American heiress who became chatelaine of Rossyvera House in Co Mayo

Mary Taylor Walton Curley
Born: December 18th, 1924
Died: March 22nd, 2022

American born Mary Taylor Walton Curley, who has died aged 97, was the wife of diplomat, New York City administrator and venture capitalist Walter Curley. Throughout her long life, she mingled with world leaders, politicians and business people while her husband Walter worked various jobs including that of ambassador to Ireland (1975-1977) and to France (1989-1993).

The Curleys spent long periods of time in Ireland from the late 1950s onwards when the family purchased the 19th country house Rossyvera, near Newport, Co Mayo, from Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar who at that time lived in the same building as Mary and Walter Curley on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Initially sceptical of buying such an isolated house (which was then accessible only by steamer from New York to Cobh followed by a long road to Clew Bay or a multi-leg flight via Newfoundland to Shannon), Mary Curley came to love Rossyvera, which also had Grace O’Malley’s Carrickahowley Castle (also known as Rockfleet Castle) and a sheep farm on its demesne.

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The Curleys regularly came to Rossyvera for the lambing season in spring and again in August/September and sometimes over the winter months. And friends who joined them came to play golf, go shooting and enjoy the peace of the west of Ireland.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the second youngest of four children of John Walton and Rachel Mellon Walton, Mary Curley had a privileged upbringing. Her mother, who lived to the age of 107, was a major benefactor to the arts, music, medicine, education, conservation and the welfare of women. Her great-great maternal grandfather Thomas Mellon emigrated from Omagh, Co Tyrone, to Western Pennsylvania where he practiced law and started the eponymous bank. Later generations built up vast family wealth in many of Pittsburgh’s largest industrial companies. Mary Curley’s grandfather, William Larimer Mellon Snr, started Gulf Oil Company which her father also worked for. It was one of the largest oil companies in the US from the 1940s through to the 1970s.

Mary’s early education was as a boarder at Chatham Hall, the Episcopal girls’ school in Chatham, Virginia, after which she studied history at Vassar College, a private liberal arts college in New York state. Following her graduation, she worked at the University of Pittsburgh – helping grant-aided female veterans attending the university after the second World War.

The Walton and Curley families moved in the same circles in Pittsburgh but Mary Walton and Walter Curley only began dating when he returned to the US, after serving as a lieutenant in the Marines in the Pacific during the second World War.

The couple married in 1948 and immediately left on a freighter for Madras, India, where Walter had a job with the American oil company Caltex. Their first two children, Margaret (Peggy) and Patrick, were born while the family lived in India. Their son, John, was born when the family returned to live in Pittsburgh.

In 1953 Walter Curley was posted with his firm to Turin in Italy where they stayed for two years. In 1956, they returned to the US, this time to New York where their fourth child, James, was born.

From 1960-1974, while her husband was partner at the venture capital investment firm JH Whitney & Company, Mary Curley was an active volunteer and board member of Children of Bellevue, the non-profit organisation that developed programmes for children in Bellevue hospitals in New York City.

Like her husband (who was prominent in Republican Party fundraising circles, especially for the presidential campaign of George Bush), Mary was also active in the Republican Party, particularly while Nelson Rockefeller and John Lindsay were mayors of New York. She also served as a Republican delegate to the 1968 state convention in Albany.

Mary Curley was a consummate reader whose eclectic interests spanned history and literature, world religions, science and philosophy. She bought a Kindle the first day they became available and when she died, more than a thousand books were found on her device.

An avid skier, golfer and walker, she also loved exploring historical sites and when in Ireland she took family and friends to visit local archaeological sites including Rosserk Abbey, Burrishoole Abbey and the Slievemore Deserted Village on Achill Island.

Her New York-based grandson, James Ross Curley, says Mary Curley valued nothing more than time spent with her family and close friends. “She was not the life of the party – which was more my grandfather’s role – but she was the person you wanted to sit next to at a dinner party. She was composed and poised but was not afraid to voice her opinion and back it up. Gracious, curious, understanding and supportive are all descriptors that befit her,” he says.

After her husband’s death in 2016, Mary continued to come to Ireland and went on walking holidays in France and Ireland with her dear friend Meike Blackwell from Ross House, Westport.

Her Clew Bay neighbour, Carol Stoney, says Mary genuinely loved being in Ireland. “She was so warm hearted and dignified. The Curleys were a lot richer than their [Mayo] neighbours but there was never any feeling that you were beneath them in any way,” says Stoney.

She continued to live life to the full and played golf at Mulranny Golf Club with her daughter when the family was in Ireland in 2021. She also travelled to the Bahamas recently and enjoyed walks in Central Park and shows at New York museums right up to her dying days. The Curley family plan to keep Rossyvera House for future generations.

Mary Taylor Walton Curley is survived by her daughter, Peggy (Bacon), her son, Patrick, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by her husband, Walter, and her sons, John and James. Her brothers, James and Jack, her sister, Farley (Whetzel), also pre-deceased her.