John Ashley Bellamy, a Dallas artist and arts patron, died Tuesday, Dec. 8, at age 77. For many Dallasites, Bellamy’s death also means an end to a long-standing holiday tradition: the annual Christmas Eve party where eclectic crowds gathered each year to celebrate at Bellamy’s home, an old church known as the Moon Mansion.
The mansion served as a refuge for those seeking warmth on a night that can feel awfully cold for loners, and Bellamy was, for many, a big part of Christmas. He was a father that anyone would have dreamed for, Bellamy’s son, Gaelan Bellamy says. He provided all of the tools for what it would take to become a loving, caring, empathetic individual with integrity, and he really had all of those in spades … he did his best to pass that over to his children and all of those he would mentor. [His] reach was far and wide.”