CASTINE – Elizabeth M. O’Malley, 93, died peacefully Dec. 16, 2009, at Blue Hill Memorial Hospital. She was born Oct. 21, 1916, in Madison, the daughter of Orion and Mabel (Caldwell) Moody. She married William O’Malley, July 8, 1939, in Anson. Elizabeth “Lib” O’Malley attended the Portland Museum of Art, School of Fine and Applied Art and Boston Museum School. She began her artistic career creating greeting cards and fashion plates until the early 1950s. Then she began studying with Carl G. Nelson, and the scope of her art changed enormously. Throughout time her work evolved to include semi-abstract art and landscapes with a great love of drawing and painting natural landscapes, including the contrasts between rocks, trees and water, and the view from her back deck, where she spent many hours watching the changing of the tide and the seasons in her garden. However, her primary source of income became portrait painting for which she had a tremendous talent. A longtime resident of Castine, Lib had retired from drawing and painting, but continued to love and appreciate a good composition within art and nature, as well as the richness that creativity brings to the world. Throughout many decades, Lib created a substantial and impressive body of work. Her paintings and drawings included many mediums and throughout time she became a well-known portrait and semiabstract artist, with solo exhibits at Tufts University, the University of Maine, O’Farrell Gallery, Brunswick; and local galleries. To the end, Lib had a tremendous sense of humor and quick wit. She will be dearly missed. She is survived by her daughter, Jane O’Malley of Orrington; four grandchildren, Ethan Pierce of Orrington, Lucas Pierce of Bangor, Sarah O’Malley and her husband, Dick Chasse, of Sedgwick, and Mary Tobey and husband, Todd, of Castine; three great-grandchildren, Robert Pierce of Augusta, Dustin Pierce of Waterville and Caitlin Tobey of Castine; one nephew, Paul Roullard of Embden; two nieces, Janet Hersey and Joyce Applebee, both of Guilford; and dear friends, Barbara Thomas and Rosemary Wyman, both of Castine. Lib was predeceased by her husband, William J. O’Malley, in 1980; her son, William J. O’Malley Jr., in 1998; and one sister, Barbara Roullard. The family thanks the staff at Penobscot Nursing Home and the nurses at Blue Hill Memorial Hospital for all their wonderful care that they gave Lib. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, at Trinitarian Congregational Parish, Castine, with the Rev. William J. Friederich officiating. Interment will be in the spring at Castine Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to Castine Arts Association, P.O. Box 592, Castine, ME 04421. Arrangements by Mitchell-Tweedie Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Bucksport.
ELIZABETH M. O’MALLEY
