Marian Colley Lyford

Marian Colley Lyford, 85, of Austin, died on Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. She was born Marian Benson Colley, in Lockhart, Texas on April 3 1922.
An artist all her life, she received a BFA in Art Education from the University of Texas, and an MFA from the Instituto Allende, in Mexico. She has left behind a legacy including hundreds of paintings and textile creations, treasur

ed by her family, friends, and those who have collected her work.
She was a founding member of the First Unitarian Universalist Church, and a member of the Waterloo Watercolor group. The last 25 years of her life she traveled extensively, in pursuit of fine art and the visual beauty that inspired her paintings. She will most of all be remembered as a loving mother, concerned with the lives of her offspring above all.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Benson Colley; father, Woody Colley; second husband James Newman; and third husband, Robert Lyford.
She was married to journalist Jon C. Ford from 1942 to 1978, and is survived by their four children and their spouses: Jon Michael Ford and wife Marjorie, of Palo Alto, Calif.; Mary Jane Ford; Charles Colley Ford and wife Debbie; and Ann Shelley Ford and husband, Iain Gillies, all of Austin; as well as five grandchildren, Zephyr Carroll, Colby Charles Ford and his Hayley, Michael Noah Ford and wife Miranda, Maya Anne Ford and Kyle McDonald Ford; and two great-grandchildren, Johnny Canyon Ford and Elijah Samuel Ford. She was loved immensely and will be missed by all who knew her.
A memorial service will be held to celebrate her life at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept 29.
Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, Texas 78705 (512) 452-8811. Obituary and guestbook online at wcfish.com