Mamie Jean Walters

Mamie Jean Walters (1947-2018), born in Washington, D.C., and a long-time resident of Crockett, CA, died on July 29, age 71. She was the only child of Calvin A. and Jean Brown Walters, both deceased.

Walters, who graduated with a M.S. degree in clinical psychology from San Francisco State University in 1984, was known by colleagues and hundreds of clients as a distinguished and effective marriage and family counselor.

Operating in tandem with her work as a therapist, Walters maintained a vibrant life as a painter of landscapes (with a specialty in plein aire), still life, and the figure. After transferring to the University of Texas at Austin from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX, where she studied for three years, Walters earned a B.F.A. in studio art in 1971. She attributed much of her direction as a painter to her experiences while on scholarship in 1970 at Skowhegan School, Maine. It was there, she wrote in an artist statement, that her attention was turned to contemporary realism and moved from abstraction to become “a painter of my culture and of my time” and explored “the mystery of being, which I believe is always at the heart of creative endeavors.”

While at university in Austin, Walters met Jerry Michael Daviee who was completing a master’s degree in art history. After graduation, the two moved to Amarillo, TX, for work, then to San Francisco where Walters completed her master’s degree and Daviee an M.F.A. He became curator of art for the American Museum Association and later served as the grants officer for the Oakland Museum of California while Walters developed her career in counseling while employed with the Marin County Mediation Services and Catholic Charities.

It was in the small town of Crockett that the couple found community and gained new friends. It was those friends, and others scattered throughout the Bay Area, that gave Walters support when her husband, Jerry, died from complications related to dementia in 2017 — and again until her own death from cancer sixteen months later. An informal memorial service for Walters will be held at the Port Costa Burlington Hotel, 5 p.m., 30 September 2018.

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