User:Cornell Williams/sandbox

Katie Mallory (b. Kathleen Stephanie Mallory) is an American painter known for researching an ancient West African pantheon of deities in the Yoruba culture, and then painting them so that they could be understood by Westerners. She put them in the public domain for educators so that teachers would always have free access to them, and the images are consistently used by at least one classroom every day.

Family History Mallory was born in Moraga, California in the United States. Her parents were biracial, interfaith and international. Her father, Roland Mallory, was an attorney who did pro bono cases for disadvantaged small businesses. His parents, Cethil and Patricia Mallory, helped build a small town called Halcyon in California. His father built many of the homes in the area and donated them to the church to be used as affordable housing for local residents. He also built the post office, general store, the cemetery, the library and certain church buildings. He owned a cabinet shop and his wife Patricia worked at the courthouse in San Luis Obispo County.

Mallory's mother was born and raised on her family's farm outside of Uruapan, Mexico, which later became the Ruiz National Park. She became physically disabled when Katie was three and she exited the family a year or two later. Several years later her father remarried. His second wife, Christina Gallo, was an abusive alcoholic and Katie's older siblings moved out of the house before age 18. She has three older siblings from her parents, and three much younger half siblings who were born when she was a teenager.