Emerson, Mary Stuart Anderson,of Wetmore Avenue, Newport, RI, died on Monday, July 10, 2017 after a last bout with pneumonia, valiantly fought. She was born on September 14, 1927, in Louisville. Over her almost ninety years she saw amazing changes in the world, and adapted to almost all of them with an uncanny ability to see the big picture and to fairly judge the effects. She shared her love for people, food, fun, dogs, art, books, knitting, and nature with everyone who had the good luck to come into her discerning, yet always sympathetic, realm. She was a rare bird.She was a member of the Newport Historical Society, the Preservation Society of Newport County, the Point Association, the Aquidneck Land Trust, the Newport Art Museum, and the Redwood Library. She was a graduate of the Kentucky Home School for Girls, and an alumna of Smith College ('49) where she studied art under Oliver Larkin. Later he became a lifelong friend in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she and her husband, George Emerson, lived for many years.From 1958 until 1975 she was co-principal, with her husband, of Burnham-by-the-Sea Summer School on Ruggles Avenue in Newport. At the time, it was the largest residential summer school for girls in the country, with about 200 students enrolled each summer from many states and several foreign countries. Mrs. Emerson was loved by "her girls." Stuey, as she was known, is survived by her son, George Waldo Emerson III, and daughter, Mary Randolph Emerson, both of Newport, RI, and granddaughter, Mary Stuart (Story) Wiggins, of Berkeley, CA. She also leaves her adored younger sister, Nancy L. Stevenson (Adlai), of Chicago, Illinois, as well as many nieces and nephews. There will be an open house to celebrate her life, in Newport, and private burial later at the Putnam family homestead and cemetery in Danvers, Massachusetts.Memorial contributions may be made to the Aquidneck Land Trust in Middletown, RI, or the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport, RI.Arrangements are by the O'Neill-Hayes Funeral Home. For more information and online condolences, please visit www.oneillhayes.com