User:Shananegans/Marion Rose

Marion Rose Keay (Painter)

Marion Rose Keay (nee Smith) was a Canadian painter and artist. She was born January 1, 1955 in Regina, Saskatchewan, one of seven children born to Jack and Rose Smith: Brian, Bob, Joyce, Ann, Don (died of cancer April 4, 2011) and Donna. Rose Smith came to Canada as a war bride from England and married Jack in South Saskatchewan in the early 1950s. Jack was a caretaker at a church in Regina.

By the time Keay turned eighteen, her mother had passed away from a stroke and her father moved to northern Saskatchewan, leaving Marion with her sister, Ann, in Carlyle. Keay met her first husband there and began to expand her art while working hard on the farm. Together she and Ann built a house and barn for over a hundred brood mares and became experts in the field.

By the 1980s, Keay's marriage had turned rocky and she left her first husband in the spring 1986. She met John Keay soon after in Moose Jaw. They married within the year, and in 1987 Keay gav birth to daughter Amanda Keay. Rose's family celebrated her life at a memorial service in Moose Jaw shortly after her death on.

Marion’s father began moving to northern sask by the time Marion was 18, she was left with moving north or living with her sister Ann in Carlyle sask. Carlyle is where she met her 1st husband and expanded her art. She worked extremely hard on a farm, building house and barn for PMU (pregnant mare urine) horses, more than 100 and became an expert in the field. Over time she had shows, been to work shops with the likes of Robert bateman in the 80’s, meet many other artists and many friends. Her marriage was never a good one. Marion finally made her escape in the spring of 1986, meeting me within the first few weeks in Moose Jaw.

Marion was given the old art skills test from the Arthur something or other company by her father at age 14. From what she told me she aced it, had fun and began her love for art.