Jean Molloy
Artist and Interior Designer
Beloved Wife, Mother and Grandmother
"My friend and I may both want to be painters. She may want to be prominent, and I may just want to express my talent. We both have ambition, but we have different goals." Jean Molloy
July 29, 1931 – April 21, 2022
Born in Spokane, Washington, she attended Marycliff High School. A graduate of Cornish College of the Arts and also of Bellevue College, School of Interior Design. Daughter of silent film actor & author, Lloyd T. Peters, Sr.
Jean was Art Director for “Art in Suburbia” the first show of its kind in Greater Seattle bringing fine art “to the doorstep of suburban families”. featuring more than 60 prominent Puget Sound artists including Mark Tobey, George Tsutakawa, Fay Chong, Harry Bonath, Spencer Mosely, Val Laigo, Rudolph Bundas, Julle Kullberg, William Hixson. (1966).
Jean adored the Opera and regularly attended the Seattle Opera from its’ first performance in 1964. Jean was active in the Seattle and Everett Arts Community; an active member of the Seattle Opera Guild and the Port Gardner Bay Music Society.
Jean travelled in Europe and had many adventures. In the UK she cautiously entered an elevator with some scruffy, bearded men and when she exited the elevator, she was surrounded by a small crowd. She couldn’t imagine why. She was asked “What were The Beatles like? What were The Beatles like?. At the Paris Air Show, celebrating the Concord SST, another of the performing planes during the exhibition crashed. While travelling on a train she got herself locked in the toilet room and had to shout out for someone to “Open the door”. And while checking out of a hotel in Italy, she disputed the bill as the room charge was more than the booking rate previously confirmed to her. An argument ensued. The hotel manager confiscated her luggage. Jean went outside to the street to find help and met a local gentleman who advised, “You should probably pay the bill if you want to continue your journey.”
Jean is survived by three daughters: Barbara, Jill and Suzy; and five grandchildren: Jason, Kevin, Ryan, LiLi and Mina. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lloyd T. Peters, Sr. and Lyma Vivian Peters; her two brothers, Bud and Jack; and her husband, Bill.
A Descendant of Mayflower and Jamestown Colonists.
A Descendant of Revolutionary War Patriots John C Alsup, Virginia, Robert Hicks, Virginia;
Descendant of War of 1812 Patriot John C Alsup, Jr, Virginia;
Also a descendant of Moses Locke Alsup, Capt., Union Army, and one of the founding American horse breeders of the American Quarter Horse and also of the Missouri Fox Trotter.
Anecdotes
Growing Up
Interview with Jean at Anthony’s Homeport Restaurant Luncheon (by daughter)
As a young child, at Christmas time, she would listen to the radio program, The Paddy Old Cinnamon Bear.” (Jean would continue to do so throughout her life)
When kids would tease mom when she was 6 or 7 years old, Roy Billings, a school boy, would keep the other boys from teasing her.
At 10, she would close and lock the door and listen to opera and draw little girls with all of the clothes her folks couldn't afford.
Mom would make her own doll houses, including kitchen, bedroom, living room from box tops, drawing all the furniture on cardboard.
At 10 or 12, she would go to Tim's Ice Cream Parlor in Hillyard. Ice cream cones and the movies for 10 cents! Bud and Jack had a newspaper route for the Chronicle – they would walk a mile to spend their earnings. Lyma wanted mom to watch over the boys when they went to collect for their route.
When Mom was little, Grandpa Lloyd told mom, "See that castle upon the hill? You're going to go there." Mom went to Mary Cliff for 2 years. When she arrived, all of the beds in the dormitory were taken, so she was given one of the bunk beds in a small bedroom on the second floor next to the stairway with its’ own window. She would jump up and down and say "Up, Up and Away!"
Sister Rosita at Marycliff encouraged Jean to pursue her artistic talents.
Jean said a very special event was a formal prom at the Corbin Mansion near Marycliff High School. How grand the home was with its’ tall white pillars and ballroom with sparkling lights. The girls would dress in their finest and the boys would come from a nearby Catholic school.
When mom worked as a window trimmer at a small store, Bailey’s Clothes for Children, the Manager told her, "You're making the windows look like the big department stores...fill them up!"
Mom heard from Bob: Bob and Gordon were sitting in a cafeteria: Bob said to Gordon, "Pick anyone you want (in the room)." Gordon saw Mom pushing a cart of mannequins in her red Jantzen pedal pushers and said, "I pick her."
Vivian at The Crescent worked with mom on fashion news print ads. She taught mom a lot. Drawing women in their clothes. When mom went to visit in the 80's, the Manager told her she could visit anytime.
Cornish in the Sixties
Interview with Jean (by daughter)
Entered as Second Year Commercial Art student by William Maire due to previous advertising experience with The Crescent department store, Spokane, Washington.
I walked into one of the lounge areas where a young man, clothed in a bathrobe was sitting. He greeted me and during our conversation he mentioned that earlier we had been in the Life Drawing class. I said to him, “I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on!”
1963 Life Drawing, Advertising Art; Jerrold Ballaine. Painting; William Maire. Advertising Art; Richard Brown. Fashion Drawing; Cherry Brown. Layout; Richard Nelms.
1964 Life Drawing; Jerrold Ballaine. Advertising Art; Robert Wandesforde. Advertising Art; Richard Brown. Fashion Drawing; Cherry Brown. Private Classes
1965 – 1966 Painting; Dale Owens. Fashion Drawing; Elaine Owens.
1970 Private Classes; Jerrold Ballaine
1974 Private Classes; Charles -NN
1979 Arts Management
In 1975, I was invited to present several of my works for review and consideration for an informational catalogue from which future SAM exhibitions will be drawn. As over 3000 artists were involved, by the time my meeting date came up, unfortunately, I was in Europe, painting!
Lionhead Lodge
Interview with Jean (by daughter)
Hardly a day would go by without hearing Dad’s tales of early movie making in the Northwest when I returned home with my own family to visit.
Stories of blizzards, threats of starvation, treks across frozen ice for ice cream, “Brownie” the bear, and a run-in with some bank robbers!
My Dad saw Mary Pickford in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1920), and “was hooked”. He saw the film seven times! He promptly ordered a “12-hour talent tester and make-up kit” from Hollywood and joined the “Playter Photo Players Movie School” with his brother, Ray. When the movie star, Nell Shipman, and her company came to town, my father, Ray, and my grandfather joined the “Nell Shipman Motion Picture Producing Company” as set carpenters. Gaining experience, my Dad and my Uncle Ray became character actors and were, each, in three films. Ray was even a “leading man” in one film. The studio closed down after making eight films and in 1967 my father self-published “Lionhead Lodge” which continues in print.
1976 Bicentennial
Jean was a really good cook. Growing up, we always had a main course, vegetable, and two salads, and dessert for dinner that were so delicious. For the American Bicentennial, she decided to have a celebration for friends and family and prepare a dish, one from each state in the country, to serve. She was baking and cooking for about two weeks prior to the “Fourth”. For the party, two 4 x 8 foot picnic tables were set out in the backyard simply groaning with fifty"wonderful culinary masterpieces. All of the guests were amazed! A wonderful Fourth of July gathering; enjoying good food and volleyball.
The family remembers … “Traits I got from Jean”
P. Boort Sosa
Love of Other Cultures
Becoming a strong, independent, caring woman
A Night Owl
Grumpy when hungry
A Love for Travel
Exploring cooking from other cultures
Open-mindedness
Play the Game of Authors & Scrabble
Appreciation for Art & Literature
“Jean could outwalk Anybody”
Family stories
As a young child, at Christmas time, she would listen to the radio program, The Paddy Old Cinnamon Bear.” (Jean would continue to do so throughout her life)
Every Christmas as her children and grandchildren were growing up, she would share a chapter or two with them along with milk and cookies during the holidays.
At 10, she would close and lock the door and listen to opera and draw little girls with all of the clothes her folks couldn't afford.
Mom would make her own doll houses, including kitchen, bedroom, living room from box tops, drawing all the furniture on cardboard. At 50 years old, she studied Interior design a Bellevue College, later joining the Arts and Humanities Department as instructor in Interior Design.
Jean and her sister-in-law would often walked about in Hillyard, a neighborhood in North Spokane, reminiscing of the days when they were “younger” women. Often they shared their stories about the Westminster Bakery, the Rialto Theatre, and going to Sholtzey’s with their children.
After Christmas Day dinner, Jean would bring out Charles Dicken’s, “A Christmas Carol” and all of the family would sit about while it was read. We never managed to finish the story, alas!
Often Jean was referred to by her daughters as an Anglophile as she so enjoyed giving tea parties. A wonderful cook, she always made Scottish scones. One daughter recalls how Jean invited her high school friend over for tea and a reading of Dicken’s “Pickwick Papers.” The friend was delighted. The daughter less so, (during those “teenage” years).
“Grammy” was watching her grandchildren, one weekend, and offered them her favorite breakfast of Puffins covered with Hazelnut Coffee Creamer! “Hazelnut Coffee Creamer?”, we all exclaimed!
The Arts
Commissioned Work
Bergen Place Park Dedication by the Ballard Chamber of Commerce 1975 and King Olaf V of Norway. “Bergen Place” Painting presented to the Mayor of Bergen, Norway.
As Art Director for “Art in Suburbia” the first show of its kind in Greater Seattle bringing fine art “to the doorstep of suburban families,” featuring more than 60 prominent Puget Sound artists including Mark Tobey, George Tsutakawa, Fay Chong, Harry Bonath, Spencer Mosely, Val Laigo, Rudolph Bundas, Julle Kullberg, William Hixson.
Awards
1965 First Exhibition of Northwest Artists, Friends of the Pike Place Market, Third Place
1965 First Exhibition of Northwest Artists, Friends of the Pike Place Market, Honorable Mention
1974 Art Fair “74, The Henry Gallery, University of Washington, “Firenze” Acquisition for PONCHO
1967 Seattle Boat Show, Honorable Mention
1969 Seattle Co Arts Member’s Exhibition, Honorable Mention
1969 Mercer Island Arts and Crafts Show, Honorable Mention
1974 Art Fair “74, The Henry Gallery, University of Washington , “Firenze” Acquisition for PONCHO
1977 Sixth Annual Federal Way Arts Festival, Library Arts Commission, King County Library System, Second Place
1970s Renton Arts and Crafts, Honorable Mention
Juried Exhibitions
1967 Art Exhibition – Women of Washington, Women Painters of Washington & Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum Pavillion at the Seattle Center
1968 Tenth Annual Puget Sound Area Exhibition, Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum
Selected Group Exhibitions
1967 7th Annual Exhibition of Professional Painting and Sculpture by Artists of Seattle, Seattle University Art League, Seattle University
1960s The Boeing Employees Art Club Fall - Winter Exhibit
1967 Seattle Boat Show, Honorable Mention
1969 Mercer Island Arts and Crafts Show, Honorable Mention
1970s Renton Arts and Crafts, Honorable Mention
1975 Sesquicentennial Art Festival, Norse Home, honoring Northwest artists of Norwegian heritage
One-person Exhibitions
1965 Gallery Doloreese, Cedar Street, Seattle
1975 NN Gallery, Pioneer Square, Seattle, Seattle, Washington
1975 Memorabilia 2000, Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington
Additional Press
Herald, Sunday, March 14, 2004 “Mr. Fixture”
The Everett Business Journal, July 2002, “Waiting Rooms Worth Waiting In”
Affiliations
King County Arts Council
Northwest Society of Interior Designers
Port Gardner Bay Music Society
Seattle Art Museum Guild
Seattle Co-Arts
Seattle University Art League
Women Painters of Washington
Curriculum Vitae
1967 BFA Cornish College of the Arts
1972 AAS Nursing, North Seattle Community College
1989 BAA Interior Design, Bellevue College
1989-1992 Bellevue College, Instructor, Interior Design Program, Awarded Outstanding Instructor
1989-2018 Owner, Harmony Design Consultants
Also of note:
1960s Artistic Director, Society of Aeronautical Weight Engineers, Boeing
1980 Instructor, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Southwestern Washington Chapter Arts Program
1983 Instructor, St. Vincent Parish LIFE program (Learning for Individual and Family)