Muriel Worsley succumbed to Alzheimer's on January 25, 2015, at Berlin Health and Rehab in Berlin with her sense of humor intact to the end.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, March 27, 1921, to Geoffrey Noel Mann and Muriel Eva Angus Mann, Muriel, the talented musician of the three sisters, passed the Examination in Music from the noted director of Trinity College in London, Sir Granville Bantock, but much preferred writing and storytelling. In 1940, she moved with her mother, stepfather, Robert Lyle Totten, and sisters to Washington, DC. After the war, she scored a tour in Paris working in the U.S. Consulate where she met and married Henri de Marne.
Back in Washington, after the births of their three children, she worked as a secretary for Harold Phelps Stokes, at the time editor of the New York Times, and political analyst and author Kevin Phillips, among others. She finally settled down as the secretary at St. Luke's Episcopal Church up the road from their home in Bethesda, Maryland.
Never one to let a good typewriter idle or piece of paper leave her hands without something written or drawn on it, she entertained her many friends with her witty poems and cartoons celebrating their life events. She spent hours huddled in her corner at home typing away on her little blue Corona bringing to life some very strange and wonderful tales.
In 1970, Henri and Muriel built a little house in Fayston and moved up from Maryland to live and ski. She worked for years as the secretary at Glen Ellen Ski Area and later joined The Valley Reporter as assistant editor to Mary Kerr for several years where they jointly wrote the very popular M&Ms column of newsy bits from The Valley and marched in the Fourth of July parade dressed in brown plastic trash bags. As a tennis player, she was noted for her wicked backhand sending her opponents scrambling around their end of the court.
She was a volunteer and later chair (1988-1990) of the Central Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross organizing successful polo matches to raise funds. She was a member of the League of Vermont Writers for over 20 years and its president for three years, 1981 to 1984.
In December 1999, she married Thomas Worsley of Alexandria, Virginia, and moved to his home where she lived until his death in May 2009. In Virginia, she joined the Optimist Club and became its secretary, joined Tom as a member of Christ Church of Alexandria and wrote the hilarious newsletter for their SAVVY (Senior Adults Very Very Young) group always decorating it with her trademark drawings, edited Tom's lengthy biography, danced at the Fairfax Senior Center Sunday Tea Dances as well as enjoyed many more social functions associated with the University of Virginia, Tom's alma mater.
Always one to make the most of Halloween celebrations, the highlight of the year around their community was the Halloween party where Muriel dressed in her witch costume and appropriate peaked hat and used her infamous witch laugh to great effect as she paraded the children around the square continuing the tradition that had been used to terrify neighborhood trick-or-treaters in Bethesda.
After Tom's death, she moved back to The Valley. Eventually she moved to Berlin Rehab and entertained the staff with her gales of laughter and, on request, that witch laugh.
For her 90th birthday, some of her writings were published as Muriel's Musings and given to her many friends and extended family.
She is survived by her three children, Kitty and husband Peter Werner of Waitsfield, Phil de Marne and his wife Claire Hagan of Bellevue, WA, and Loretta de Marne of East Hampton, NY; grandchildren, Peter Werner of Loveland, CO, Heidi (Werner) and Tim Cannon and daughter Olivia (Muriel's first great-grandchild) of Waterbury Center, Alexander de Marne of Seattle, WA, Danielle de Marne of New York City, and Richard Christiansen III of East Hampton, NY; and six stepchildren, Mason Williams, Bruce Gyongyos, Tayloe Thomas, Mayo Dean, Bill Worsley and Diana Pope and their families.
