Mary Ann Lunday Gans
September 22, 1935 - October 22, 2021
Mary Ann Lunday Gans was born in Fargo, ND in 1935 to Dr. John Herald Lunday and Belva Irene Torgerson Lunday. After studying at Concordia College in Moorhead MN, she became a nursing student at the University of Minnesota where she obtained her BS and RN degrees and met her future husband, Dr Henry Gans. Married in 1958, she was an intensive care/private duty nurse for nineteen years. In 1968 she and her husband moved to NYC where she worked as a part time nurse, volunteered at the American Indian Museum, working in the annex in the Bronx inventorying its extensive collections, and became, with her husband, ardent collectors of American and Pre-Columbian Art.
In 1977, after moving to Illinois, where her husband helped start the Medical School on the Champaign/Urbana campus, she opened her first art and antique shop called “A Certain Ambiance”, started a local art and antiques study group, “the Antiquarians”, became a member of the International Society of Appraisers and participated in the Urbana antique shows.
In 1983, upon her husband’s retirement, they moved to their vacation home on Long Island where she continued her antique business, joined the Long Island Antique Dealers Association, and participated in the antique shows in Nassau and Suffolk counties where she also held house/estate sales.
In 1990 she moved to Stuart/Palm City, Florida where she opened her second shop, first north of the Roosevelt Bridge, attended as a dealer the monthly Scott shows in Atlanta, Coconut Grove and the West Palm Beach shows till she moved two years later to her own building on Colorado Avenue in downtown Stuart. Here she bought estates and dealt in art and antiques even after she closed her shop in 2009.
In 2010 she again began to participate in the West Palm Beach show and operated a website on Trocadero.com.
Besides her interest and comprehensive knowledge of art and antiques, and an extensive collector of books on art and antiques, she was an ardent gardener, becoming a Master Gardener of the University of Florida at Gainesville and founded the Master Gardener Lending Library in Stuart.
Survivors include her beloved Siamese cat LingLing and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the Audubon Florida (Miami, FL), Florida Oceanographic Society (Stuart, FL) or National Wildlife Federation (Reston, VA).
In 1977, after moving to Illinois, where her husband helped start the Medical School on the Champaign/Urbana campus, she opened her first art and antique shop called “A Certain Ambiance”, started a local art and antiques study group, “the Antiquarians”, became a member of the International Society of Appraisers and participated in the Urbana antique shows.
In 1983, upon her husband’s retirement, they moved to their vacation home on Long Island where she continued her antique business, joined the Long Island Antique Dealers Association, and participated in the antique shows in Nassau and Suffolk counties where she also held house/estate sales.
In 1990 she moved to Stuart/Palm City, Florida where she opened her second shop, first north of the Roosevelt Bridge, attended as a dealer the monthly Scott shows in Atlanta, Coconut Grove and the West Palm Beach shows till she moved two years later to her own building on Colorado Avenue in downtown Stuart. Here she bought estates and dealt in art and antiques even after she closed her shop in 2009.
In 2010 she again began to participate in the West Palm Beach show and operated a website on Trocadero.com.
Besides her interest and comprehensive knowledge of art and antiques, and an extensive collector of books on art and antiques, she was an ardent gardener, becoming a Master Gardener of the University of Florida at Gainesville and founded the Master Gardener Lending Library in Stuart.
Survivors include her beloved Siamese cat LingLing and several nieces and nephews. Memorial contributions may be made to the Audubon Florida (Miami, FL), Florida Oceanographic Society (Stuart, FL) or National Wildlife Federation (Reston, VA).
Forest Hills Memorial Park
2001 SW Murphy Rd Palm City, FL 34990
2001 SW Murphy Rd Palm City, FL 34990