Mary Barnet Large

Like one of her beautiful paintings, Mary Large’s life was a vibrant mixture of many different colors and shades: the dusky hues of Italy, the bright colors of art and inspiration, silvery laughter, and the warm tones of friends and family. She lived a life of joyful service as a Catholic woman, serving her community as a respected educator, and her family as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother. Mary’s intelligence, creativity, and passion will live on in the hearts and memories of all those lives she touched; she was deeply loved and will be deeply missed.

While Mary’s ancestors hailed from Germany and England, her parents, John A. and Ruth Barnet, had made their home in Port Huron, Michigan. John was a pharmacist, and owned the Barnet Drug Stores in their hometown. Ruth, in addition to raising the children, also worked alongside her husband as the bookkeeper. Mary’s brothers began their medical careers assisting their father there and Mary and her sister ran the ice cream parlor.

After graduating from St. Stephen’s High School, Mary went on to earn her Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN. She taught in Port Huron for several years, and then crossed the ocean via ship to study art in Italy. Mary earned her Master’s degree in Art from the Pius XII Institute of Florence, Italy, in 1955.

While staying at the Villa Schifanoia in 1957, in the heart of historic Florence (now a university), Mary met a gentleman who was also an artist, traveling throughout Europe with his father, who would come to be her husband: Robert Francis Large. After a whirlwind romance they were married just a few months later in Mary’s hometown of Port Huron. The ceremony took place on September 14, 1957, and marked the beginning of a Catholic and committed relationship that would endure for more than 50 years. Over the course of the next eleven years, the newlyweds were blessed with four wonderful children, who brought them great pride and joy: Kevin, Alicia, Colman and Andrea.

Back home in Michigan, Mary began her teaching career at Comstock Public Schools. She spent most of her time at Northeast Middle School, where she taught art, photography, woodworking and was the advisor for the yearbook and newspaper. Mary loved the middle school students and fellow teachers. There was a lot of laughter in her classes even on challenging days.

The Large family loved going “home” to Mary’s ancestral home on Lake Huron. The children loved the summers of playing on the beach, taking out the rowboat, bike riding on the sidewalk and making friends. Starting in the 1980s, the Large family then spent their family vacations at a cottage called “Seven Windows West,” located on the east shore of Traverse Bay. Each year, the family made many happy memories at the cottage. Bob and Mary enjoyed strolling along the beach and walking the dogs, while the children water skied, sailed, swam, and made bonfires.

Mary was always home at Woodlea Drive. The children felt so secure and relaxed, there was always time to play inside and out. Mary loved gardening and working in the yard. When the grandchildren came along, a lot of time was spent with them gardening, painting in fun dinner gatherings. Mary was also an avid Notre Dame fan, and looked forward to watching Notre Dame football games on television. Occasionally, she even made it down to South Bend to cheer on the “Fighting Irish” in person. In recent years, Mary had been delighted to become a grandmother, and loved spending time with her beloved family. As the children grew into their teen years, Mary began a thirty year journey of her life traveling to Italy and becoming a part of the culture by learning the language fluently, painting the architecture, and landscapes mainly in Florence and making it her second home with family and friends there. She enjoyed the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and would give sketches from the performances to the Maestros Takeda and Harvey.

After retiring from the public school system in 1992, Mary went on to teach painting at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) for 16 more years. She was an annual exhibitor at many art shows and was the recipient of many awards including 1st Place in the KIA Art Fair in Bronson Park in 2002. Mary would say that movement was most important as she stroked the paper with watercolor, acrylics, pastels, ink and Conte' crayon. One of the many ways she expressed her creativity was through Christmas cards, which she designed and mailed out to friends and family for over twenty years. She was an active member with the Signature Artists Co-Op, Art Etc., SW Michigan Watercolor Society as well as the Italian group Circolo.

Mary, or Nana as the grandchildren Daniel, Lillie, Neil and Nora, called her, expressed her love by her constant presence, her innate perseverance, as she would say “corragio" and "avanti!" which is Italian for “courage" and "go forward". And in English, she would simply say, “Make your moves count!”

Lastly, if the children had interest, Mary would always say “yes” and would always find a way to support them. When the children were recognized for their success, they say it was made possible by their mother and father. Mary was a great friend. When we think of her, we remember her genuine smile and the wave of her hand. She will be greatly missed by all those who knew her.

Mrs. Mary Barnet Large died on May 31, 2013, at the age of 82. Mary’s family includes her children, Kevin Matthew Francis Large of Kalamazoo and Andrea Mary Large of Richland; her grandchildren, Daniel Nicholas Large, and Finley “Neil” and Nora Rosemary Gleason; her daughter-in-law, Laurie Large of Kalamazoo; a cocker spaniel, “Bobby,” which Mary called by the nickname “Pooka”; her siblings, John A. “Jack” Barnet II of New York, Dr. Robert “Bob” (Carol) Barnet, M.D. of Falls Church, Virginia, Barbara (Tom) Tincoff of Royal Oak, Michigan, and Dr. Lawrence “Larry” (Liz) Barnet, M.D. of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; her first cousin; Peg (Richard) Heinzelman of Paw Paw, Michigan; and many nieces, nephews, grand nieces, and grand nephews. Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Francis Large, in November of 2008; her children, Alicia Marie Large, in 1964, and Colman Francis Samuel Large, in 1999; and her granddaughter, Lillie Frances Gleason, in 2013.

Learn more about Mary, view her Life Story film, and visit with her family and friends from1 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, at the Life Story Funeral Home, Betzler, 6080 Stadium Drive, Kalamazoo (800-822-7594), where a rosary will be recited at 1 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 6, at St. Ann’s Catholic Church at Gull Lake, to be followed by burial at the Mt. Olivet Cemetery. A luncheon will be provided at 2:00 p.m. back at the St. Ann’s Church fellowship hall. Please visit Mary’s personal memory page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you can learn more about her life, share a favorite memory or photo, and sign the online guestbook.