Mary Agnes Yerkes Introduction.doc

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Mary Agnes YerkesAugust 9, 1886 - Nov 8, 1989

Mary Agnes Yerkes’ story is about a love affair. A love affair on

many different levels. She was a woman of diminutive size but

large in her spirit and independence. Even grander in her love of

art and the nature she so passionately painted. She lived to an

astonishing age of 103, and she was my Great Aunt Agnes.

I say she was diminutive in size for I remember her best as a

young man visiting her. My twenty year old 6’-2” frame towered

above her. By then she was already aged near ninety. She

boasting perfect eyesight, still walked without a cane and with an

energy that could outlast the unsuspecting. I knew her earlier as

a child but then my sense of art and appreciation was not as

developed, nor was my sense of the depth of her talent. I did love

at that young age though, her gardens of flowers and citrus. Asource of pride for her. I enjoyed the items from nature that she had

collected. Pine cones the size of their cat, Indian baskets, twisted

piece of wood, polished agates and petrified wood. A home adorned

by the art of God’s hands and by those of her own paintings,

representing an appreciation there of. She wove fabric on a loom for her own cloths. She carved

furniture, hand made rugs and slept in a tent as she traveled the West and Canada to paint. An

unpretentious lifestyle, a modest home in San Mateo, CA, and an unassuming woman should

you see her passing by.

Our misfortune was that she lived at a physical distance from us. We being east coast and she

being west. She was never far in spirit though. Her paintings were on our walls and her namealways at the center of family discussions. Famous for her encompassing talent, her enduring

health and longevity of years. Infamous for a relationship she had with a man very much her

junior, this after her husband’s death. A man now seen as being devotedly in love with her and

undoubtedly why she will remain the champion of family birthdays.

Born in the Chicago area, Mary Agnes was the second daughter and third in line of four siblings.

My Grandfather, Charles Greenlees Yerkes, the youngest, received much of the attention from

his doting older sister throughout his life. When my Grandfather passed, my Father received it in

turn. She was nurtured by a mother who was artistic herself. It became evident early that Mary

Agnes had a much greater gift, enough so that she pursued art academically. She attended

Rockford College, then at the Chicago Art Institute and Academy of Fine Arts, (now School ofthe Art Institute of Chicago). She often recalled a talented young man she went to school with at

the Chicago Art Institute. Walt Disney was his name. “A skinny boy who always carried a pencil

box around with him”, she would say. Academic accomplishment led to a professional desire

and a brief career. The Oak Park home which she knew as a young adult, was commissioned by

her mother from architect John S. Van Bergen, an early draftsmen for Frank Lloyd Wright. In its

original design was included a studio specifically for Mary Agnes. This home is now a part of the

Oak Park Historic Preservation Trust in Oak Park, IL.



It is unclear how long Mary Agnes’ professional career lasted. There is record of her exhibiting in

Chicago and specifically at the Art Institute of Chicago. She also taught art after graduating from

the Academy of Fine Arts. There are obviously a few earlier works scattered in the public

domain from this period but her professional desires came to halt with marriage, a daughter and

the continued care of her mother. The man she married was a career officer in the Navy,Commander Archibald Nester Offley. The transient nature of their lifestyle stationed them from

port to port in the USA. A formal studio was gone and the Great Depression disrupted her

carreer. The story could have ended here but thankfully it only begins. Uncle Archie died before I

was born and was frequently talked about with reverence. It is only now in sifting through family

belongings, that I find his own talents as a superb illustrator and with an equal passion for

writing and outdoor adventure. Archie’s eventual west coast stationing provided them easy

access to some of our nation’s greatest natural treasures. Mary Agnes’ professional desires may

have been dashed but she met a man who shared her interests, nurtured her abilities and it

shifted her to painting for pleasure, perhaps less frequently but no less passionately.

Mary Agnes’ life sounds picturesque and privileged, being educated with a supportive family.

However, she did face the tragedy of loss in her earlier years. It had to have shaped her

somehow but in her paintings I only see the positive. The death of an older sister just after she

was born. The early death of her father when she was twenty-two. The death of her own

daughter Mary. Their only child barely reaching the age of thirteen. Her mother next, having

lived with her until the end, then Archie. All this before she was fifty. Here too the painting story

could have ended, being widowed and alone. Ah, but it didn’t. Enter the younger man.

I won’t go into too much further detail. It is not my intent to give you a full biography in this

writing, just an introduction. What eventually was produced from this love of art, transition and

men in her life, is an intact body of work produced mostly from her later years. You will find this

in the presentation’s DVD. Her paintings were her memories. Perhaps a way to soften the hurt of

loved ones lost. A way to escape to happier times. Perhaps as a testament to the love of whatshe did. She treated them as we would today treat a photo album. To us, it is a snapshot of; a

wedding, Disneyland, or a Tuscan vacation. A brief joyful sanctuary from a run-a-day world. To

her, these 150+ paintings that hung on her own walls were the same; a trip to Santa Fe, Mt

Rainer, Yosemite or the Tetons. They covered every inch of her wall space. They were her fond

memories and as such, not dispersed or distributed, just shared. To have given away one would

have deprived the recollection of something special in her life.

They now become her legacy.

There is a great deal of accompanying material well

documenting Mary Agnes’ paintings and the travels to her

favorite subject matter, our national parks. Included in thispresentation are some sample photos of; travel logs, maps,

photographs and memorabilia. There are boxes of them. I

thank Uncle Archie for that part. His hand written travel logs

and illustrations are exquisite. Both their photographic

endeavors too numerous. All paintings are labeled as to

“where and when” in Aunt Agnes’ own hand. And yes, I now



have those pine cones as big their cat, and as shown in the photos perched on the front bumper

of their 1920 Buick while painting and camping.

Mary Agnes’ story is about a love affair. I cannot find a better way to show it, than through her

works of art.

Craig H. Yerkes

Grand Nephew

Mary Agnes Yerkes Introduction.doc

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