Jessie Marion Koogler was born on February 7, 1883 in DeGraff, Ohio, the pampered only child of Dr. Marion A. and Clara (Lippincott) Koogler.  Moving to El Dorado, Kansas the following year, the Koogler’s made their home at 729 West Central.

As a young adult, Jessie was a strikingly handsome woman with classical features, an abundance of straight black hair, and a regal bearing that gave an impression of height although she was only slightly over five feet tall.  Becoming heavier in later life, she had extremely expressive eyes that spoke for her.  Friends recalled her as intelligent and articulate, jolly with a nice laugh and a deep voice.  While one of the richest ladies in the state of Texas, she lived a simple life.  She was described as a sweet, strange, and lonely lady.

At an early age she began to express herself in painting.  Still existing are two small oil paintings on cardboard, both dated and signed on the back “June, 1892, El Dorado, Kansas, Jessie M. Koogler.”  They reveal an amazing degree of maturity and skill far beyond the average nine year old.  Seeing her first art exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, she was to keep the catalogue of the exhibition the rest of her life.

In 1900 Jessie was selected to take a special drawing course at the University of Kansas.  During her two years at Lawrence, Jessie’s personality blossomed, overcoming her former shyness to become more confident and self-reliant.  Art started to become a compulsive and consuming interest.

Determined to continue her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, Dr. Koogler held to his firm opinion that no proper young lady should be encouraged to study art beyond painting flowers on china.  Rather than her usual trick of getting her way – taking to her bed – she renewed her interest in former suitor Ray Tack, whom her father disapproved of.  This brought immediate results; Dr. Koogler consented to her enrollment at the Institute.

It was in Chicago that Jessie Marion Koogler forever dropped the name Jessie, using instead her father’s name, Marion.  She considered the name Jessie to be odious because of its association with El Dorado’s most notorious murderess, Jessie Morrison, who had cut her rival’s throat with a razor.  Old friends in El Dorado, however, continued to call her Jessie.

Marion was enchanted with Chicago.  Though the times and people’s taste in art were conservative, she had a front-row seat to the newly emerging Modern Art.  In May of 1913 she witnessed the first American exhibition of Modern Art, the Armory Show, when it came to the institute.  Marion returned again and again to eagerly study the works of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Picasso, Gauguin, Pissarro, and many others.

After graduating, Marion divided her time between her parents’ home and the Institute.  Her parents had at this time moved to Marion, Ohio.

In Chicago, Marion accepted a position as a medical illustrator for a noted Chicago surgeon.  She loved her work and was disheartened when Dr. Koogler, appalled at her employment, immediately summoned her home.  She made another attempt at a career in 1914, accepting a position as a public school art teacher.  Considered a fine teacher, she decided to make teaching a full-time career, but again was kept home by her father’s persuasion.

In March, 1916, Marion met Don Denton McNay, superintendent of Marion Street Railway.  Don was ten years younger than Marion, a hard-working, serious-minded young man.  Dr. Koogler at last gave his consent to marriage.  When the United States went to war against Germany, Don enlisted in the Army as a sergeant, with orders to report to Laredo, Texas.  As a wedding present, Dr. Koogler gave his daughter 160 acres of his Kansas land, reasoning that she would need some security since Don insisted that his bride would have to do the best she could on his meager army pay.

During their short time living in Laredo, Marion gathered memories she cherished throughout her life.  When Don was ordered to Florida a few months later, Army restrictions prevented Marion from going with him.  As his company assembled for departure in San Antonio, they said goodbye at the Alamo, which thereafter became a personal symbol for Marion.

A few weeks later, news came of Don’s serious illness.  He died on October 25th of the Spanish influenza sweeping the nation in 1918.  For Marion, this sorrow never completely healed; her futile pursuit of happiness resulted in four more marriages, each ending in divorce.  Fortunately, she heeded her father’s oft repeated admonition to retain control of her fortune and business affairs.

Remembered by friends for her generosity, McNay gave liberally to organized charities, churches of all denominations, civic, fraternal, political and cultural organizations.  If a friend expressed admiration for one of her possessions, it was likely to be received as a gift on some future occasion.  Every act of simple kindness or courtesy was repaid a hundredfold.  On one occasion, she wrote a note of thanks and appreciation for services rendered when paying a traffic ticket.  Her generosity extended beyond money; when her Negro chauffeur became mortally ill in New Mexico and professional help was not immediately available, she nursed and cared for him herself.

From 1939, McNay’s most frequent and bountiful contributions were to Roman Catholic organizations.  From girlhood when her Protestant parents forbid marriage to a Catholic, Marion had had an almost compulsive though secret curiosity about the Catholic Church.  Later, in the traditionally Catholic city of San Antonio, she became an active supporter of the Church and eventually a convert.

Remembering the housing shortage as a bride during World War I, Marion purchased and furnished fifteen rental units and apartments to her home during World War II for the use of service personnel.  She seldom cashed her tenants’ rental checks.

A woman of vision and strong conviction, as well as a watercolorist and collector of French modern art, McNay devoted her life, her fortune, and her home to bringing a living art to her adopted home of San Antonio.  She not only collected art; she participated in its creation through her support and encouragement of many artists of various media.

As early as 1942, McNay entertained thoughts of leaving her growing collection of art as the beginnings of a museum of modern art, one of the first in America.  Before her death of pneumonia on April 13, 1950, she worked towards that goal with excitement.  Following her death, she was buried in the cemetery of the Sisters of St. Anthony, near Charles Umlauf’s Crucifix sculpture she had commissioned in 1946.

One-time director of the McNay Art Museum, John P. Leeper expressed the public’s appreciation, saying, “A profound debt of gratitude is owed Marion Koogler McNay, a debt best repaid by maintaining the severe standards of quality which governed her taste in painting . . . using and enjoying her collection with the same unswerving intelligence with which it was formed and given to the people.”

On July 8, 1910, Marion Koogler became a charter member of the Susannah French Putney chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as Vice Regent.  She later belonged to the Art League and the San Antonio Conservation Society.