Mary Ann Irwin Pope, of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away peacefully on December 14, 2025. She was born in Oldham County, just outside Louisville, Kentucky, and was the daughter of the late Margaret Taylor Irwin and James C. Irwin.

From an early age, it was clear that art was Mary Ann's calling. Her talent earned her a scholarship to the Art Center at the University of Louisville, followed by another to the prestigious Cooper Union in New York City. While at the University of Louisville, she met Richard C. Pope, whom she later married. The couple began their life together in Louisville, where they worked and started their family.

In 1966, the Popes relocated to Huntsville when Richard was recruited by a longtime friend to help strengthen the art program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The natural beauty of North Alabama—the mountains, valleys, and unspoiled landscapes—became a lifelong source of inspiration for Mary Ann's work. Although her formal training emphasized oil painting, she was a tireless experimenter who taught herself a wide range of techniques and media, including charcoal, woodblock, screen printing, and watercolor. She ultimately became best known for her impressionist landscapes rendered in watercolor, oil, and acrylic.

Mary Ann and Richard were early founders and members of local art organizations, including the Huntsville Art League, and were instrumental in efforts to establish Huntsville's first art museum planned for the new Von Braun Civic Center. It was an extraordinary era for the local arts community, shared with friends and colleagues such as David Parrish, Clifton Pearson, and many others who later achieved national recognition. While raising a growing family in a modest home, Mary Ann's dining room table often doubled as her studio, cleared only when it was time for family meals. Later, an art studio was added to the home and became the heart of her creative life as she balanced her roles as artist, wife, mother, and grandmother.

Over the years, Mary Ann received both regional and national recognition for her work. She held dozens of solo exhibitions across the country and was featured in numerous art magazines, foundations, societies, and galleries. Her artwork is held in museums, hospitals, city halls, libraries, corporate boardrooms, hotels, and private collections throughout the United States. Even The U.S. State Department purchased a piece, which now resides in a U.S. Embassy abroad. She was especially proud to be named to Voices Rising, a celebration of women Alabama artists, and to be among a select group of artists invited by the Forbes Foundation to paint at the Forbes Trinchera Ranch. Her professional affiliations included the National Watercolor Society, the Watercolor Society of Alabama, the Kentucky Watercolor Society, and Watercolor USA.

In the 1970s, Mary Ann returned to balancing professional work alongside her art. She spent more than twenty years with the City of Huntsville Planning Department, where she created zoning, planning, and other maps for the city.

Mary Ann was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Pope, former Chairman and Professor of the Art Department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

She is survived by her daughter, Neil Pope; her sons, Taylor Pope and his wife, Tina Brakefield Pope, and Trent Pope and his wife, Linda Dillon Pope; and her grandsons, Chase Pope and Wyatt Pope. She is also survived by her sister, Betty Jo Duncan of Houston, Texas, as well as many nieces and nephews.

The family extends heartfelt gratitude to the staff of Huntsville Hospital Hospice Family Care for their compassion and support.

No services are planned. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a local land trust (Home | Land Trust of North Alabama), state park, or another organization dedicated to preserving the natural beauty that surrounds us and inspires others to pursue their creative passion and the Huntsville Hospital Hospice Family Care (Comprehensive end-of-life care - Huntsville Hospital Caring For Life)

Berryhill Funeral Home assisted the family.