Marie Stanley was born on March 30, 1918 in Cotula, Tennessee, and was raised by Ben King and Bessie Brotherton.
    She lived in Dry Branch, West Virginia, a coal mining community, from 1965 to 2004.
    Marie was Fifty years old when she took up painting to take her mind off her sons service in the Vietnam War.
    One day she was cleaning house when she discovered her son's art supplies that included brushes and paints.
    "I took one of the brushes and passed it over my hand and thought I would try to see what I could do with it."
    Connecting with her far away son through his paint brushes tapped a vein of undiscovered talent. Her primitive folk art style and use of color is akin to the work of famed artist Grandma Moses.
    Her first painting was of a landscape done on the back of an old Coca-Cola sign. That first painting hung in a store in Dry Branch that has since been torn down.
    Marie painted for thirty years before setting down the brush. Nearly every scene is of a landscape, born in her imagination. "Sometimes I look at a picture for inspiration. I might copy a house that I like out of a seed catalog, but the rest comes in my mind, I put it on canvas."
    Marie never took art lessons because she never had the time. She raised six children, one of whom was disabled, and took care of her husband Edward who was a disabled miner.
    After her work as a housewife was done, and her family was asleep, she would get out the paints and brushes and go to work. "I paint to get away to myself. It helps me to relax."
    Marie preferred to work with acrylic paints. "Sometimes, I just start painting with a small brush, or I might sketch in the scene first with a pen."
    Marie never tried to market her work or to enter art shows. "I never cared about things like that. I just do it for the pleasure of it." Part of that pleasure is bringing joy to other peoples lives. So that others could see her work, Marie arranged for several local businesses to display her paintings and gave many to friends and relatives. "They're just for people to get pleasure out of — I don't care about selling them."
    As a child, Marie never tried to draw or paint a picture. "That's the trouble with many young people — they don't know what's really in them until later in life."
    Marie Stanley passed away in her home on July 21, 2004. Marie was a deeply religious woman whose faith in God, and love for her fellow man touched those she met, and is a benchmark for those who knew her.