Mary Afton Greenwood

Mary Afton Greenwood

Born Mary Afton Wagstaff January 17, 1916 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to William Eugene and Julia Cordelia Wilson Wagstaff, Mrs. Greenwood was over 102 years old when she was taken from us after a succession of age related illnesses. She died peacefully at IU Saxony Hospital in Fishers, Indiana, on Sunday, July 8, 2018.

If any one word could characterize her long life it would be “active” – active academically, socially, as an extraordinary wife and mother, and in the determined pursuit of excellence in the performing arts and literature. After graduating from high school Afton organized her own dance school. A few years later at the age of twenty-one she was chosen as the lead ballerina with the fledgling Salt Lake City Civic Ballet. She was also an accomplished pianist.

Afton was raised on a twelve-acre subsistence farm in Bennion Ward (Taylorsville), Utah. Despite their humble circumstances, Afton’s parents insisted on musical training and continued education for their three sons and one daughter even if it meant exchanging eggs and butter for music lessons. With the help of his son, Lyle, Afton’s father paid her tuition at Henagar Business College by laying a new floor at the school. Later working as a stenographer and secretary, Afton saved enough money over three years to attend one year at Brigham Young University where she founded and presided over the BYU Equestrienne Club. Marriage, children, and World War II halted her pursuit of a college degree until in her late fifties she enrolled at La Roche College in Pittsburgh, PA, where she graduated Salutatorian at the age of sixty. She went on to teach English at the University of Pittsburgh and at Duquesne University.

In her nineties Afton wrote and published four books currently available on Amazon.com, including: “Baiting on the Bear”, an exhaustively researched historical novel; “Grave Notes on Aurelia”, a cozy mystery; “On the Edge with Cynthia”, a juvenile adventure; and a richly illustrated children’s story, “Catherine Sue of Kinkle Karoo”.

Mrs. Greenwood is survived by four generations of nearly 70 living descendants including daughters, Julia Ann Locke and Patricia Karagozian, and sons, Donald Eugene, Robert Foster, Walter Lamont, and David Clark. She was preceded in death by her oldest daughter, Charis, and by her husband of sixty years, Donald Burgon Greenwood.

Mrs. Greenwood’s ashes will be interred at the family memorial site near Pittsburgh, PA after a private celebration of life in Fishers, IN.