Mostly Clear, 46° F
(September 10, 2001)
Memorial services will be conducted Thursday, Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. at Miratsky-Easton Funeral Home for Mary Ellen (Childears) Jarrett, 80, who died Monday, Sept. 10 at her Powell home after a short illness.
The Rev. Ron Kapalka will officiate at services. Mary was a member of First United Methodist Church.
She was born March 26, 1921, the second of four children born to James Lewis and Martha Ellen Childears. Her parents farmed outside Lawrence, Kans.
In 1927, the family moved to the Sargent community near Monte Vista, Colo. She graduated from Sargent High School in 1938 and attended business college in Denver, Colo.
On Oct. 31, 1942, in Kimball, Nebr., she married John A. Jarrett, Jr., who was serving as a pilot in World War II. Three children, John A. Jarrett III (Jack), Joan E. and James L. Jarrett were born to what was to become a career army family.
Overseas assignments included a 2 1/2-year tour in Germany while Jack was a baby; and a 2 1/2-year tour in Pakistan with all the children. As a military wife, Mary was often left to parent her children alone.
When John retired from the military in 1961, the family continued to search for a real home. They found it in October of 1968 when they moved to Powell. In 1973, the Jarrett Agency was founded, which later became Northwest Real Estate and Insurance, Inc. In 1982, John and Mary Jarrett retired and moved to Washington State "to fish." In 1995, they returned to Powell to be closer to their family.
After John's death in 1997, Mary continued to live independently, doing as she pleased until becoming ill in the spring of this year.
Being a wife and mother was her career. She supported her family in their endeavors, worked out of the home as needed and moved every time either the service or life dictated. After recounting 38 moves in her married life, she quit counting.
An avid bridge player, she also enjoyed going to the mountains, flowers, crocheting, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, Jeopardy, antiques and board games. She was especially proud of her two grandchildren: Jacob and April Jarrett.
Survivors include her three children, Jack and wife Sally of Las Vegas, Nev., Joan and husband Jim How of Springfield, Colo., and Jim and wife Dawn of Powell; her grandchildren, Jacob Jarrett and April Jarrett of Powell; one brother, Jim Childears and wife Irene of Corvalis, Ore.; four sisters-in-law, Arleen Childears of Santa Rosa, Calif., Norma Combs of Manteca, Calif., Irene Strawn of Altoona, Iowa, and Ester Varnado of Las Vegas, Nev.; and many beloved nieces and nephews. She was able to enjoy a reunion with most of her family the first weekend in August of this year.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, John; one brother, Leon Childears; and one sister, Rubie Childears.
Mary left with this request: "Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow. If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever."
For those who wish, memorials to either Powell Library or Valley Hospice would be appreciated by the family.
