Mary Ann Eaves Marvelous Mary Ann Craig was born on April

Mary Ann Eaves Marvelous Mary Ann Craig was born on April 18, 1941, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to loving parents, Harold Houston Craig and Mary Taylor Watkins Craig. Her beloved older brothers were Phillip and Harold. During the war years, U.S. Army Major Harold Craig and his family were stationed at Fort Huachuca in Southern Arizona. After World War II the Craig family moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where her father worked in the insurance business until he died in a tragic auto accident during a Roswell snowstorm in 1960, just before Christmas. The Craig family shared their home with Mary Ann's beloved grandmother, Katie Annice Farabough. Mary Taylor, Katie, and brother Harold predeceased Mary Ann. Mary Ann was blessed with many lifetime "Roswell Buddies" with whom she attended public school, including Carolyn Morrison, Susan Lander, Susan Garretson, Cille Courson, Sally Childs, Pat Hamilton Ivers, Sandra Carr, Karen Johnson, Vera Steinburger, Phillis Stoes, Emmy Mayer, and Bettye Dupree. For many years the "Roswell Buddies" held reunions that renewed their love for each other. Mary Ann was an outstanding student and her beautiful radiant smiles, charming personality and hilarious sense of humor always lighted up any gathering. She was elected Class Favorite, Most Popular, El Coyote Princess, Homecoming Princess, Best All-Around, and to Girl's State at Roswell High School. She was Head Cheerleader for the Roswell High School Coyotes. Her "Roswell Buddies" remained loyal friends for all of her life. In 1959, Cadets choose her to be a company sweetheart at New Mexico Military Institute. After graduating from Roswell High School in 1959, she attended Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Texas for one year. She transferred to University of New Mexico in 1960 and earned a BA degree. Mary Ann served as a member of the board of directors of the Albuquerque Little Theatre, the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation and the Nancy Floyd Haworth Foundation. She was a member of the Junior League of Albuquerque. While working her way through college as a secretary in the Engineering Department, Mary Ann excelled as a drama major and actress at UNM. She joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Mary Ann maintained close friendships with her Kappa Sisters. In 1962, Mary Ann was voted UNM Fiesta Queen at UNM. She led and directed her Kappa Sisters to twice win the annual UNM Songfest. She served one term as President of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association. To know Mary Ann was to love her. Her favorite song describes her best: "There'll Never Be Another You." In the early winter of 1963, on a blind date arranged by one of her Kappa Sisters, she met the love of her life, John Mel Eaves, who flew her in his Piper Comanche on a skiing date to Ruidoso. She always talked fondly about the minute she came to the door at the Kappa House to meet Mel and opened the door to a handsome man in dyed-to-match Bogner ski clothes (burgundy red). She knew immediately that with Mel, her life would always be exciting and never boring. She wanted that adventure. She and Mel were instantly smitten. It was love at first sight. Six months later, on September 28, 1963, they were married by her brother, Reverend Phillip Craig at the Church of the Holy Faith Episcopal Cathedral in Santa Fe. After a wedding party at the Eaves' Rancho Alegre south of Santa Fe, Mel flew her on their honeymoon to Newport Beach, California, San Francisco and Las Vegas, Nevada. Mel Eaves credits Mary Ann's own academic excellence and high achievements for influencing him to attend law school and providing the help and support he needed to encourage his development of a very successful legal career and his public service in the New Mexico House of Representatives, on the New Mexico Board of Educational Finance, on the UNM Board of Regents and on the Board of Directors of the UNM Health Science Center. Mel says he wanted to be worthy of this amazing Roswell beauty. After Craig and Jessica flew from the family nest, Mary Ann went back to UNM and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English with straight-As and worked towards a master's degree in creative writing. She and Mel gave generously to UNM and are members of The Popejoy Society and the Lobo Champion's Council. Mary Ann had many passions in her life. She had an early love of and talent for acting and theater, and adored music, dancing and singing. One of her favorite activities was swing dancing, and her most favorite was the North Texas Push. She also sang for many years in the choir at the Episcopal Church, St. Michaels & All Angels in the North Valley of Albuquerque. She was a talented artist. Mary Ann loved to prepare very humorous cards and sketches for special events, birthdays and holidays featuring her close friends and family. She wrote short stories and many sweet and hilarious poems and toasts for everyone she loved, especially on major occasions like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. It wasn't a party unless Mary Ann had gotten up and performed one of her sweet, lovingly silly toasts to the guest of honor. She loved to entertain and was a passionate cook. She took a variety of cooking classes through the years. She saw cooking as an act of love. Her family and friends were always eager and grateful recipients of her culinary talents. She and Mel attended Patricia Wells cooking courses in Italy and France. She was brilliant at putting on the most wonderful parties and gatherings for her family and friends. These events were sure to include amazing food and wine, many toasts from almost every one in the room (resulting often in belly laughs lead by Mary Ann), and gorgeous decorated tables and party dÃcor. Mary Ann made everything warm and beautiful. Mary Ann was a voracious reader and a curious, extremely intelligent woman with an incredible memory. Her bookshelves were stocked full and she was always in the middle of several books at once. She read all genres, from light-hearted mysteries, riveting fiction, biographies, self-help and challenging books about history and current events. For many years she belonged to the Old Glass Club and to a book club both full of women she adored. She loved this book club because they were committed to reading books of substance that challenged them to think and expand their views of the world. Mary Ann loved to travel. She loved reading about the places she was going to see, mapping out the amazing restaurants, seeing historical sites, architecture and art. She and Mel traveled extensively around the world to Europe, Alaska, Mexico, Canada, Hawaii, Polynesia, Australia, Hong Kong. Many of those trips were by cruise ship. Her kids and grandkids loved joining her on those trips. In later years, her daughter and granddaughter became frequent travel companions, and they had many grand adventures together, from California, New York City, Washington DC to London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice and Athens. Mary Ann and Mel, with many friends and family they so dearly loved, cruised the Pacific Northwest between Seattle and Alaska in their yacht that she named,"At Last." They also vacationed often with friends in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where they were members of the Vidanta Resort. She loved to laugh, and always made everyone around her feel welcome, safe and seen. Her teenage daughter would often come home from soccer practice or dance class to find one or two of her friends in the kitchen having coffee with Mary Ann and talking about life issues. She had an enormous and amorous heart, loving ear, and was always there for anyone who needed her. Mary Ann engaged in charity work throughout her life, from staying involved in the work of Kappa Kappa Gamma, to being involved in her kids' schools, to serving on boards and committees that hosted events and raised money for important causes. She was generous with her time, energy, creativity and talents and felt it was important to give back to the community and others in need (both humans and animals) given how blessed she felt in her own life. She never missed a game, dance performance, graduation or other important moment of her children's lives, and was the most loving and fun grandmother to her grandchildren. One of her favorite places on earth was her home in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. After she and Mel built their first home in the Dietz Farm in 1964, they purchased a lot in the Village of Los Ranchos and Mary Ann designed the entire home, served as general contractor and decorated it. She had no formal training in either, but was innately gifted and capable. Several years later, she and Mel twice decided to remodel, and again Mary Ann did all of the design, contractor work and decoration. The house and property were her happy place, and despite her love of travel, she was always happiest at home. Mel's broken heart grieves him to shed tears every time he walks through their now empty home because he knows that Mary Ann created every beautiful detail that was the center of their 62 years of love. In 2013, on their 50th Anniversary, Mary Ann and Mel renewed their wedding vows, her bother Reverend Phillip Craig presiding, at the Holy Faith Cathedral where they were first married. Mary Ann and Mel were generously blessed with each other, a wonderful family and 62 years filled with love and everything they had hoped for. Mary Ann was the heart of their family. After a three-month battle with kidney cancer, Mary Ann passed away peacefully in her beloved home on the morning of October 6, 2024. She was surrounded by her loving family. A very large private celebration of her life was held on October 13, 2024, at her beautiful home. Mary Ann is survived by Mel, their two precious children, John Craig Eaves (1965) and his wife Emile, by Jessica Ann Eaves Mathews (1967) and by four grandchildren she adored, Jesse Kendrick Eaves, Katherine Taylor Mathews, Alexander Lanin Eaves, and Aidan Eaves. Mary Ann is also survived by her older brother, Reverend Phillip Craig, her beloved sister-in-law, Nancy Craig, nieces Reverend Carolyn Craig, Allison Elrod and her family, and nephew Reverend Phillip Craig and his family. The family encourages contributions be made in her name to Heifer International, a nonprofit that was very close to her heart. https://www.heifer.org