Mary "Jan" McKenzie

Jan McKenzie was born in Montana in January of 1921, and died May of 2017. She’s survived by a brother, William Faulkner, 3 daughters, Anne Ellsworth, Katie McKenzie and Mary Vanderhoof, and 3 generations of 20 grandchildren.

Jan graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1943 with degrees in Forestry and Botany. She taught Biology and Ecology Labs and volunteered at Lacey’s St. Martin’s University for 20 years.

Jan was active in the American Red Cross for 30 years, teaching small craft instructor classes and boating safety, swimming and some first aid classes. She loved teaching and mentoring and spent a number of years as a Senior Girl Scout leader. Several summers were spent at Girl Scout camp as waterfront director.

Jan appreciated and loved the out-of-doors and hiked regularly with the Tuesday Trotters. She participated in the weekly hikes, chauffeuring Trotters to hikes all over Washington, from ocean beaches to mountain tops. The family vacations while her girls were young were always camping and hiking trips. Each campsite and hike was a classroom for the teaching of botany and ecology and the preservation of the harmony of God’s earth.

Jan was fluent in French and loved to travel – stopping in more than several places in Europe, New Zealand and all across the United States. She also participated in a number of Elder Hostels and Earth Watch field trips.

She had an in-born love of music inherited from her mother and was the organist at Sacred Heart Parrish in Lacey for 23 years accompanying the choir and playing for weddings and funerals alike. She decided to learn to play the flute when she hit her sixties and enjoyed being part of several small ensembles and then discovered the New Horizon’s Band. She liked to say she was one of the first to sign up when the opportunity presented itself and she kept pace with the band up until this past year. She was proud of the band and promoted it and the playing of music to everyone within her extensive sphere.

Some of her other passions were for the simple things, enjoying knitting, crocheting, tatting, sewing, spinning, which she shared with others, and the company of good books.

Jan left her mark in this part of the world through teaching and mentoring, raising children and participating fully in life as an “everlearner.” Because she was interested in all things surrounding her, she always said she had never been bored in her entire life.

(In lieu of flowers for the Funeral Mass, the family is asking for donations to be made to the St. Placid Priory, Lacey, WA.)

Arrangements under the direction of Mills & Mills Funeral Home and Memorial Park, Tumwater, WA.