MARY SETTEGAST
1934 - 2020
SETTEGAST--Mary Ann, 86, Scholar and author, died peacefully on August 24, 2020, at her home in Boulder, CO.
Born in Houston on May 27, 1934, to parents Lester and Sybil Carroll Settegast, Mary attended River Oaks Elementary and Lamar High School and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English. Mary went on to receive her teaching certificate from the University of Denver. From 1965 to 1969 she taught second grade in the Aspen Public Schools. She then enrolled in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her master's thesis research brought her back to Aspen to study with educational innovator Sylvia Ashton-Warner at the newly founded Aspen Community School. During this time she also designed and helped build her own modernist house along Hunter Creek.
In 1975 Mary left Aspen to attend Columbia University in New York City, intending to pursue a PhD at the School of Education, Health, and Psychology. After taking an anthropology course from Margaret Mead and attending several archaeology lectures, she transferred to the Department of Art History and Archaeology, where she earned her second master's degree. Fascinated by the Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement of Catalhoyuk, she moved to England to study with James Mellaart, the original excavator of the site.
She traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East, gathering research material for her first book, Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5,000 BC in Myth and Archaeology (1986). Mary's ongoing pedagogical interests led her to Waldorf education. She studied eurythmy, an art of movement taught in Waldorf Schools, at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, and at The School of Eurythmy in Spring Valley, NY. Upon completing her training, she moved to Boulder to teach eurythmy and lived there until her death.
Her years in Boulder included the publication of three more books: Mona Lisa's Moustache: Making Sense of a Dissolving World (2001), When Zarathustra Spoke: The Reformation Of Neolithic Culture And Religion (2005), and The Bear, the Bull, and the Child of Light (2019).
Mary's intellectual curiosity extended beyond education and archaeology. Her far-ranging interests included astrology and Zen Buddhism, of which she was a dedicated practitioner. She enthusiastically engaged in the world of politics. Perhaps above all, she expressed her deep appreciation of beauty through her impeccable stewardship of her home and garden. Nothing pleased Mary more than opening her garden to neighbors and passersby who were often greeted by a tall, elegant woman waving gardening shears from amidst her roses. Mary loved life deeply and lived it fully. Her passion, her reverence, and her laughter are the gifts she bequeaths to all who knew her.
She is survived by her sister Carol Kobb of Houston, nephew Michael Kobb of Belmont, CA, and a community of beloved neighbors and friends. In lieu of flowers or other remembrances, contributions may be sent to Heifer International or Meals on Wheels in Boulder. Services provided by
TheNaturalFuneral.com.
Published in New York Times on Sep. 20, 2020.
