reservation in Oklahoma and the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Mary Ann graduated from high school in Lebanon, Ohio, after spending six years with her brother Ralph Jr. at a boarding school in Chadron, Nebraska. Mary Ann’s high school activities included cheerleading, choir, and playing the violin in the school orchestra. She and her brother remained close until his death in 2019.

Mary Ann met her husband Harold, a World War II front-lines soldier, in the college registration line at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He was smitten at first sight and quickly started a courtship. Mary Ann received a bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition, while Hal majored in fine arts.

They married soon after graduation, and on their honeymoon embarked on a road trip through the West and Pacific Northwest, culminating in a stay at the luxurious Empress Hotel in Victoria, Canada. The road trip included outdoor camping, the last known time Mary Ann would camp.

Mary Ann and Hal started their married life in Los Angeles, where Mary Ann worked as a dietetic intern at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Los Angeles, while Hal did graduate studies at the prestigious Art Center School, now known as the ArtCenter College of Design.

They then moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Mary Ann continued her work as a dietician at V.A. hospitals while Hal worked in the creative departments of several Madison Avenue advertising agencies. They enjoyed the cultural activities of New York and started a family, with the birth of their first child, Mona Claire.

In 1955, Mary Ann and Harold, seeking a better quality of life to raise a family, moved to Denver. They bought a brick ranch house in southwest Denver, and had two more children, Jeffrey and Michael. There they lived until moving into a retirement facility in Englewood, Colorado, in 2011.

Mary Ann devoted much of her time as a housewife and mother. She was very sociable, and loved to entertain family and close friends with dinners, and barbecues in the back yard. Neighbors and friends harvested the family’s cherry tree for wine and pie making.

She loved to cook, and her holiday gatherings were eagerly anticipated by family. In her seventies, Mary Ann self-published “Recipes My Kids Have Asked for,” a 108-page compilation of the family’s favorite entrees, appetizers, salads and desserts. Her comfort cooking style reflected her Midwestern roots and training as a nutritionist.

Mary Ann often asked her family to vote whether they wanted to retain a new recipe. The family’s favorite recipes included lasagna, twice-baked potatoes, and an assortment of pies, cookies and cakes. For years, Mary Ann made a delicious lemon ice cream and often had warm cookies waiting for her children and their friends after school. She had quite the sweet tooth throughout her life, with a fondness for ice cream, chocolate and cinnamon rolls in her later years.

When Harold formed his own one-man advertising agency, Mary Ann did the books, and firmly reminded clients to pay their bills. She had a practical side, and was an astute investor and follower of the stock market until her death.

Mary Ann was a sports enthusiast, influenced by her father who had been a college football running back and Mary Ann’s high school cheerleading past. She passionately followed the University of Colorado football and basketball teams, the Denver Broncos and the Denver Nuggets, and often wore a Denver Broncos orange sweatshirt on football game days.

She also was an avid reader, especially of mysteries, and enjoyed watching crime shows and old Westerns. She read the newspaper daily and kept up with world events by watching the PBS News Hour and other news shows. She followed politics closely, getting involved at one point in the campaign of a local state representative.

Hal and Mary Ann were longtime Colorado Symphony Orchestra season ticket holders and even after Hal’s death, Mary Ann kept season tickets, giving them to friends and family if she couldn’t attend.

Mary Ann is survived by her three children, Mona (Ed) Pfohl of Broomfield, Colo., Jeff (Deb) of Broomfield, Colo., and Michael (Teresa) of Sydney, Australia; four grandchildren, Alicia, Kristin, Margaret, and Cailyn; and five great-grandchildren, Ryder, Evi, Wonder, Jude and Jovi. A celebration of her life will be held this summer at Crist Mortuary/Mountain View Memorial Park in Boulder.