Marion Curtis Darst, Noted Artist Is Dead

Noted

Artist

Is Dead

Miss Marion Curtis Darst, 96-year-old Doylestown artist, died Wednesday night at the Doylestown Emergency Hospital.

Miss Darst, one of Bucks county's oldest and best known artists, sustained a stroke a few days before death. She was born Oct 11, 1860, at Circleville, Ohio. She came to Doylestown in 1904.

She was the daughter of Jacob and Anna Brower Darst. Funeral services were held today at 2:30 p.m. in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Doylestown. Burial was made in the Doylestown Cemetery.

A nephew, Brower Murphy of North Carolina, is the sole surviving relative.

Miss Darst resided at 363 N. Main st., Doylestown, which is landmark along the thoroughfare because it is an old stone house and was painted black.

Miss Darst is represented in the Bucks County Courthouse judges' gallery with a portrait of judge Harman Y. Yerkes.

The Artist, who was interested in religious art, and her brother, C. Brower Darst, shared a studio on Barrow st., in Greenwich Village, New York, years ago. Her sister, Lilly, was the first woman editor and woman publisher in Ohio.

Miss Darst was one of the four oldest women in Doylestown, The oldest is Mrs. Howard Atkinson, E. State st., who is over 100; Mrs. Louis Buckman, who is 99, and Mrs. Lydia Price, who will be 98 next month.

A devout Episcopalian Miss Darst was also a member of the Nature Club and other Doylestown organizations. In 1949 Miss Darst fell and broke her hip.

Another of her portraits is that of the late General W.W.H. Davis, Doylestown publisher, author and soldier, which is hanging in the Bucks County Historical Society Museum.

Miss Darst, who never married, was beloved by everyone who knew her for her wit, humor, gentleness and love of beauty, including many portraits of still life of flowers.

She was graduated from an art school in Columbus, Ohio; studied in New York, taught in a private school in Georgia and in a church school in Springfield, Ill.

Friday, 29 MAR 1957 - Daily Intelligencer, Doylestown, Pennsylvania