Mary Ann Carnegie’s “Quilts of Valor” display on her Cayucos balcony. Photo by Debbie Black
If you could give a special gift just to say thank you to a United States Veteran of any one of our Armed Services, would you email someone who would make that happen? Mary Ann Carnegie of Cayucos has a simple request. Her fellow Gold Coast Quilters are looking for veterans living in San Luis Obispo County, particularly the Estero Bay area, who have yet to receive a handmade Quilt of Valor. The ladies will design, personally dedicate, and deliver the donated treasure for the sole purpose of saying, “Thank you for your Service.”
Since November 11, 2011, the group has participated in area Veterans’ community events and arranged brief private recognitions to award the unique quilts. It was originally a project created by Mary Ann for the two years she was president (2010-2012) of the quilting group. “I’m an Army brat who enjoyed living many places in the world due to the services of my father and my husband, Ed, so I suggested Quilts of Valor be given to our county’s veterans on Memorial Day.”
It was instantly embraced and so appreciated by the veterans and their families her group continues to present a Quilt of Valor when they discover a veteran who doesn’t have one.
“We hope to provide a quilt to all who served,” said Mary Ann. Immediately priority is reserved for those who served during WW2, WW1, and Korea, but it is now timely that the group reach out to those who served in Vietnam and Iraq. Contact maryanncarnegie@gmail.com.
Mary Ann said, “Recently we gave one to a 103-year-old gentleman, who survived the Bataan Death March.” Note: It happened April 9-17, 1943, when up to 78,000 American and Filipino POWs were transferred to alternative prison camps after Pearl Harbor (www.nationalmuseum.af.mil) “His sons invited us. They were in their 80s.”
Mary Ann grew up learning how to adapt to the tough times and enjoy the good times. She recalled a family story told by her grandparents. “They lived in Germany pre-WW2 and one day my grandfather came home and said, ‘We have to go. I sold the house to a dentist and a Nazi general. I don’t know who will get here first so we need to go.’ It was several years after the war before they felt they could return. Their house was still standing. A sign identified who was living there and my grandfather said, ‘I guess the dentist got it.’”
On the positive side she recalled, “My dad served in the 89th Combat Support Hospital with the 101stAirborne at Fort Campbell, KY. The family would somehow always take three-months traveling time to visit Europe. When someone would ask how he got the time off, he would say, ‘I won it in a poker game.’
“It was those times traveling I learned my love for history and empathy for those who served and were hurt in battles. I’ll never forget when Mom and Dad took me to Verdun, France. Seeing 130,000 French and German graves of soldiers who never went home after WWI made an impact. Moving often also meant I was always the stranger that needed to make new friends. I learned how to appreciate and mix into all cultures.”
She believes she studied history and sociology at UC Davis to continue learning more about the cultures she had visited. When she chose a career as a social worker, she felt it was due to the empathy she had learned from those cultures that had lived through wartime.
Mary Ann experienced burnout while in Monterey caring for oncology, dialysis, and terminal patients. Once she got to know them, they would pass away. “I realized it was changing my personality.”
She decided to take music classes thinking she would enjoy the positivity of teaching history through ballads. I wanted kids to grow up knowing about the past. She believes strongly, “If you erase history how will you anticipate the consequences?”
And then Ed Carnegie changed her life’s direction. He was in the Navy reserves in Monterey, where she met him one night at a busy club. She and a friend were very hungry and Ed’s persistence attracted them to join his empty table. By dinner’s end he had talked her into going sailing. She had to wonder what she was doing out in the ocean with someone she barely knew and yet once safely home she wrote in her journal, ‘I’ll marry that man someday.’
Like Mary Ann, he had moved around a lot. He had lived in Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. She believed Ed Carnegie would have a bright future with his master’s in engineering and commitment to Navy services on submarines. They stayed in contact while he served in Korea. And he would continue his service in the Reserves for 20 more years.
While serving at Camp San Luis in the command office, he would become the Director of Cal Poly Bio Resources, formerly known as the Agriculture Engineering Department. She accepted his job offer as his assistant. “We were friends and co-workers first then enjoyed 52 years of marriage and four children together living in Morro Bay and Cayucos.”
Many know Ed and Mary Ann for their longtime involvement developing and managing a Cal Poly project in Santa Cruz called the Swanton Pacific Ranch. Al Smith, a Cal Poly alumni and CEO of Orchard Supply Hardware, owned 3,200 acres and had also purchased an operational 1/-scale locomotive with passenger railcars. Ultimately determined to bequeath the property to Cal Poly, Smith hired Ed to design and manage enrichment programs for Cal Poly students at the ranch. The Carnegie family would spend most weekends and summers managing the programs until a fire in 2020 destroyed it. Many interactive programs were developed both for students and Santa Cruz teens that would lead to careers in agriculture, construction, engineering, railroad management, and even creative arts with a summer Shakespeare program staged on site.
Mary Ann had only requested a dollhouse. Ed complied with not only one for their three daughter’s playtimes, but in the 1980s he designed and literally built their Cayucos home – crafting doors, cornices, picture frames, furniture, light fixtures, even a full-size merry-go-round horse and more. Everywhere in their hillside home you see something created by Ed Carnegie.
The couple was always active and involved in community. They joined the Morro Bay Yacht Club during its early days. Ed was Commodore for two years, thus, Mary Ann planned socials. Ed was recently recognized for his major role on a development team led by “Dev” Devlin that designed and built the current clubhouse. He also designed the iconic bar in the shape of the hull of a sailboat.
Once they moved from Morro Bay and until Ed passed, January 19, 2024, they were both active in Cayucos. They served multiple terms on the Cayucos Citizens Advisory Committee which advises the SLO Board of Supervisors about issues and needs for the community. Ed was chair and Mary Ann was land use chair.
Without a doubt, I believe this July 4th everyone in the Estero Bay can tip their hat and offer a big “thank you” to Ed and Mary Ann Carnegie for their continued recognition for our military veterans and their community service in Morro Bay and Cayucos.
