Maria A. Lestyan

With loving memory – On June 13 Maria Lato Lestyan, beloved mother of twelve, passed away at her daughter Virginia's home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Maria Lato was born in Budapest in 1920. She worked in her parents’ textile business and attended college studying art and estate management. She married John Lestyan in 1943. As WWII ended, the family fled to Germany to escape the Russian invasion of Hungary. After six years in Bavaria, the growing family immigrated to the United States settling in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. While raising twelve children, she pursued her artistic talents in various venues. When her marriage ended, her artistic gifts enabled her to support her family with commissioned portraits, painting exhibitions, and art classes. Through her art classes in Beaver Falls and later in Raleigh, Maria shared her intense love of art, oil painting and her insights into color theory and the connection between art and life. She formed lasting relationships with numerous art enthusiasts, many of them attending her summer art classes and painting workshops in Duck, North Carolina. She was a fellow at the Barnes Foundation attending lectures and conducting docent tours at the institute, and later at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. Maria was an insightful artist, an avid reader, a stimulating and sympathetic conversationalist, a humorist, an accomplished cook and gardener, but her most cherished accomplishment was her children. Shortly before she died, she recited the names of all her children to tell them “You were the best thing that ever happened to me. You are the diamonds in my life. I LOVE YOU” – – Maria Ann (John Skabo; Erica, Christopher, Heidi) – Valeria Melinda (Raymond Duda) – Csilla Johanna; (Timothy, Quentin, Joel) – Aniko Marguerite (decd.); Jennifer, Jessica, Paul, Maja) – Virginia Ann (Richard Patterson; Michelle, Robert, Eric, Tristan) – Suzanne Katherine (Jeffrey Carroll; Elizabeth, Stephanie) – Stephen Michael (Melinda; Lauren, Stephen Ross) ¬¬ – Kathleen Louise (Marcel Tourdot; Marcel, Linee) – Elizabeth Philomena (David LaSala; Michael, Mark, Geoffrey, Thomas) – John Thomas (Ildiko; Patrick, Thomas, Catherine) – Peter Paul (Sarita) – Joseph Attila. She is also survived by 32 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren. She will be sadly but lovingly missed by her family and all who knew her. Private services will be held at a later date.

Maria A. Lestyan

January 13, 1920 - June 13, 2019