Mary Anne Edmondson Bresee (1932-2017) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Robert "Ray" Andrew (1904-1979) and Mary Candler Edmondson (1912-1980). She graduated from Washington Seminary and attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She married Arthur Edmondson and they had one daughter, Mary. The family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and then to Orange Park, Florida, before returning to Georgia. Bresee worked as a volunteer Red Cross Nurse Aide at Grady Memorial Hospital and was active in a variety of social and volunteer groups, including the Junior League, the WTCG Children's television series Romper Room, the Jacksonville Children's Museum, and the Cummer Gallery of Art. In addition, she belonged to a number of religious congregations including the Lakewood Methodist Church, the Orange Park Methodist Church, and High Point Community Church. As a collector of snuff bottles, she was a member of the Snuff Bottle Society and displayed her collection at the Cummer Gallery and the Norton Gallery in Palm Beach.