May 9, 2022 (La Mesa) – Mary Genser, 91, passed away on April 20, 2022, following a long battle with dementia and COVID-19.  She was an accomplished artist, long-time La Mesa resident, and mother of East County Magazine editor Miriam Raftery as well as David Genser of Poway.

She was born Mary Evelyn Vick on August 9, 1930 to Thomas Monroe Vick and Artie Ola Snider Vick in Weatherford, Texas. Raised on her family’s farm during  the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl along with her sister, Winnie Ruth Vick, she learned the values of hard work and integrity. 

“Life was hard, but life was good,” she once wrote of her early years.