Artist approaches life with passion

And whatever it is, 82-year-old Muriel Barclay de Tolly will probably be successful at it.
  After running Muriel’s Cafe at Spring and Truro streets for 15 years, Barclay de Tolly sold the bustling business. When talking about what she should cook up next, a friend suggested taking art lessons. Although she was 67, Muriel decided to give it a whirl and attended watercolor painting classes, some of which were conducted by renowned artist Nancy Gaucher –Thomas.
  Painting became her passion and has led to several well-received projects. Muriel started painting pictures of buildings in Newport, including restaurants and bakeries. With those renderings, she compiled “Behind Newport Doors,” a cookbook that also consists of recipes and descriptions of the featured establishments.
  Due to fa-vorable reaction to the cookbook and inquiries from restaurateurs that were ex-cluded, Muriel decided to publish “Behind Newport Doors, Too.”
  She also has illustrated and written a series of children’s books based on her cat, Puma. They include “Where’s Pumas?,” “Puma Lost in Newport,” “Puma goes to The Elms,” “Puma goes to The Cliff Walk” and “Puma Sight Sails the Harbour of Newport.”
  Muriel, who says she paints daily, is fluent in French and Spanish, and is grateful for the education she received from the French nuns that operated a boarding school in Quebec. In addition to building her former restaurant business and launching her painting endeavors, the native of Nova Scotia has held a variety of other jobs, including assisting some restaurant owners in other New England states boost their clientele.
  While raising six children, Muriel and her late husband, George, renovated a 26-room house on Pell Street. She has eight grandchildren, and she encourages people of all ages, especially seniors, to love life. “Don’t sit and pine life away,” she said. “There is so much creativity in this world that you can attain. Everybody can do it. You just have to dig deep.”
  “She is inspirational,” says one of her granddaughters, 19-year-old Lela Barclay de Tolly, “because she is a go-getter. She pushes herself; even now.” A student at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Lela said she decided to study apparel design because of here grandmother’s artistic pursuits.
  “I wish I could be like her,” said Marie Puerini, 82, a successful business woman and one of Muriel’s longtime friends. “She is an incredible lady. There isn’t anything she won’t try to do.”  
  Deborah Elisabeth Boyd, a unit field trainer and insurance agent for the Bankers Life and Casualty Co., said, “Muriel is a great role model for the 65-plus generation. …She is amazing. …She has a great positive mental attitude. …Every-day she embraces life.” 
  Editor’s note: Salute to Seniors is a feature aimed at celebrating the many significant contributions and accomplishments of men and women age 50 and beyond. Salute to Seniors is sponsored by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company regional office in Warwick and “Senior Digest.” To nominate someone for a salute, send the person’s name, address, telephone number and reason for nomination to Senior Digest, 36 French Drive, Seekonk, Mass., 02771, or to sdpublisher@g-mail.com. Bankers Life can be reached at (401) 732-5213.