Marie Kathryn (Menotti) Bolton

Marie Kathryn Menotti-Bolton, age 86, passed away December 16th, 2020, due to Covid-19.  Marie was born March 10th, 1934, in Galveston, Texas, to Louis Menotti, Sr. and Eleanor Saracco-Menotti.  She married the love of her life, Virgil William Bolton, called Joe, on December 28th, 1952. They were best friends and were together 68 years.

They met in Galveston, at Menotti’s Supermarket, which was located at 1502 21st St., on the southeast corner of Avenue N and 21st. Photos of Menotti’s market, kept by the Galveston Cultural Arts Council, are now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection. One auspicious day, Joe Bolton came in to buy a pack of Lucky Strikes while Marie Menotti was working as a cashier at her dad’s store. Joe was just out of bootcamp and about to leave for Korea. He was struck by Cupid’s arrow and had the best of reasons to make it back home, even writing to his parents about just how very special Marie Menotti was to him.

Marie graduated from Ursuline Academy, a Catholic school for girls, on May 26th, 1952. The beautiful, Victorian Era school building from which she graduated, unfortunately didn’t survive Hurricane Carla, which made landfall September 11th, 1961. The original remains in the hearts and minds of Galveston history forever.

Marie was a consummate banking professional for over 40 years in financial institutions in Galveston county. She was elected Assistant Controller of Moody National Bank in 1979; served as an elected bank officer at Bank of the West; and in 1991, she was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Gulf National Bank. She also cared about her community and the way it worked, and defeated the incumbent, Paul Jack, to win a seat in the municipal utilities district for Bayou Vista in 1985.

Marie liked to be busy, and throughout her life she enjoyed gardening, ceramics, crocheting, sewing, and all kinds of crafting. She was a practicing Catholic and always donated to the church and charities. She regularly submitted delicious recipes of her own creation to be printed in the Galveston Daily News, the oldest newspaper in Texas. She was raised by Italian parents who instilled a love of the culinary arts and loved having fresh vegetables from the garden and their market on the table. She was a beautiful woman, who always looked her best and always focused on the positive.  

She will be painfully missed by her husband, Virgil “Joe” William Bolton, daughters Kathryn Marie Bolton and Lea Ann Bolton, grandchildren Dylan Michael Barker, Tyler Matthew Young, Chelsea Marie Young, and Laura Ann Fletcher, and great-granddaughter Edyn Marie Hartman. 

Cremation service for Marie Kathryn Menotti-Bolton are in care of Rhone Funeral Home, 3900 S. State Highway 19, Palestine, Texas.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Marie Kathryn (Menotti) Bolton, please visit our floral store.