Mary Hart Brumby

Athens, Georgia - Mrs. Sewell Marion Brumby was born Mary Hart in her family's home at 1408 Third Avenue, Columbus, Georgia. Her parents were Mira Bullard Hart and William Hart. She grew up among four generations of family. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Blackmar lived around on Fourth Avenue. Her grandfather Dr. Bullard, took her tonsils out while she sat on her mother's lap. Her little brother William Hart was also born in the family home. Her grandmother Mamie Blackmar Bullard sat all four generations around her table for Christmas dinner.
Mary Hart completed Columbus High School, taking four years of Latin as well as the school's standard curriculum. The year after high school she spent in New Orleans, Louisiana, attending Miss Hartridge's finishing school and living in the home of "Uncle" Dan Curran and his daughter, Pauline.
Sewell Marion Brumby, of Cedartown, Georgia, was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, after graduating from West Point. He met and courted Mary Hart at 1408 Third Avenue, Columbus, Georgia, where they were married in September 1935. Their wedding night was spent at the Curran's beach cottage in Pass Christian, Louisiana, and the wedding trip was a drive across the States to meet a transport ship in San Francisco, which carried them, by way of Hawaii and other ports, to start their Army life together in the Philippines.
Mary Hart Brumby served as an Army wife through World War II and until Colonel Brumby's retirement in the late 1950s. During their two tours to Japan in the late 1940s and early 1950s, she studied the art and culture of Japan, and volunteered as an instructor of English conversation to the scientists of Tokyo University.
The years of 1957-1959 were spent by Mrs. Brumby at 1408 Third Avenue with her mother and two youngest children, while her husband and eldest daughter studied in New York City. The family was reunited in 1959 at their new home on Glenwood Drive in Athens, Georgia. The house there, and her Japanese garden at the small spring on Duncan Springs Road, were a refuge for her and her family. Sharing her home and her garden with guests was always a delight to her.
After her children were all in school and independent, she gave her time to several clubs and societies in Athens. She helped at the beginning of the Athens Historical Society and was a member of the Athens Junior Assembly, the Junior Ladies Garden Club, the Colonial Dames of America, and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art. Dinners and luncheons at her home, and decorations for banquets and receptions at other locations, were part of her way of giving to her community.
Mary Brumby worked constantly with her hands, cleaning, cooking, decorating, gardening, crocheting, and knitting. She wrote on a manual typewriter family history, stories, and recipes, and letters to family and friends all over the world. She read constantly in English and sometimes in French. She enjoyed ballet lessons growing up and loved any kind of dancing all her life.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Colonel Sewell M. Brumby. She is survived by her children Marianne Curran Brumby, Mira "Candle" Brumby Zenere, Sewell R. Brumby and his wife, Rosemary Buice Brumby, and by her grandchildren William Brumby, Charles Brumby, and Anthony Zenere. A niece, Kent Hart Butler, and three nephews William, Marion, and Thomas Hart, live in Columbus. Also surviving is a second cousin, Mrs. Billy Morris (Cissy Ellis).
The family thanks Dr. Steven Chesser, Oconee Home Health Care, CareSouth Homecare Professionals, Silverleaf Assisted Living on Whitehead Road, Silverleaf Hospice, Talmadge Terrace-Lanier Gardens, and all of the friends who have helped her and her family during Mrs. Brumby's life and since her death.
There will be a memorial service at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 25, in Oconee Hill Cemetery. Linda McCord, Chaplain at Silverleaf Hospice, will read the service. Lord and Stephens, Lexington Road, are handling the ceremony and will provide directions and other details.
Instead of flowers, please send donations in the name of Mrs. Sewell Marion Brumby (Mary Hart) to the Georgia Museum of Art. Her cookbook, "Seasoned Skillets and Silver Spoons: Five Generations of Columbus Party Recipes," was donated by her as a fund raiser to The Columbus Museum and can be purchased from them. This book contains the original recipe and true story of Country Captain.