Mary Louise Hart Delaney

Mary Louise Hart Delaney passed away peacefully on Sunday evening, Sept. 8, 2013, at her home in Whitefish, surrounded by her loving husband, Laurence Delaney; daughters, Elizabeth Phillips and Jennifer Clemente; and son, Morgan Hart Delaney.

Life began for Mary Louise in 1941. Her parents, Doris and Arthur Hart, raised her with her sisters, Helen and Diane, and her brother, Noel, in a two-story house, surrounded by strawberry fields in the Southern California farming community of Barber City. During Mary’s childhood, her parents opened their home to those in need of temporary shelter or a hot meal. This instilled a sense of compassion early on in Mary’s young life.

Mary attended Huntington Beach High School during the golden age of Surf City, U.S.A., where she was a popular cheerleader with a talent for math and science. Soon after graduating, she had her first daughter, Elizabeth, and later, two more girls, Laura and Jennifer.

Mary began dating Larry Delaney in the late 1960s while he was an executive at Capitol Records, and he swept Mary off her feet by taking her to the Grammys for one of their first dates. But life would pull them apart, and they would not marry until later in life. When Larry came back into Mary’s life, they had a baby boy, Morgan, and moved the family to Whitefish.

Mary’s natural gift of intuition, creativity and her keen intellect led her to many successful business ventures, including a hand-painted silk clothing company with her sister, Helen Murphy, in Laguna Beach, Calif. Mary opened The Victorian Club in downtown Whitefish, where she created her own line of beauty products that complimented her line of Victorian fashions, antiques, jewelry, and prom and wedding dresses.

During the height of the dot-com era, Mary joined her husband Larry in Silicon Valley as CFO of a successful high-tech company they co-founded whose clients numbered among the world’s top semiconductor companies.

But Mary’s true nature revolved around her spiritual growth. While a devout Catholic, she also embraced a universal belief in the divine, and she educated herself in America Indian spirituality, Sanskrit teachings and a wide spectrum of Eastern philosophies — all while deeply connecting to her Celtic roots.

Along with a refined practice in the art of natural healing and healthy living, Mary utilized an array of homeopathy, Tibetan herbs and botanicals, which she used to help the ailments of friends and family.

Mary is defined by her luminescent beauty and eclectic style, her boundless compassion, upstanding integrity and otherworldly wisdom. Last but not least, she is remembered for her famous long, red braid — the envy of many.

Mary Louise is survived by her loving husband and soul mate, Laurence Delaney, of Whitefish; daughters, Elizabeth Phillips of Laguna Beach, Laura Newman of Florence, Italy, and Jennifer Clemente of Austin, Texas; son, Morgan Hart Delaney, of Echo Park, Calif.; brother, Noel Hart, of Laguna Beach; nephews, Gabriel, Austin, Graham and Oliver Hart, and Matt and Bob Murphy; nieces, Juniper Hart Girgis, Dedee Yamamoto, Mary Murphy McCrink, Nancy Roberson, Karen Tobin and Molly Murphy; grandchildren, Ruby and Sterling Phillips, and Matteo and Gianmarco Orlandi; and many other nieces, nephews and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her name to the Whitefish Food Bank.

A celebration of Mary’s life will be held at the Delaney residence at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, 215 Lost Coon Trail, (off Karrow Avenue, south of Seventh) Whitefish, MT 59937.