Mary Joann Hoyt Blum died on Feb. 19 at 11:45 p.m. at the Sussman House hospice in Rockport. She was overwhelmed by complications from surgery.
Mary Hoyt Blum was born on April 9, 1926, in Iowa City, Iowa, to Helen Sawyers Hoyt and Lyman H. Hoyt. After her father completed medical school, the family moved to Boston, where they eventually resided on Fisher Avenue in Brookline.
After the birth of her brother George in 1928, Mary attended Boston schools and received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1948.
In the early 1950s, Mary moved to New York City to study with choreographers Martha Graham, Doris Humphry and Lois Silk. She earned a master’s in dance education from New York University. “I began to teach, praying that I would do no dishonor to my beloved art form,” wrote Mary in a 1991 autobiographical essay. Mary would go on to study Graham technique for over 20 years and offer graduate level dance courses at Queensborough Community College in New York City.
In 1957, she married Ludwig L. Blum and moved to Queens, N.Y. where she raised a daughter, Claire, and a son, Jonathan, and became active in community-based recreation and dance projects.
In 1980, Mary moved to Cushing to take advantage of local spiritual, cultural and artistic community. Her approach, good humor and commitment to excellence made an immediate impact.
Mary made substantial contributions across a broad spectrum of Maine-based social organizations, including Broad Cove Church in Cushing, the Down East Singers, and Bay Chamber Concerts. And she was an active collector of the work of Maine artists. She cherished the works of Bernard Langlais, Lois Dodd, Nancy Wissemann-Widrig, John Wissemann, Joe Fiore, Charles DuBack, Robert Brooks, Lois Anne, Libby Wohler, Marjorie Strauss and many others.
Memorial services will commence, as the weather warms and logistics allow, with a service at Cushing’s Broad Cove Church, interment at the Norton Cemetery in Cushing, and an open house at 7 Henderson Lane sometime in early summer. There will also be a reception in the New York City area later this year.
In lieu of flowers, please support The Sussman House in the name of Mary Blum, http://www.penbayhealthcare.org/sussman-information/
Mary Blum is survived by her brother, George L. Hoyt (wife June), of Cushing; daughter, Claire DeStevens (husband Joseph); son, Jonathan (wife Margaret); grandchildren, Christopher DeStevens and Nina DeStevens; two nieces; and a legion of friends.
On April 9th, she would have been 89.