 Marian cared for him to the end of his life in 1908, in his last years with the help of a nurse Anna Baetz, who later became known as the "nurse of Edward MacDowell".After Edward's death, Anna Baetz stayed with Marian MacDowell for eighteen years helping with the MacDowell Colony.In 1907, Marian MacDowell initiated her and Edward's plans for an artists' colony, founding a residential institution in Peterborough, New Hampshire where artists could live in residence and work.