Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

October 3, 2024

CHARLOTTE – On Thursday, October 3, 2024, Marianna Jones Peete Mason was gracefully lifted from her family on angel’s wings - inspiring all those who knew her.  As she faced certain death from cancer, she prayed often the only prayer that seemed to make sense, “Thy will be done.”

Marianna was born on July 4, 1962 in Durham, NC at Duke Hospital, delivered by her Uncle Charles Peete, and welcomed by her loving parents.  Her father thought her lips were the color of a rosebud and placed a red rose in her bassinet every morning despite the protests of the nurses. She enjoyed her childhood in Durham with dear friends Penn, Patty, and Barrett; attended Durham Academy before going off for high school at St. Catherine’s and then St. Mary's.  After two years undergraduate study at St. Mary’s, she matriculated to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she graduated with a BA in Fine Arts.  She attended the Parsons school of design and studied art and design in France before marrying John Bohannon Mason in 1985 at the innocent age of 22.

Marianna carefully created a home from a house with and for her husband as they moved from Charleston to Durham to Boston and finally to Charlotte, with two spirited boys in tow.  Along the way, she worked in retail and design, working first at Peacock Alley in Chapel Hill, at RTW in Charleston, helping at the Christmas Shop, studying with the mercurial John Ragsdale on Broad Street, enjoying the design experience at By the Yard with Jane Gregory, and gathering with other new moms promoting a children's clothing line called Fast Friends.

Mariana was excited to be a mother and was a blessing to her two boys, William and Stuart.  She was firm but sweet, kind and understanding.  She guided William and Stuart as they grew into strong young men with full possession of her belief in them.  William called her his lighthouse, always pointing the way.  Stuart said she was his superhero, able to assist with any problem that arose.  To her husband Bo, she was warmth, kindness, understanding, support, strength, power and focus - his partner, his love, his best friend.

Marianna was never on time.  Not because she wished to be late, but because time seemed to carry less relevance than moments – moments with family, moments for a smile, moments for reflection.  She was reluctantly beautiful, not the beauty that fades with time, but one that radiated from within; a vivid innocence that illuminated the very essence of her being.  She studied the world with the eye of an artist, finding elegance in the curve of a seashell, the movement of a linen curtain in a soft breeze, and the contrasting glory of a filthy tired dog collapsed on a clean stone floor.  Marianna was never indecisive, but she always took her time making decisions.  She had an intuitive and seemingly empathic understanding of how subtleties shape and contextualize our lives.  When it came the decisions of shade, shape, texture, or contrast her eye was remarkably keen and her opinion valued.

She particularly enjoyed the fragrances of the tea olive, magnolia blossom, and sweet confederate jasmine.  She was a thalassophile, full stop - magnetically attracted to the ocean and the sea - the more remote and natural the environment, the more relaxed she became.  Sunsets suited her better than sunrises, as late mornings were better than early mornings.  Tips tea, coconut cake, pinot rather than cabernet, Chris Stapleton and Pachelbel’s Canon, soft cheese, the flowers of but especially the green shades of Spring, an oyster with homemade mignonette – a small mix of her pleasures.  She loved her dogs Noah, River and her sweet Hudson as family, bunnies and dragon flies, tide pools with babies, and salt breezes.

She recognized the non-trivial gift of gratitude hard won and spent her illness thinking of ways to help others including her husband, her boys, and her family and friends.  Marianna was the mark of grace.  Her calm acceptance was a gift to those who knew her.

She is survived by her loving husband of 39 years, J. Bohannon Mason, M.D.; her sons, William Bohannon Mason of Ft. Lauderdale and Stuart Jennings Mason of Charlotte; her mother, Mary Frances Hart Peete of Durham; her other mothers, Esten Bohannon Mason, Stuart Bohannon Evans of Charlotte, and Sally Johnson of Durham; her sisters and brothers-in-law, Robert and Annette Mason and Burchell and Esten Walker of Charlotte, Joann Melker of Charlotte, Anabel Montes of Charlotte, Nathene Pope of Andrews, and many beloved nieces and nephews and her very special great-niece, Sloan Beasley.  She was preceded in death by her sweet daughter, Marianna Stuart Mason and her beloved father, William Pettway Jones Peete, M.D.

A service of celebration will be held 11:00 AM on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, 2501 Oxford Place, Charlotte, NC with a reception to follow in Oxford Hall.  The service will be livestreamed at: https://myersparkpres.org/live/ for those unable to attend in person.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Marianna Stuart Mason Endowed Memorial Scholarship Fund at the MUSC Foundation or a charity of your choice.  Donations can be made online at: https://bit.ly/muscmasonmemorial or by check to the MUSC Foundation at 18 Bee Street, MSC 450, Charleston, SC 29425.  Please make checks payable to MUSC Foundation and write fund #05322 on the memo line.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606. Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.