Obituary: Mary Kay DeVita, 88, of Branford

Obituary courtesy of W. S. Clancy Memorial Funeral Home:

Mary Kay DeVita of Branford passed peacefully at home Sunday January 14, 2024.

Mary Kay was born July 9, 1935 in DeRidder, LA, the daughter of the late Foster Bush and Aurelia Lyles. She was the granddaughter of the late Anne Lyles Marshall (Mamma Anne) and Roy Marshall, who raised her.

Though Mary Kay lived in the north for more years than her native Louisiana, her Steel Magnolia genes ran deep.

Those who knew her were familiar with the remnants of her southern accent and penchant for southern expressions (friends have been y’alled and reminded that pots should not call kettles black), as well as her intelligence, stoicism, wit, kindness, and unfathomable inner strength.

She loved her family and friends, any dog she met (it was mutual), and art as a whole, but especially Monet and Manet, because she preferred art that made you feel rather than think.

Mary Kay was a graduate of William and Mary, a teacher in her younger years, and an accomplished artist in her later ones. Her watercolors, pastel drawings, and oil, acrylic and sumi paintings decorate the house she loved that overlooks the water in Branford.

She loved to cook, garden, read, and go to movies, a love ingrained by going to the local movie theater in DeRidder as a child, where they’d show a cartoon, western, and main feature every Saturday. Her later tastes ran to Indie movies.

Somehow, she also knew the baseball stats of any Major Leaguer who played after 1935. Through her son Ted’s influence, she was quite proud to be conversant in classic rock.

To those of us left to mourn her passing, her stock advice would be “One day at a time. It sounds silly, but it’s true.”

She was the beloved wife of Dr. Vincent T. DeVita, Jr. Besides her husband, she is survived by her daughter Elizabeth (Paul Raeburn) DeVita-Raeburn of New York, NY and her grandsons, Henry and Luke Raeburn. She was predeceased by her son Vincent T. “Ted” DeVita, III.

Mary Kay loved children, dogs and any needy cause. In lieu of flowers or other remembrances, she’d be pleased if you donated to your favorite organization.

A visitation will be held on Tuesday evening, January 23rd, from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at the W. S. Clancy Memorial Funeral Home, 244 North Main Street, Branford. Burial will be in Maryland. A celebration of life ceremony will be planned for the spring.