Mary Catherine Anthony Earrame

Mary was an adventurer. She loved to tell the story of walking around the streets of Washington D.C. barefoot, worrying about picking the glass out of her feet later. At that time she loved being in the “punk” scene. She also told a story from that time when she hiked to the top of Old Rag Mountain by herself and how empowering that was for her. In her 20s she worked as a seasonal park ranger at a gardens park where she not only got to work outside, but also got to learn to stand up to unruly park visitors. I remember her saying that it was her favorite job and that if ample permanent positions were available for women, she would stayed in that field.

She eventually moved to Washington State following a friend who had moved here previously. It was here, working for a company that assisted adults with autism, where she and I met. We had our first date in 1996 at an Indian restaurant in Rochester. We spent the whole time discussing and debating philosophy and religion and this set the stage for our 27 year relationship.

In that time we had many adventures. She loved travel and the outdoors. One of her favorite places was Mount Rainier where we would hike in the summer time or snowshoe in the winter. We once pulled a sled for 6 miles to a forest service fire watch tower ot the top of a mountain in northern Oregon in the middle of the winter, barely making it there before frostbite set in. We flew to southern California to spend two weeks living with the rattlesnakes and collard lizards in Joshua Tree N.P. and then attended a didgeridoo festival there. One year a road trip through eastern Oregon coming back from a solar energy festival introduced us to Burns Oregon and Crystal Crane hot springs. At one point Mary joined me at a 10 day silent Buddhist meditation retreat.

In 2005, our wedding was held in Olympia and in typical Jason and Mary fashion, we decided to have a second wedding ceremony near the town of Goldendale in Eastern Washington 4 days later. This is near the Goldendale observatory where Mary was able of indulge her love of astronomy looking through the large telescopes there. Oh, also we decided to both adopt a new name to symbolize our marriage. Our mutual love of JRR Tolkien lead us to choose the name of a ship in the Simirillian, Eärrámë.

Our honeymoon came a year later with a month long trip to Costa Rica where we lived with howler monkeys, crocodiles, Coati, and humming birds of all kinds. She enjoyed visiting old chapels and practicing her Spanish.

In early 2006 Mary was granted a plane ticket to Mississippi where she spent 2 weeks in an animal rescue camp following hurricane Katrina. She loved working with the dogs and helped many of them get safe homes, including one scrappy, yellow Chow/Cattle dog that she flew home with to foster and eventually adopt and join our Great Pyrenees, Wookie. Mary nursed Darla Sue back to health over the following months as she had to recover from starvation, an amputated tail, heart worm, and various other parasites. Her scraggly, patchy fur soon became a full chow coat and Mary trained her to be the very best dog.

In 2007 Mary gave birth to our daughter, Coral. This began a new phase in our lives. 9 weeks later the Chehalis River flooded with 3 feet of muddy water in our house and both of our cars. For the following month we moved 5 times until FEMA was able to help us with an apartment. We spent the next year learning to be parents and rebuilding our house. Mary found herself becoming more prayerful during this time which lead her back to the church of her childhood.

Raising a daughter was the biggest adventure of our lives and Mary threw herself in full force. She decided early on that she wanted to homeschool and support me while I learned to run a business, she became the prime educator and Mary took her job very seriously. She loved being a mom and homeschooling Coral was the most important job she ever had.

Our travels didn’t end there as she still made trips to Florida and Maryland to visit family and in 2016 we made a road trip to Eastern Oregon to witness the total solar eclipse.

In the last decade, what made Mary happy and content was her was her relationship with Jesus. Mary was a serious prayer warrior for her family and friends, especially during the last few years of her life.

As her illness progressed she often said she may not be able to do much physically, but she could pray and she could love.

Mary had a huge heart and her love for her immediate family, her extended family, the whole human family and the entire animal family was evident in her actions.

Mary is well loved by all who knew her.