GREAVES-VENNING, Mary Edith Zita

1919 - 2005

Mary Edith Zita Greaves

As Mary Edith Venning, she was born at Upper Norwood, London on 6 November 1919, daughter of artist Geoffrey Vosper Venning (12 June 1876-1958) and his wife Laura Edith née Chambers (1 December 1890-1963), who married at Lambeth earlier that year. In 1939, Mary was a telephonist, living at 12 Berridge Road, Lambeth, London with her parents. Mary married at Croydon in 1940, George Edward Greaves (23 April 1916-22 September 1995) and they had three sons. Mary was a self-taught artist, who only commenced painting at the age of 65 using the name Greaves-Venning. A painter whose figurative work had a strong fantasy element as in her watercolour 'The Mermaid and the Dolphins' selected for the Ipswich Open at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich in 1995. Mary Edith Greaves lived at Combs, near Stowmarket, Suffolk where she died on 29 May 2005.