Marya Hannum Giesy-Dalrymple

Marya Hannum Giesy-Dalrymple passed away on September 29, 2026. Born on January 5, 1930, to the Rev. Robert Hannum and Amy Taylor Hannum, she spent her early childhood in Menominee, Michigan, where her father served as pastor of the Presbyterian church. When she was nine, her family moved to Sand Springs, Oklahoma. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class in 1946. She began playing a violin at age nine and it soon became her life’s passion. After earning a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1950, she married Robert M. Giesy of Columbus, Ohio, where they raised four children. A founding member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, she performed in its first violin section

for 35 years. In 1979, Marya earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Ohio State University. She had an extraordinary gift for teaching, and many of the music students from her private studio went on to become professional violinists and violists, holding prestigious positions at universities and in symphony orchestras around the world. Marya was also a highly respected flight instructor for many years. She enjoyed flying in a number of well-known cross-country races.

In 1989, Marya and Bob retired to Tucson, Arizona, to be closer to their children, who had settled in the west. As they explored the history, culture, and natural beauty of Southern Arizona, Marya found many opportunities to perform and enjoy chamber music with other retired musicians in Tucson and Green Valley. Marya and Bob moved to La Posada in 2003, where Bob died in 2005. She later married neighbor Robert W. Dalrymple in 2009; they shared nine years before Robert’s death in 2018.

Marya is survived by her brother William Hannum of North Carolina, four children: John (Kathy) of Wasco, California; Marshall (Cathy) of Tubac, Arizona; David of Tucson, Arizona; and Leslie Fundis (Dave) of Glendale, Arizona. She is also survived by six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Marya also enjoyed a warm relationship with the Dalrymple children Mary North, Jean O’Grady, and George Dalrymple. She was preceded in death by her sisters Aka and Tai.

Memorial contributions may be made to the La Posada Foundation in Green Valley, designated for the Dalrymple Scholarship; the Marya Hannum Giesy Scholarship at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio; or Valley Presbyterian Church in Green Valley.

Her greatest strength was not in her many achievements but in her ability to accept with humility and grace whatever life may have dealt her, both the good things and those that would cause a lesser person to crumble. She was a leader, not by choice, but by example, for those who chose to follow. She left the world a better place.