Mary Cobb Martin

Mary Cobb Martin passed away peacefully on Friday March 21st, 2025, with her daughter, Linda Lipka and her son, Steven Martin by her side. Mary was born on Sunday October 13th, 1940, at her family home in Black Oak Arkansas. She moved to Ferguson Mo with her family as a toddler and grew up at the corner of Millman and Robert. She went to Central School and Ferguson High School, now Ferguson Middle School. She was a proud graduate of Washington University School of Art and graduated in 1962. Her first job was working for Hallmark designing greeting cards in Kansas City, Mo. Some of her designs are still on the market today. She met her husband, William D. Martin while living in KC. They were married in May of 1963 and moved to Huntsville Alabama. Bill worked for the US government within the Strategic Defense Command Program as an Advanced Technology Director. Mary juggled raising her daughter Linda and her son Steven while building her art career. She quickly became a sought-after artist all across the state of Alabama. It didn’t take long before she was invited to art shows all over the southern part of the US and eventually all across the United States. She was a fashion illustrator for the most exclusive clothing stores in Huntsville. She was a portrait artist incorporating her talents with gold and silver leaf, allowing her to capture the goddess in all of her clients and giving them an ethereal quality. They used to say, “What God got wrong, Mary Cobb can fix” referring to the beauty of the portraits. Many still hang proudly in some most outstanding homes all across the south After her divorce she returned to St. Louis to be near her family support system. Being near her parents, brother, and sister, she found the freedom to expand her artistic endeavors. She expanded her illustration career with Angelica Uniform Company, illustrating fashion forward uniform designs for resorts, casinos, and corporations all over the world. She then parlayed her abilities to include court room sketch artist for cases that denied TV cameras for many years. It wasn’t uncommon to see her sketches on local and national news. In one case that was tried in St. Louis involving Steven Spielberg and Michael Creighton defending their creative rights for the movie TWISTER, Mr. Creighton and Mr. and Mrs. Spielberg would ask to see her work at the end of each day. At the end of the trial they asked if they could buy the originals, Mary wouldn’t sell them, she gave them as a gift, and they hung them in their homes proudly. Many judges and lawyers throughout St. Louis have illustrations she did of them hanging in their offices as well. Mary’s skills were so sought after that the popular TV show America’s Most Wanted commissioned her to illustrate an execution of a criminal from Missouri that was caught with the help of the television show. It was an experience she was glad she did but would never do again. As she got older and would tell people stories of her life, we had to correct her constantly when she would start with, “I was on America’s Most Wanted”. As Mary lived her life to the fullest and checked things off her bucket list, she was presented with the opportunity to teach. She accompanied her daughter on a college visit to Stephens College and while in the office of the director of the Fashion Department talking with Linda, the conversation turned to the fashion illustrations on the wall and how similar the style of drawing was to Mary’s. Well, that interview ended not with Linda going to Stephens, but with Mary accepting the job of the new Fashion Illustration Teacher. Mary taught at Stephens for 6 years and then returned to St. Louis. She began teaching at her alma mater, Washington University as a Fashion illustration professor for 13 years. In those years she accompanied her students to Paris France to compete and win in an international Fashion, Design, and Illustration competition with colleges from across the world. No victory was sweeter than the ones they captured against FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology! When her teaching career ended, she took her talents in different directions! Mary began hand painting silk cloth just as she did a canvas but then created complete clothing lines out of it. Her hand painted silk jackets, shells and pants were spectacular. She also began glass blowing and creating her own beads for jewelry, which led to a new passion designing high quality, fashion forward pieces with semi-precious stones mixed with hand crafted beads. As you look at her art throughout her life you see the path of growth, her interests, and her passions. Every artist has “stages”, Mary was no different. From her early stages showcasing owls, wildlife, barns, and landscapes to her stages of Victorian men, women and children experimenting with texturized backgrounds. Her Native American Indian Stage honoring those she met and befriended at pow wows and reservations. Her pencil drawing stage captured humanity and froze it in action. Her floral stage brought vivid color and line against a white background for bursts of intensity. Her Egyptian and Geisha stage that showcased women in powerful and beautiful headdresses owning their world. In the 70’s she was fascinated and emotionally moved by the calls of society and painted portraits of random people she found interesting along the streets of life. The one that moved me (Linda) the most, (I even remember when we met this man, I was about 8 years old), was the Vietnam vet sitting in his torn uniform on the corner panhandling, he was so surprised that mom wanted to sketch him. The smile that formed on his face looked foreign to the landscape of his fatigue. We sat there for an hour or so while mom drew. Some people scowled at us, said hateful things, some people smiled and gave him money, some stopped to watch mom draw, he just posed with pride and ease. When mom finished, I could tell she gave him something that was priceless, she gave him acknowledgment. She “saw” him in an environment where he was invisible. With her art and her talent, she not only made him visible, but she also made him eternal. That drawing won many awards and sold years later to a man who came to an art show looking for it. We were in St. Augustine, Florida when he walked into her exhibit area, said “Hi Linda, you’ve grown up”. I was caught off guard that this good looking and nice man knew me, knew my name. Mom turned to speak to him and knew him instantly! Our Vietnam Vet became the proud owner of that piece of art. Mary was an avid reader all her life! If she wasn’t drawing, she was reading and experiencing the world through the written word. As an adult she finally got to see the world. From Gloucester to Los Angeles, to New York and Arizona. She traveled to Thailand, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Scottland and many more places. Mary loved to be around people, she had a positive comment or a compliment for EVERY SINGLE Person she met. She would compliment someone on their smile, their eyes, their hair, their outfit, whatever caught her eye. When she got to the point that she used a walker and looked down a lot as she walked, I would smile as she would complement everyone on their shoes. She always found a way to make you feel seen and appreciated. Mary is survived by her Son, Steven Martin, her Daughter Linda Lipka (Martin) and Son-In-Law John Lipka, her Grandson, Albert James Lipka, her Brother-In-Law, Martin Mraz and her nieces and nephews, Laura Mraz, Michele Mraz, Marjean Wilmes, Shawn DeClue, Jennifer (Cobb) Iannitti and Rick Cobb and their children. Through Mary’s art, her vision is immortalized and is an outstanding representation of the life she lived fully. We ask that in lieu of flowers that you donate to the Fashion Design Department at Washington University in memory of Mary Cobb Martin. Checks may be made payable to Washington University, with “Fashion Design school” noted in the memo. Mail to: Washington University St. Louis, MSC 1082-414-2555, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Mo. 63130-9989. Thank you for remembering Mary Cobb Martin with a donation that will assist the next generation of illustrators and artists.

Mary Cobb Martin

October 13, 1940 - March 21, 2025