By Laura Douglass
Insider Staff Writer
An artist, boutique owner, floral designer, educator and entrepreneur, Dorothy Magratten has always surrounded herself with color, beauty and meaningful work. When macular degeneration made it difficult for her to paint in her 90s, life became decidedly more gray.
“I couldn’t draw in a straight line. I was depressed,” she says.
Fortunately, her daughter and longtime business partner, Darcy, was cleaning out her attic and came across a pile of decorative papers from a display they had worked on years ago at the Newport Flower Show in Rhode Island.
“The papers brought back so many memories, and I thought, ‘Well, what can I do with them?’ I started to experiment,” Magratten says.
The fancy pages were carefully cut into unique shapes and transformed with the addition of pressed dried flowers from weekly bouquets from Darcy, and blooms from the window boxes around Magratten’s Pinehurst home. Even molted feathers from her pet parakeets offered inspiration. Darcy also made small prints of her mother’s favorite paintings and envelopes.
The result: a new cottage industry of handmade greeting cards that Magratten donates to the Muscular Dystrophy Association for fundraisers and personal thank-you notes sent to their donors. The charity is close to her heart, following her daughter-in-law Paige’s diagnosis in the 1980s.
“I tell my mom, what she doesn’t realize is that these cards are also paintings. They are paintings in a different medium, and each one is unique,” says Darcy.
A Heart for Art
The daughter of an Episcopal minister, Magratten grew up in Englewood, N.J., and then Wilkesboro, Pa., before attending college at Hobart and William Smith in Geneva, N.Y. There she studied Western civilization — including seven years of Latin — and met her husband, Greg. “A Hobart man,” quips Magratten, and a World War II veteran. The couple married in 1949, raised three children, and enjoyed 65 years together before his passing in 2013.
When her children were still young, Magratten recalls raising her hand at a PTA meeting to volunteer as a substitute teacher. “Next thing I know, I spent 10 years teaching,” she says. That career included earning a master’s degree from SUNY Oswego, and she was certified to teach K-6th grades.
Eventually the Magrattens began splitting their time between Boca Grande, Fla., and their home in New Hampshire. She says she was lucky to be in Florida at the right place and time, opening up a boutique in a resort-like area.
“The store was inside the train station, right in the middle of town,” Magratten says. There she sold a curated selection of high-end men’s and women’s clothing, gifts, cards and jewelry, and beautiful beads she would pick up at New York City shows.
“She would only have one or two of any single thing. She had a real following of people who came to stay,” adds Darcy.
In retirement, the Magrattens moved to Moore County, settling in the Country Club of North Carolina, where Dorothy’s brother kept a home. She recalls he actually owned two houses at the time and showed them both to her.
“When I saw the second house and the back porch — at the time it was so neglected — I knew it had everything I wanted,” she says. These days the porch is bright and airy, and filled with birdsong as her pet parakeets flit about the enclosed space.
After Greg’s passing, Darcy encouraged her mother to try painting, a new medium for her at that time. “I told her, ‘You need something to do.”
Magratten signed up for personal lessons with local artist Harry Neely and was quickly hooked. “I became addicted to painting,” Magratten laughs.
The walls of her home are a testament to her talent. From white rabbits and clever foxes to beautifully detailed flower paintings, this personal art gallery displays the depth and breadth of her passion.
Pauline Ross, Magratten’s home health aide, says she was astounded when she saw the paintings and how she had retooled these art pieces into greeting cards. “I told her this was far too nice to just be sitting here.”
Unsure about selling the cards, it was Magratten who came up with the idea to donate them to the MS Association for use by the charity.
“She has sent them at least 100 cards,” Darcy says. “Probably more.”
Contact Laura Douglass at laura@thepilot.com.
