Mary Lovelock

RALEIGH - Mary Rutherford Lovelock, 78, passed away on September 5, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was born in London, England on September 18, 1946, the first child of Dr. John E. Lovelock of Crushington, New Zealand and Cynthia Wells James of Brooklyn, New York. She is survived by her husband, W. Robert "Bob" Chapman and a brother, Lucien Rostaing "Ross" Tharaud.

Mary grew up in Manhattan. After Dr. Lovelock died, her mother married Lucien "Luke" Rostaing. Tharaud, who helped raised her and her younger sister Janet E. Lovelock, who predeceased her in 1990. She was a 1964 graduate of the Brearly School in New York City, a 1968 graduate of Cornell University, and she earned an MBA degree in 1978 from Columbia University.

After graduating from Cornell, Mary lived for a year in St. Louis working for an arts council. In 1969, she moved to Kansas City where she did public relations work for a shopping mall, eventually becoming its manager. In 1979, Mary moved to Hartford, Connecticut where she was employed as a manager by the Aetna Insurance Company. Unhappy with large corporations, she soon became business manager and, eventually, executive director of the South Park Inn, which provides services to homeless people.

It was in Hartford that Mary met and fell in love with Bob; they were married on June 6, 1981 at the Unitarian Society of Hartford.

Mary loved classical music, especially the piano. While at Cornell she took up the cello and later played with the Farmington (Connecticut) Symphony Orchestra. For twenty-five years, she and Bob participated in Vintage Dance, traveling to Newport, Rhode Island; Cincinnati, Ohio; Long Beach, California; Paris, France; Prague, Czech Republic; and Vienna, Austria to attend dance weeks.

In 2005, Mary and Bob moved to Raleigh and bought a house in the Historic Oakwood neighborhood. She quickly became active in the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood, becoming secretary, chairperson of the Good Neighbor committee; she was a member of the Garden Club, a book club, and the Oakwood Awesomettes (a group of senior ladies who march and twirl batons in parades).

Mary was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh (UUFR), where she participated in a fellowship group.

A memorial service will take place at UUFR (3313 Wade Avenue) on Saturday, October 4th at 10:30 a.m.