Celebration of the Life of Mary Collar

Join the family, friends, and fellow Gallery Moab artists in a Celebration of the Life of Mary Collar.

Mary Marx Collar passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones on December 12, 2023 just after her 76th birthday. It was an unexpected and quick decline in health that took her too soon.

Mary was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin December 7, 1947. After attending St. John’s Elementary and Columbus Catholic High School, she received her associates degree in radiology. Mary became a radiology therapy technician at Saint Joseph’s, the hospital she was born in. In 1972 when she moved to Peoria, Illinois and worked at Methodist Hospital for the next 6 years.

In the fall of 1979, she moved to Salt Lake City having accepted a radiation therapy technician position at the University of Utah where she spent 16 years working at the U of U. She immersed herself in the remote geography of Utah and the surrounding states. She especially loved the serenity of desert landscape and it inspired her to help build a geodesic dome home near La Sal, Utah in 1996. She spent the next 14 years living off grid at 7500’ elevation. She loved watching and feeding the numerous birds, particularly the hummingbirds who kept her busy cooking hundreds of gallons of sugar water annually.

Fully retired in 2010, Mary moved to Moab and began to explore herself. She discovered a love for traveling and visited Cuba, Siberia, Iceland, Africa, New Guinea, India and most recently New Zealand. She also learned she had a deep passion for painting and successfully showcased her love for desert beauty in her pastels and acrylic paintings using a scratching technique.

Mary was a beautiful woman with a radiant smile that lit up an entire room. She had an enthusiasm for learning, a generous heart, and a love for life. Her impact could be felt everywhere she went and in those she touched. She is preceded in death by her father Cyril Marx, mother Mary Marx and brother Michael Marx. She will be deeply missed by her brother Joseph Marx, sister Barbara Greenway, daughter Michele Weaver, grandson Michael Weaver, granddaughter Tommie Filoso (Noah), and step-granddaughters Emily Stevens (Robby), Aimee Melone (Jason), Ashley Rawlins (David), as well as by her many friends.