WILMINGTON — Mary Kay Barton Rust, 77, died Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, at Cape Fear Hospital.
Born June 10, 1940, in Ohio, Mary Kay was the daughter of Mary Anna Small Barton and Curtis Barton.
She spent her childhood in Ohio, graduating from Vienna High in 1958, and from Ohio University in Athens where she majored in psychology and Spanish in 1962.
Mary Kay is remembered for her biting wit and oddball humor. A voracious reader, she kept the unabridged dictionary at her elbow, and taught her children to “look it up” from an early age. She was an enthusiastic tennis spectator and a connoisseur of crime fiction. A skilled musician, Mary Kay played All-State French horn and sang alto in many chorales over the years. A lightning-fast typist and shrewd editor, she worked as a secretary at the Veterinary School of the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Mary Kay struggled with alcoholism and mental illness for most of her adult life. She faced these twin demons with courage and resilience in the last three years of her life and died free of both. She found self-forgiveness and reconciliation with family and friends.
Mary Kay is survived by her daughter, Amy; son, Harlan; and four grandchildren, Clare, Sean, Vivian and David. She moved to Wilmington from Missouri in 1992 to be near the ocean and her beloved pelicans. Mary Kay spent the last several years at Cedar Cove Assisted Living.
Family and friends will gather at Cedar Cove for a tea reception celebrating the life of this self-declared “tough old bird” at 3 p.m., Saturday, March 3.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Mary Kay’s memory be made to NC Chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness); or the Wilmington Area Humane Society.
Share online condolences with the family at wilmingtoncares.com.
