Mary Jane Davidson of Helena passed away on Wednesday, December 19, 2018, at the age of 92 following a brief illness.
She will be remembered as a major benefactor of the arts having recently been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Holter Museum of Arts in Helena. She was also a major supporter of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena. One of the ceramic works in her personal collection was included in a recent showing of the work of Archie Bray Resident Artist Director, Steven Young Lee, at an exhibition of ceramic arts at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. For many years she funded scholarships for student artists at the Bray Foundation as well as scholarships for students at Montana Tech in Butte. She was a 50-year member of PEO an educational charity.
Mary Jane Davidson was born in St Paul, Minnesota on January 14, 1926. She graduated from Johnson High School in St. Paul. She later graduated from the University of Minnesota with honors in physical therapy. She trained under Sister Elizabeth Kenny whose unconventional treatment for polio survivors led to today’s innovative rehabilitation therapy methods.
