The collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.
The Mary Deyerle Guy memoirs was aquired with funds from the Molly Elliot Seawell Endowment.
the Mary Deyerle Guy memoirs are arranged by item.
Mary Deyerle Guy was born in Salem, Virginia in 1893, the daughter of Hattie and Overton Deyerele. Suffering from many illnesses over the course of her life, Mary went on to have a son Richard, whom she almost lost to the flu. Following the death of her husband in 1918, Mary relocated back to her parents home. In her free time, Mary sketched, wrote poetry and books, and was employed by the Roanoke County commissioner of revenue's office. She became known as "The Walking Lady of Salem," as she never learned how to drive. Mary Deyerle Guy lived to be 103 years old, passing away in 1996.
Mary Deyerele Guy memoir, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.
Collection contains a typed manuscript titled "Fifty Years of Living"- A Southern Woman's Life at Salem-Roanoke Virginia, 1890s-1940s.
Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.
The publication is a typed narrative of Mary Deyerle Guy's life from the 1980s to the 1940s. It chronicals her childhood and early adulthood troubled by frequent illness, the birth of her son in 1917, the death of her husband in 1918, and her subsequent struggles to raise her family. The manuscript details the different people she met and places she experienced throughout her life. It is stapled between red, leather-textured card wrappers.