Mary Elizabeth Ryder

Mary Elizabeth Ryder died in her sleep at the age of 101 at Cliff View Terrace in Santa Barbara on December 8, 2021. She was a resident of Santa Barbara for 56 years.

Mary was born on June 25, 1920 in Minneapolis, MN. She attended MacMurray College in Illinois and the University of Minnesota School of Art. She married James DeWitt Kline on June 19, 1942. During their 40 year marriage, they raised two children and lived in Oregon, Washington, D.C., Cairo, Egypt, and California.

Early in her career Mary designed the instrument panel of the first post-war Ford and the Magic Chef range dials and timers. She worked as map librarian at the National Geographic Society; designed and produced a line of notecards based on Egyptian folk art motifs; and was a skilled quilter and needlewoman, designing and publishing a new version of the quilting pattern, Cathedral Window.

Following the death of her husband in 1982, Mary spent many happy years with Robert Dunbar until his death.

Mary was meticulous, observant, and curious. All forms of life fascinated her. She did not own a TV, a Kindle, a computer or a cell phone. Until the age of 99 she read voraciously. She loved the piano music of Dvorak and Chopin.

She is survived by a daughter, Victoria Kline, PhD, retired librarian, of Santa Barbara; a son, James S. Kline, MD, retired physician, of Seattle, and his two daughters, Melissa Kline-Struhl, PhD, behavioral scientist and Heather Kline, PhD, aeronautical engineer.

The family thanks the staffs of Wood Glen Hall, Mission Terrace and Cliff View Terrace for their kind attention to Mary during her final years.