The Magnificent Ms. Marie

Marie Pinschmidt in her lovely home
in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

As promised, this week's blog post features Ms. Marie Pinschmidt—wife, mother, musician, business professional, painter, writer, neighbor, friend, and my unofficial Florida Godmother!

It is with great joy and enthusiasm that I share Ms. Marie's life and career story with you today. 

Part of my passion in doing so stems from the deep respect, admiration, and love I have for my dear friend; and part of it stems from the fact that her life and career have been so thoroughly marked by Self-Action Leadership practices at nearly every turn.

As you read about her adventurous, accomplished, and fascinating story below, see if you can pick out the elements of SAL principles and practices yourself... and then thoughtfully consider how you might allow Marie's truly stellar SAL example to positively influence and productively inform your own life and career.   

A sampling of some of Marie's many beautiful paintings

Marie Bush was born in 1928 in Southeastern Ohio, where she grew up one of seven children with four brothers and two sisters. Interestingly enough, I also grew up one of seven children with exactly four brothers and two sisters! This familial factoid is just one of many life experiences and interests that I share with my wonderful friend.

After graduating from high school, Marie got her first job at a medical clinic working as an "elevator girl" (an errand runner). But she didn't stay there long because she soon received a promotion to assistant receptionist. After just one month, she was promoted again, this time to secretary and stenographer, a position that required her to learn medical shorthand and terminology.

One of Marie's many masterpieces.

After working at the clinic for four years the office manager got married and vacated her position, and you can probably guess who the doctors chose to take her place! As the Office Manager, Marie took over many general duties including payroll and bookkeeping—back in the days before computers. 

She served as an office manager for a dozen years before being promoted again, this time to General Manager of the entire 10-doctor, multi-specialty group clinic, a position she would hold until a very special event in her life would take her in a new and exciting direction.  

During her ascent up the career ladder in a medical clinic, people would sometimes ask Marie: "When are you going to grab one of those doctors to marry?" But Marie never had any desire to marry a doctor. They were too busy and married to their careers. 

The elegant Marie and dapper Norm made a very handsome
couple capable of capturing the attention of an entire room
whenever they were together.  

But that was before she met and fell in love with Dr. Norman Pinschmidt—an ophthalmologist in the group. In her own words, "I did not want to marry a doctor; but Norm changed my mind!"

Thus began a beautiful love story that would endure for nearly four decades prior to Norm's passing.  

Marie and Norm were married in Southeast Ohio in 1961. They adopted two children—a son and a daughter—in their first few years of marriage.  

In 1965, Norm joined the prestigious Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans and later became a full Professor of Ophthalmology at Tulane University Medical School. It was in these favorable and prosperous circumstances in New Orleans that the Pinschmidts would live and work for the next 11 years.

More of Marie's many finished works of art.

But, as is often the case in our mortal journeys, life throws us "curve balls" that inevitably interrupt the peace and/or prosperity that we work so hard to obtain and sustain. In 1977, life threw an especially painful sinker the Pinschmidts way when Norm had a heart attack and subsequent stroke that affected his field of vision, forced his retirement, and forever changed their lives.

The next quarter century was markedly different than the first 16 years of their marriage as Marie spent the better part of her life and time looking after Norm and the children as caregiver and parent. She details this difficult, but meaningful part of her and Norm's life together in a memoir entitled, Life Interrupted: When the Doctor Becomes the Patient. 

Click HERE to visit Marie's website and buy Marie's Memoir: Life Interrupted.  

A life-size portrait of Norm, painted by
Marie, hangs in her home office.

In 1978, a year after Norm's forced retirement, the Pinschmidts moved to Gainesville, Florida, where they lived for five years. In 1983 they moved to Savannah, Georgia where they lived for several more years before relocating to North Carolina. Then, in 1998, they moved to Palm Beach Gardens, where Marie presently resides. 

Despite the challenges of caregiving in Norm's later years, Marie's love never waned, nor did it waver. To the contrary, her love actually grew deeper as they continued their unique love story in an effort to care for one another through difficult times.

Then, in 2000, Norm passed away from a rare disease called PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy). Marie never remarried, and keeps a lifesize portrait of Norm, which she painted herself, close by as she carefully guards her true love's memory deep in her heart.

Theirs was a rich and authentic love story that Marie speaks of tenderly and unapologetically. She further credits her progress as a painter and writer to Norm's loving encouragement. After all, he was the one who urged her to pursue painting lessons upon hearing Marie express interest in pursuing her talents in the field. That encouragement and support would last the rest of their lives together—and on up to the present day—as Marie continued (and continues) to blossom as an artist and author. 

In illustrating this loving support, Marie explained that it was hard to learn how to paint at first and she often considered quitting. She said one day she came home from a lesson in tears, but Norm always encouraged her to keep going. 

Pinschmidt first began taking painting lessons when she was in her mid-thirties; and she has painted ever since! She initially studied extensively under the tutelage of Cuban artist, Leopoldo Giraudy, who had served as the personal artist of Fulgencio Batista, former President of Cuba prior to the Castro Regime forcing its way into power in 1952. During her time with Giraudy, she focused on portrait painting and techniques of the Old Masters. In addition to being instructed by Giraudy, Marie further studied Modern Art Theory at the University of New Orleans and attended several portrait seminars by John Howard Sanden, an instructor at the Arts Students League in New York City.

To date, Pinschmidt's prolific and ongoing output includes scores, if not hundreds, of different paintings—many of which she has sold privately, or through public art galleries.

A cherished painting Lina and I bought from Marie, which now graces the

wall in our upstairs hallway. This piece was inspired by an article and photo

about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, published in the late 1990s.

My wife Lina and I like Marie's work so much that we recently purchased two (2) of her paintings for our own home: one for the upstairs, and one for the downstairs! These two glorious works of art now grace our home in a lovely way and add much to the overall ambiance we are aiming to create in our private living space. Every time I walk past either painting, I feel my spirit uplifted by the majestic scenes crafted with such skill, craftsmanship, and love by our dear friend.

In time, this student of art became a teacher as well. Over the years Marie has taken on a number of students as individuals or in groups. In fact, at 94, she recently took my seven-year-old daughter—who loves art—on as a new student, much to the joy of Kara, and much to the gratitude of Lina and me.     

Marie's six (6) published books

Her adventures as a writer started much later than her career as a painter. But age has never prevented or impeded Marie from making the most of her golden years. In fact, she has published six (6) books to date—all of which were written after the age of 70!

And her range as an author is impressive: she has published both fiction (novels), non-fiction prose, poetry, and memoir.  

Her journey as an author began much the same way as her career as a painter—with Norm's blessing and cheerleading in conjunction with seeking out formal instruction. In the late 1990s she enrolled in a two-year writing course in fiction and non-fiction. The course was entitled "Breaking into Print" and was taught by Karen O'Connor, a famous author with the Long Ridge Writer's Group in Connecticut. 

As was the case with her painting, Marie affectionately credits Norm's encouragement in helping her to also become accomplished as a writer. During her formal studies, she would read her assignments (including poetry) to Norm who would tear up and say: "That's beautiful." 

After passing the correspondence course, she began writing for magazines, including The Writer, The Artist, and Country Magazine. For the past 15 years, she has been a featured columnist in the PGA National Community Association Newspaper (PGA CAN).

Art books in Marie's personal library

In addition to Norm's encouragement, Marie also credits hard work, determination, consistence, and persistence to her progress as an artist and writer. When reviewing her body of work, it is obvious she has invested many thousands of hours into becoming the accomplished painter and writer she is today. And her shelves full of art books evince her passion for reading and studying in a never-ending quest to learn and improve.

Serendipity has also played its hand over the years in her overall education. For instance, one day she was in Barnes & Noble bookstore when she happily—and seemingly coincidentally—came across a book entitled, The Artist Way, by Julia Cameron—a famous writer and artist. According to Pinschmidt, reading Cameron's book helped her a lot in her creative journey. 

Click HERE to buy The Artist Way by Julia Cameron.

There is no question in my mind that such seeming coincidences occur, and are the purview of serendipity and/or Providence, or, as artists and writers often say: "The Muse."

I've experienced this metaphysical phenomenon countless times in my own journey as a writer and thinker. Indeed, on many occasions just the right resource has seemingly fallen right into my hands at just the right moment to help me start, finish, or further tie together a poem, chapter, section, article, or element of the SAL Theory or SAL Model.

Two more of Marie Pinschmidt's masterpieces

Dr. Stephen R. Covey had a similar experience while wandering through a university library in Hawaii one day back in 1979 during his time away from home on an academic sabbatical. The book that seemed to magically fall into his lap on that occasion contained a nugget of wisdom that served as a trigger-point to the development and composition of his magnum opus: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey published the 7 Habits ten years later in 1989. Since then, that one book has sold nearly 20 million copies, become one of the most influential books of the late twentieth and early 21st centuries, and directly influenced the development of the SAL Theory and SAL Model.

It has been more than two decades now since Marie lost her beloved Norm, but she has not let her loss or grief slow her down or stifle her output and joy as an artist and painter. At 94, she continues to live a vibrant life full of productivity, contribution, service, and love. And every month I look forward to reading her new column in our neighborhood newspaper, PGA CAN.    

If you are interested in perusing Marie's art or reading one of her books, you can visit her website at MariePinschmidt.net. 

Note: Her website is currently having some technical issues and is undergoing some work, so you'll want to check back soon for improvements and upgrades.  

If you would like to reach out to Marie with a specific inquiry about her work, you may email her at mariepin001@comcast.net

Oh, and one more thing...

In enumerating Marie's many accomplishments as a painter and writer, I almost forgot to mention another of her many talents—MUSIC!  At this point, it probably won't surprise you to learn that Ms. Pinschmidt also plays the piano beautifully—even at age 94.  

Click HERE to watch a video of Marie playing the piano for me during our interview last month, a few weeks after her 94th birthday.      

 

—Dr. JJ

November 23, 2022

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 293rd Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 122nd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

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