Angela Curry Maynard

On October 2, 2020, ANGELA CURRY MAYNARD, nee Angela Jane Curry, (widow of the late Col. Charles Dorsey Maynard, US Army, retired) died peacefully in Little Rock. She was born in Hartford, Conn. on November 18, 1920. She was the eldest of seven children born to Angela Connor Curry and Thomas Benedict Curry of Hartford, Conn. where she attended elementary school and high school prior to matriculating as a 16 year old at Ursuline College in New Orleans. In her junior year, she transferred to St. Joseph's College, West Hartford, now St. Joseph's University, where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics and Chemistry. She also completed graduate work in mathematics and education at the University of Maryland when Col. Maynard was stationed in Virginia. After graduating, she worked for a four years in the Actuarial Department at Aetna Insurance Company prior to meeting and marrying Charles Dorsey Maynard in 1944. Col. Maynard was a West Point graduate whose career in the military spanned over 25 years and whose subsequent career in Banking in Little Rock was of similar length. Angela was possessed of a strong literary background, once recalling that in her childhood, after a day of play on weekends or in the summer, she and her siblings were always encouraged to go into the library and "read for an hour." Hallmarks of her character were her adaptability, generosity, love of learning, and the value of family and friendships. During their more than 60 years of marriage they were transferred extensively to multiple states and to sites overseas including Washington State, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Texas, Kansas, New York, three different posts in Germany, and Little Rock where Col. Maynard was district engineer building the locks and dams on the Arkansas River system. During their travels, Angela always ensured that her children were exposed to the arts, literature and the history of every place they visited. To her, family was most important. She loved to visit museums and historical sites herself and travelled extensively in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, Turkey and Greece. She loved to dance and to ice skate and relished her Irish heritage and roots as well as her family and personal connections with the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's College, Notre Dame. As an officer's wife, Mrs. Maynard was active in every community and at every post where they were assigned. At various times, she was a substitute math teacher, community volunteer, and patron of the arts as well as an avid bridge player. It was her parents who instilled in her a desire to contribute volunteer time to the community. For example, for more than seven years, she conducted weekly literary seminars for women at Presbyterian Village. At one point in the late 1960's, she was a substitute teacher in English at Holy Souls. One of her students remembered that "nothing was the same after she taught us. She helped me to love literature and she was the reason that I majored in English in college." In 1960, when Col. Maynard was assigned to the District Engineer's post in Little Rock, Angela became involved with the establishment of the Ecumenical Lecture series in Little Rock, 20th Century Club (of which she was president for a time), the CARTI Board and as a CARTI Volunteer, as a member of the Saint Vincent's Development Foundation, and the Aesthetic Club where she was an active member and as president for one year. She was also a founder of and participant in the Great Issues program in the late 60's in Little Rock. Much of her volunteer time was devoted to families including work with the Family Services agency and on the State Neonatal Board, appointed by then Governor Frank White. So strong was her commitment to families that she was nominated to service as an Arkansas Delegate to the White House Conference on Families in the late 1970's. She is known to have written: "The wellspring of values is the home and family complemented by our educational system and church." Angela also served on the Arkansas Arts Center Board, the Arkansas Symphony Board and the Fine Arts Club, and she was a member of the Thursday Book Club. Reading, research and learning were particular joys for her but none exceeded the joy she experienced with friends and with her family. She was also a member and Dame Grand Cross in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Col. and Mrs. Maynard loved Little Rock and the many friends they made here. After years of transfers and travel in the military, they found a lasting home in Little Rock. They determined that this would be their final assignment in the Army. Subsequently, Col. Maynard went into banking, a second career, for more than 25 years. Angela's life was marked by a special vibrancy and joie de vivre. In fact, she once noted when speaking of her role in the Aesthetic Club, that she "felt honored to be a Connecticut Yankee in the midst of all these Southern ladies." As she wrote to a friend, "we have lived all over the world and chose Arkansas as our home because Arkansas can make a difference in anyone's life." She was soon a Southern Lady herself! She was unfailingly gracious and hospitable. Her interests were many but foremost among them were reading, the arts, playing tennis, playing bridge with friends, and travel, particularly to Ireland, Europe, Mexico and Greece. She also enjoyed the Maritimes in Canada where, in her 80's, she hiked to the Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy to experience up close, that amazing venue, site of some of the highest tides in the world. She was predeceased by her spouse, Col. Charles D. Maynard, her daughter, Elyse Talbot Maynard, her parents, her four brothers, Rev. James A. Curry, Rev. Frederick F. Curry, David M. Curry, Esq., Thomas B. Curry, Jr., and her sister, Mrs. Edward J. O'Connell (Elise) of West Hartford, Conn. She is survived by three children, a daughter, Dr. Angela M. Sewall (Frank) of Little Rock, and two sons, Charles Dorsey Maynard Jr. of Houston, Texas, his daughter and son, Melissa Elyse Maynard of Austin, Texas and Charles D. Maynard III, of Laredo, Texas; as well as her son, Thomas C. Maynard, M.D. (Cynthia Lisabeth Dalsass Gapen, M.D.) of Cincinnati, Ohio and their three daughters, Camille Gapen Maynard Maddrix (Tim) of Lexington, Ken., Elizabeth Angela Gapen Maynard, and Margharetta Dorsey Gapen Maynard, both of Los Angeles Calif.; her granddaughters, Shivaun O'Neill (Joe) of San Antonio, Texas, Connor Johnson of San Antonio, Texas and one great-grandson, Waylon James O'Neill; one sister, Mrs. E. Robert Dalton, of West Hartford, Conn. and numerous nieces and nephews. A private rosary and funeral Mass are scheduled followed by a private burial at Mt. Holly Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Mount Holly Cemetery, CARTI, St. Andrew's Cathedral in Little Rock, the University of Notre Dame or the Maynard–Sewall Scholarship in Education at UALR. Arrangements by Smith Little Rock Funeral Home, (501)224-2200. Mrs. Maynard's online guestbook may be signed at www.smithfamilycares.com.