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By John Roaney Spending time with Mary B. Hunt-Taylor can be disconcerting in this manner. You find all your preconceived ideas of what “little old ladies into their ninth decades are supposed to be like--all the time prepared to make staggering allowances--only to find she has redefined them all. Seated in her living room as we replayed some of her early history and escapades, and sorted out people with whom she’d been in contact, it was clearly astonishing her extraordinary lucidity, not to mention her wit, intelligence and a clutch of other qualities. Mary B. Hunt Taylor is her name, carrying both last names in respect to two deceased husbands, she offered, but Mary B. is what she’s known by and Mary B. is what she goes by. That by doing so she casually dismissed centuries of journalistic practice both ered her not one whit. But in fact, Mary B.’s whole life has been formed and shaped from a mass of oppositions and contrariness. Consider: She was born in Marian, Indiana, but grew up around the na tion. Her father, a foot-restless minis ter, would take command of a church and then with charismatic forceful ness build up its congregation or redo its architecture, only to then move on. She ticks off Canton, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Phoenix. (“I think we only stayed five years in one place.”) Yet for the past 58 years Hunt- Taylor has lived in the same home, looking over Sierra Madre Blvd. Her first love was drama and a course she pursued through college and beyond. Yet 11 years ago when the Olym pics came to Los Angeles, at the age of 81, Mary B. received international acclaim for the Huntington’s Garden Star Festival that featured Japanese cultural artists as well as exquisite flower arrangements--her life work all of which was in her charge. (Today, at a time in her life when she has already been where most people are still trying to go, Mary B isa Fellow and Overseer at the Huntington, as well as serving on both the marketing and botanical garden committees.) Mary B. was about 17 when she left Pittsburgh (“my mother didn’ t like the cold and the rain,” ) and came to Los Angeles. Her father had the opportu nity to take over the B.F. Colter Church (Colter was both an established dry goods merchant and a minister) on Broadway, across from the L.A. City Courthouse. As was his usual cus tom and with his usual energy he quickly developed the church, only this time he did not leave for another city. Instead, he built a cathedral at Pico and Arlington where he moved the congregation. Drama was her love and Greek drama her passion. So in 1923 Mary B. elected to enter the tiny Occidental College (“about 500 students”). When to her dismay she found after a year the courses were highly unsatisfactory, she fled for UCLA, bringing with her a young man, Robert, who was to be her husband until his death 45 years later. She graduated from UCLA and then later received a master’s degree in drama from USC. After college, Mary B. and her hus band moved into the West Adams district, near Baldwin Hills and she settled into a teacher’s life. There she also took on the production and direction of plays at the junior high schools where she’d been placed. “The plays were great successes,” she said, “and were compared to plays of a college nature.” “You can get a great deal out of youngsters if you know how.” And, she was enjoying it very much. At night, she and her husband had joined a little theater group in the Vermont area. By 1936, World War II and uncer tainties were looming. Even so Mary B. had been given the opportunity to accompany a group of dancers to Germany. Her husband said “go.” She did, meanwhile taking a side trip to Williamsburg, VA, where the Rockefeller Restoration had been completed. She and her husband, both very patriotic, had planned for the stop so that she could study the archi tecture with an eye to designing their own home. Upon her return, Mary B. and her husband purchased land in San Marino from the Huntington Land Company. Adapting the design of the Williamsburg home of St. George Tucker, a William and Mary professor of law, Mary B. and her husband built their home. “We wanted the mountains and the countryside, and my husband wanted to be north of Huntington Drive,” Mary B. said. “That’s where all the trees were.” “This particular lot was for sale, and Hunt-Taylor, See page A-9
Newspaper Details
San Marino Tribune
San Marino, California, US
Thu, Sep 28, 1995
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 23 Jun 2026
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