Mary Durling Papers

Mary Durling (1935-2016), artist, teacher, and civil activist, was born in Amherst, Ohio on June 16, 1935 to William Jacob (1897-1952) and Flora Evelyn (Hearn) Durling (1901-1989). William Durling served as superintendent of Clearview-Vincent School District for nearly 27 years. On December 29, 1952, he passed away from uremic poisoning at the young age of 55. His premature death left Flora Durling to raise Mary and her two sisters, Jane Claire and Susanne Hearn Durling (OC 1954). The family relocated to Oberlin in 1954, where Flora was appointed as Assistant in the Bureau of Appointments (1954-1966) of Oberlin College.

After attending Amherst High School, Amherst, Ohio, Mary attended Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio in 1953 and, a year later, transferred to Oberlin College (1954-1957). There she graduated from Oberlin with an AB degree in Art and Art Education in 1957. Later, she pursued graduate studies in the Humanities at Manhattanville College (1973-1975, MA), Purchase, New York and in Engineering at Norwalk Saint Technical College (1975-1977), Norwalk, Connecticut. While at Manhattanville in 1975, she wrote an unpublished master's thesis entitled: "Visual Thinking and Its Role in the Creative Process.” Making use of readings in the fields of art, education, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and religion, her thesis was that "the process of visualization was the relevant cognitive base of critical thinking." Manhattanville awarded her honors for this work.

After her divorce from James Fuller Fixx (1932-1984), Durling returned to Oberlin in 1978 and worked independently as a freelance artist for institutional and commercial clients, such as the Hayes Presidential Center (Fremont, Ohio) and the Firelands Association for Visual Arts (FAVA) in Oberlin. She served as Executive Director (1979-1981) and Gallery Chairman (1980-1981) for FAVA, and partook in several exhibitions as a juror and occasionally as a participating artist (1979-1980). She was also involved with the community as finance chairman of Christ Episcopal Church (1985-1988), City chairman for the Pease for Congress Campaign (1984-1987), Oberlin College's Class of 1957 class agent, and as a contributing artist to the Stocker Center Gallery at Lorain County Community College (1981-1982). In addition to these civic activities, Durling became increasingly interested in attaining a position on the administrative staff at Oberlin College, where she thought she could better utilize her skills and training. Based on five years of art teaching at public schools in Greenwich, Connecticut (1969-1974), Durling was able to acquire a non-tenured teaching position through Oberlin College's Upward Bound Program during the summer of

In 1981, Durling received an administrative position at Oberlin as acting assistant to the Vice President for External Affairs. In this capacity, she was mainly responsible for writing federal grant reports, for setting up of the Word Processing Center, and for training its staff. She also produced a newsletter.

Subsequently, she became coordinator of the John Frederick Oberlin Society in 1983, and the staff coordinator for the Sesquicentennial Celebration Planning Committee (1982-1983) for the College's Office of Development and Alumni Affairs. She was responsible for the planning and scheduling of concerts and symposia, and the graphics and printing for the year-long celebration. As part of the Sesquicentennial Celebration, she was also coordinator for the inauguration of Oberlin College's twelfth president, S. Frederick Starr (1983-1994).

In 1985, she was appointed as acting assistant to Curator of Collections, Kimberlie Gumz Fixx (1985-1988), for the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM), in Oberlin, and as project director of The Oberlin College Bandstand Design Competition. In 1986, the College appointed Durling acting assistant to the Director of the AMAM, William J. Chiego (1986-1991). Included among her professional duties for the museum were budget management, supervising student personnel, community relations, coordinating newsletters and special activities, and fiscal planning for 1986-1987. In 1988, Durling joined the staff of Student Support Services as assistant to Dean Patrick Penn. While there she wrote the first grant application for the McNair and Mellon Programs, and served as Director of the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program from 1989 to 1993. Among the administrative staff of Oberlin College, her leading supporters were President S. Frederick Starr, and Art Department Professors Ellen H. Johnson (d. 1992), and Paul B. Arnold (OC 1940). Durling retired in 1997 from her position as Assistant Dean of Students where she was coordinator of the Judicial Board and Student Honor Committee.

Durling had many commitments to the college and community. She is most notably recognized for her efforts in city planning and historic preservation, and for her enthusiastic participation in the Lorain County Democratic Party. As an active member of the City’s Historic Preservation Commission (1990-1993), she held Kitchen Tours of Oberlin's historical and modern kitchens in May of 1990, and was also an influential voice in discussions concerning the demolition of the Gasholder House (1990-1993). Her interests in architecture and city planning were influenced by the work of Professor Geoffrey Blodgett (d. 2001) and his course "The Social History of American Architecture.” In addition, she participated in the City Buildings Review Committee (1990-1993), the Oberlin Improvement Corporation (1990-1993), the Open Space Commission (1990-1993) and the Strategic Planning Neighborhood Task Force (1990-1991). Her concern for the welfare of the town of Oberlin led to her Campaign for City Council in 1989. She was elected to City Council in 1989, and re-elected into the Council at Large position in 1991. Durling also served as Oberlin City Chairman for the 13th Congressional District Delegate to Democratic National Convention (Michael Dukakis) and worked on campaigns for Congressmen Don Pease (d. 2002) and Sherrod Brown.

Mary Durling married James Fuller Fixx (OC 1957) on June 11, 1957 at Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin, Ohio. At the time, Mr. Fixx was an assistant editor of the Oberlin-News Tribune. After living in Sarasota, Florida and Queens, New York, they settled in Riverside, Connecticut where they had raised four children: Paul (OC 1979), John, Elizabeth and Stephen Fixx. Mary and James divorced 16 years later in 1973. James died of a heart attack while jogging in Hardwick, Vermont on July 20, 1984. In 1999, Mary married Douglas Harry Kirtz of Oberlin, a retired mechanical engineer and a graduate of Case Western Reserve. The two had met through mutual interests in the Democratic Party. They relocated to Vermont in June 2004.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Student Assistant May Tran interviewed Mary Durling, 2004 May 10, and Durling provided additional assistance for the biographical sketch. The staff file of Mary Durling, the papers of Mary Durling, and the Alumni Records folder of James F. Fixx were also consulted.

Note written by May Tran with assistance from Mary Durling