Mary Ann Hinshelwood

Mary Ann Hinshelwood passed away on September 30, 2026, at the age of 97. Her death brings to a close a remarkable life, the breadth of which escapes easy description. Her soft-spoken demeanor and small frame gave no indication of the courage and determination that were hallmarks of her life.

Born Mary Ann Word on February 5, 1929, in Christiansburg, Virginia, Mary Ann spent her childhood in Christiansburg. A precocious student, Mary Ann graduated from Christiansburg High School as valedictorian in 1945, aged just 16, before obtaining an English degree from Roanoke College. Mary Ann completed a year of graduate studies in French at McGill University in Montreal, working jobs in the law library and as a secretary at a Montreal law firm. After McGill, Mary Ann moved to Paris, where she worked as a translator at the U.S. Embassy in the Office of the Naval Attaché. In Paris, she met her husband, an Englishman, with whom she moved to the United Kingdom. Her first child, Nigel, was born there in 1953, before the family moved to Montreal. Mary Ann’s second child, John (better known as Jack), was born there in 1956.

Mary Ann took her newborn and older son to visit her mother in Virginia, during which time her husband abandoned the family and disappeared. She then resolved to stay on the family farm in Riner to begin life as a single mother. During this difficult period, she went back to work to support her young family. In many ways, working suited her; she would later write that she “discovered early that I was happier in an office than in a kitchen.” For many years, she worked as a manager for Avon cosmetics, overseeing a range of counties in Southwest Virginia. After 21 years at Avon, including four at the company’s headquarters in Delaware, she attended paralegal school in Philadelphia. The first attorney she worked for as a paralegal was Roberts Moore—a partner at the prominent Roanoke law firm of Gentry, Rakes, Locke, & Moore.

Mary Ann eventually decided to become a lawyer herself. Taking advantage of a process available only in a handful of states, she “read law” under the supervision of an attorney in Radford rather than attending law school. She passed the bar on her first try in 1984. When she hung out her shingle that year on Main Street in Christiansburg, she was one of only two female lawyers in Montgomery County and the only one in general practice. (One surprised repairman told her he had “never met a lady lawyer.”) She practiced law for 21 years, including service as a court-appointed Commissioner of Accounts for Montgomery County, retiring in 2005.

Along the way, Mary Ann became central to the local community. She volunteered with the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library for nearly three decades, including serving on the Board of Trustees, and spent nearly 20 years on the board of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library Foundation, including eight years as president. In those roles, she helped lead efforts to renovate the Blacksburg branch of the library and open the Meadowbrook Library. Mary Ann was also deeply involved with the Montgomery Museum in Christiansburg, where she likewise served on the board.

Mary Ann loved the French language, keeping up her French well into retirement, and likewise loved travel. She had particularly fond memories of trips to Europe with her mother and sister. She also had a passion for the arts, and after moving to Abingdon, Mary Ann became a fixture at the Abingdon Arts Depot, serving as a volunteer and befriending many local artists. She was particularly proud of the musical talents of her two sons, both of whom brought her joy in her final days by playing for her.

Once, when asked for a piece of advice she would share, Mary Ann wrote that “patience and courage are great companions.” She had a truly uncommon degree of both.

Mary Ann was preceded in death by her sister, Harriet Peters, and is survived by her brother, Thomas Scott “Tommy” Word, Jr., of Richmond; her sons, Nigel Hinshelwood and wife, Teresa Ahmann, of Tracys Landing, Maryland, and Jack Hinshelwood and wife, Laree Hinshelwood, of Abingdon; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and numerous other family and friends. Jack, in particular, cared for Mary Ann in her final years, much as Mary Ann had cared for her own mother on the family farm in Riner at the end of her life.

There will be two Celebrations of Life for Mary Ann: one at The Arts Depot in Abingdon, Virginia, on October 22, and one at the Montgomery Museum of Art & History in Christiansburg, Virginia, on November 7. Details on those celebrations are provided at the links below.

Anyone wishing to make a donation in Mary Ann’s memory is encouraged to make a donation to the Montgomery Museum of Art & History in Christiansburg or The Arts Depot in Abingdon.

Abingdon Celebration of Life: CLICK HERE

Christiansburg Celebration of Life: https://www.montgomerymuseum.org/mary-ann-