Mary Anna Culligan, a costume designer who had worked at Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis since 1985, died unexpectedly May 23 at her home.
She recently had been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that involves thickening of the heart muscles.
"We believe that cardiac arrest was the cause of death," said Judy Culligan, her sister.
Culligan, 52, was known as a quiet person who was loudly expressive in her costume designs.
"She was forever working her magic," said Cathie Drake, who worked in the company's costume shop with Culligan for many years. "Some people like to make costumes as cheaply as possible because they have no money. But Mary relished taking something from a thrift shop or off a secondhand shelf and transforming it into this fabulous Scandinavian period piece for 'Pippi Longstocking.' "
Culligan was born in 1961 in San Bernardino, Calif., to a businessman father and schoolteacher mother. She moved with her family in 1966 to Sheldon, Iowa, just outside Sioux City. There, her father, a son of one of the founders of Culligan Soft Water, was set up with a Culligan dealership.
Culligan's interest in theater was clear early on.
"Since she was the oldest of the three of us, she'd always make up games for us to play, and draw pictures," Judy Culligan said. "She would be the director, telling us what to play."
