Mallory Messner Semple passed away peacefully at her home in North Pomfret on July 16, 2025, shortly after her 100th birthday. She is predeceased by her husband of 58 years, John P. Semple (who passed away in 2015); by her sister, Rosemary Messner Kern; and by her brother, Arthur J. Messner, Jr. Born on June 22, 1925, in Rochester, N.Y., she was the youngest child of Arthur J. Messner and Gertrude Mallory Messner. At the suggestion of her father, her given name was her mother’s maiden name.
She attended Columbia School (now Allendale Columbia) in Rochester, then studied at Vassar College, earning her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in 1945. At her graduation, she held several administrative positions first in New York City, then in Boston. She met her husband John at Boston University, where she was executive assistant to the Art department chair. They married in September 1957 and, with funding from a Tiffany Fellowship, spent a year in Florence, Italy. Upon their return, they settled in Pembroke, Mass. Mallory gave birth to her twins John and Benjamin in 1960, and to her third son, Timothy, in 1962. In 1969, John and Mallory relocated to North Pomfret. The couple would spend the rest of their lives in the 19th-century farmhouse they renovated. Mallory managed John’s career as an artist as he gained regional and then national prominence. John was always the first to acknowledge that he could never have achieved his level of success without his partnership with Mallory.
Mallory was a wonderful storyteller. For her family, she painted a vibrant picture of her youth growing up in Rochester; of summers spent in rural Ohio at her maternal grandparents’ home; of growing up during World War II; and of the time she and John spent in Florence in the 1950s, while post-war Europe was still rebuilding. Though her early life had been cosmopolitan, she deeply appreciated and loved her quiet rural existence in North Pomfret. Many will remember Mallory for the interest she took in others, for her down-to-earth manner, and for her kindness. Her three sons will remember her with profound gratitude as a mother who deeply loved her children and who devoted herself to their upbringing. There will be no public funeral. Mallory is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law John (Marsha) of Dallas, Texas and Sharon, Vt.; Ben (Terry) of Spokane, Wash.; and Tim of North Pomfret.
The family gratefully thanks Bayada Hospice Care and VNH/VNA. Anyone wishing to remember Mallory should consider a charitable donation to the Ottauquechee Health Center, Mount Ascutney Hospital Development Office, 289 County Road, Windsor VT 05089.
The Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock is assisting the family.
