Mary S. Ebmeyer, 81, real estate saleswoman

Mary Sage Doelle Ebmeyer, 81, of Bryn Mawr, a real estate saleswoman, died Sunday, Aug. 4, at Bryn Mawr Hospital of complications from a stroke.

Mrs. Ebmeyer, a native of Grosse Pointe, Mich., moved with her husband, Walter C., to Pennsylvania in 1998 when he was named headmaster of Gladwyne Montessori School. He retired in 2003.

She joined the office of Prudential Fox & Roach in Haverford and sold real estate through the mid-2000s. Recently, she was a sales associate for real estate developers, including Bentley Homes, Nolan Builders, and Vaughan & Sautter Builders.

The weekend before her death, she was on duty selling homes for Vaughan & Sautter, her family said.

Mrs. Ebmeyer graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart and earned a degree in elementary education from the University of Michigan in 1954. She also completed graduate courses at Harvard University.

In 1954, Mrs. Ebmeyer was one of 12 finalists in Vogue Magazine's Prix de Paris competition, a career contest won by the future wife of President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier, in 1951. The author Sylvia Plath was a finalist in 1955. Contestants from 348 colleges applied.

"Her photo was featured in Vogue in August 1954. She was given a recommendation to various opportunities at Vogue. It was a very big deal," said her daughter-in-law, Whitney Ebmeyer.

After flipping a coin to decide between Chicago and New York, she moved to Manhattan in 1961, where she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women. That year, she began teaching at St. David's School in Manhattan, where she met and married Walter Ebmeyer, a fellow teacher.

They worked at independent schools in Long Island, Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut, and Delaware. During those years, Mrs. Ebmeyer served as a school librarian, raised her children, refinished furniture, hosted faculty parties, and worked in real estate and on polishing her tennis game.

She enjoyed gardening, reading, following the British royal family and the Kennedys, and sewing.

Surviving, besides her husband of 47 years and daughter-in-law, are a son, Christopher; a daughter, Mimi Dennis; and six grandchildren.

A Memorial Mass will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7, at Our Mother of Good Counsel, 31 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr. A reception will follow at the Merion Cricket Club. Burial is private.

Contributions may be made to the Gesu School, 1700 W. Thompson St., Philadelphia 19121, or via www.gesuschool.org.