Summer 2024

154 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 4 found in over 70 cathedrals and churches around the nation and internationally, and can be found locally at the Carmel Mission, St. Angela’s Church and at Mission San Juan Bautista, as well as in many churches throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.The most treasured honor of Fortune’s career came in 1955, when Pope Pius XII bestowed upon her the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal for a 16 by 25 foot mosaic she created for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City, Missouri. Fortune traveled extensively for liturgical work, relocating the Monterey Guild to Kansas City, Missouri, and to Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island, where she stayed until she retired in 1958. She traveled to Europe for two years, returning to San Francisco in 1960. She kept a room at the Women’s City Club on Post Street until returning permanently to the peninsula in 1964 and settling into an apartment at Carmel Valley Manor. In her early days there, some well- meaning neighbors approached Fortune, stating that they knew her to be “interested in art” and asking if she would join them in taking a painting lesson offered at the Manor. She chose to disap- pear that day, instead planting flowers. Fortune died of a stroke at the age of 84 in 1969. Her funeral, held at the Carmel Mission Basilica, was one of great honor. She was so highly regarded in the Catholic church that her service was presided over by both an archbish- op and a monsignor. She is buried at the San Carlos Cemetery in Monterey with a modest marker that gives no indication of her incredible career, likely dictated by her piety as a devout Catholic. Fortune’s niece and nephew, along with two more generations of the Fortune fam- ily continue to reside on the peninsula, kindly sharing Fortune’s artifacts, their memories, knowledge and family history, helping to contin- ue the legacy of one of California’s greatest early artists. (Clockwise from top left) Fortune gave “Town Gossip” to the Monterey History and Art Association as a gift in 1959; Fortune’s nephew Jim and grand niece Erin Smith generously share their family history; “The Flight into Egypt,” 1953. Photo: Kelli Uldall Photo: Courtesy of the Monterey History and Art Association Photo: Collection of Terry and Paula Trotter/Currently on display at Trotter Galleries, Carmel, California