Mary Cobb Callahan was a wife, mother, advertising executive, educator, dog lover, and friend to many. Mary Callahan, formerly Mary Bugg, nee Mary Louise Cobb, was born in Temple, Georgia. She was the daughter of Loyal McColister and Paul Cobb, Sr. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, attending classes at the Atlanta Campus (later Georgia State University), where she edited The Signal.
She began her first career as a photojournalist on the staff of Southern Bell Telephone News, the in-house employee magazine, where she later became editor. While working for Southern Bell, she entered and won a 1953 Glamour magazine contest, “Ten Girls with Taste.” Another winner that same year was Helen Gurley Brown. While at Southern Bell she met her first husband, Owen Bugg, a freelance commercial draftsman. They were married in 1956.
In 1959, Mary authored a novel, Top Dog, which takes place over a “dog show weekend” set in Atlanta. She wrote much of the novel on typewriter carried on a breadboard in her lap as Owen drove them both to work each day.
In the early 1960’s, she became an advertising account executive with BDA-BBDO, managing accounts for several State agencies including Stone Mountain Park and the State Farmer’s Market. She was the radio voice of “Mary Mar-ket,” the Market’s personality.
After many successful years in the advertising business, she began her next career, taking the helm of Emory University’s Community Educational Services, where she firmly established the “Evening at Emory” brand. In that role, she also hosted a television program under various titles, including Today at Emory, Medicine at Emory, and Emory Today. While working full-time she completed a Master of Arts in Education, also at Emory. The Georgia Adult Education Association named her its 1998–99 Outstanding Adult Educator. She also helped found the Emory Senior University program, which she later ran after retiring as Director of Evening at Emory.
Her husband Owen passed away in 1991. She wed her second husband, Edward Callahan in 1996, who was an instructor at the Senior University. Their marriage lasted until Ed’s passing in 2009. Mary fully retired in 2009, but continued to host her annual Holiday party at her Decatur home.
Throughout her life, Mary loved to travel, especially to London and Hong Kong. She also collected antiques and was a member of the Decatur Rotary Club.
Mary Callahan is survived by her brother and sister-in-law; a nephew and his wife, a great-niece; two sons, two daughters-in-law, two granddaughters, and two devoted caretakers.
The family will receive friends on Wednesday, October 2, 2013, from 6 until 8 o’clock at H. M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, 1020 Spring Street, NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30309. A funeral service is scheduled for Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 10 o’clock at Holy Trinity Parish, 515 E. Ponce De Leon Ave., Decatur, Georgia, 30030. A brief reception will follow the service at the church. A private interment will held later.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made in her memory to either Holy Trinity Parish at www.holytrinitydecatur.org or the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta at www.stphilipscathedral.org.
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