Margaret “Mardie” Jane Bardwell White passed away peacefully in the UNC Hospice Home in Hillsborough, NC at 1:45 am August 4, 2025. She was admitted to UNC Hospital on June 19 following an episode of cardiogenic shock. After her hospitalization she spent two and half weeks in a rehabilitation facility, then came home with in-home hospice care and was eventually admitted to the UNC Hospice Home on July 31 where she was beautifully cared for until she died. She was 85.
Margaret, or Mardie as she was also known, was a unique human, mother, artist, foodie, and introvert. She was born as the second of four daughters on October 23, 1939 in Evanston, IL to Robert Conrad Bardwell and Elizabeth McCrady Bardwell. Soon after her birth, her parents moved to Florida where Mardie was raised along with her three sisters, Wendy, Beckie and Susie. She grew up in Mount Dora, FL and attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She married Thomas White in December 1960 and had three children, Elizabeth (Liz) Wilson White born May 25, 1961, Kathleen (Kate) McCrady White born December 3, 1962, and Thomas Raeburn White born October 26, 1963. They lived in Philadelphia, PA, Washington, DC and Charlottesville, VA. Mardie and Tom divorced in 1972.
Mardie decided to go back to school after her divorce, choosing a Master of Fine Arts program from American University in Washington, DC. She has written, “I began painting in my mid-thirties and commuted from Charlottesville to Washington to study with Robert D’Arista.” She went on to work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and created a distinct style of abstract art with acrylic, oil and metallic paints. She traveled to art retreats to receive guidance and support for her work such as Penland in North Carolina and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. She has shown her paintings in the Georgetown Art Gallery in Washington, DC and the Sommerhill Gallery in Chapel Hill, NC. She became of member of Group 93, a group of artists that formed a collaboration in 1990 that came together to receive criticism and support for their art to strengthen their skills. She was a member for 23 years.
She lived just outside of Washington, DC in Bethesda, MD from 1983 to 1995 in a small neighborhood called Brookmont. There she created Valley Road Studio, where she bought, sold and framed antique prints. Her work with prints included the making of French mats, a matting style that involves marbled paper and colored washes to support the prints' subjects. She moved to an old farm house just outside of Chapel Hill in 1995 with her daughter Liz Krusenstjerna, and lived there for 30 years making art and managing the antique print business that she began while living in Bethesda, MD.
Mardie was a wonderfully unique human in life. She loved her privacy, art, reading, food, watching movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime and watching Jeopardy every night. She also loved completing the NYT Wordle each day. She had an excellent and mischievous sense of humor. She shared her life with many people and lived at the farm house in Chapel Hill that she named Grass Island until her death. She was also a historian and a connector, finding ways for people to get to know other people, and for family to be together. She is survived by her children, Liz, Kate and Thomas, their spouses and partners, and her grandchildren, William and Eleanor. She has many beloved friends in the places where she has lived.
Her ashes will be spread at the UNC Memorial Grove, date to be determined. There are currently no plans for a formal service, but friends and family are encouraged to connect and celebrate Mardie’s life at the Memorial Grove. We will let close friends know about that gathering. Please send an email to krusen@mindspring.com if you want to be on that list.
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