Mary Jo Stavros

2024 at the age of 92.

Mary Jo attended Our Lady of Mercy School before graduating from Merced High School in 1950. Her

youth was often spent outdoors playing sports, hunting, fishing, and most of all horseback riding. She

attended Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles for one year before transferring to California State

University Fresno, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, and graduated with a

degree in Education in 1954.

After teaching elementary school in various locations throughout California, she adopted her first son

Alex “Tig” Bigler in 1964, while living in Auburn.

She met and married the love of her life, Jack Stavros, in 1967. She and Jack had their second son, Chris

Stavros in 1968 while living in Merced.

The family moved to Pleasanton in 1970, before moving to their final home in Atwater in 1978. Mary Jo

began her second stint teaching second grade at Charles Wright school in Merced, where she stayed

until her retirement in 1990. She formed a special bond with several of her teacher friends that lasted

the rest of her life.

Mary Jo was proud of her Merced roots and belonged to several social clubs including Native Daughters

of the Golden West, Merced Garden Club, Atwater Women’s Club, and the Merced Historical Society

where she was a docent at the Merced County Courthouse Museum for several years. Dear to her heart

was their informal dinner club which consisted of five couples that met every Friday night for dinner for

over 30 years.

Mary Jo and Jack loved to travel, and would leave for months at a time, traversing the United States in

their RV, often as part of a group called the Roaming Elks.

Mary Jo is preceded in death by her parents, George and Irene Reding; her husband, Jack Stavros; and

her son, Alex “Tig” Bigler. She is survived by her son, Chris Stavros (Nicola Feedam); and her step

granddaughter Paige Feedam-Gomez.

Funeral services will be held on January 10, 2025 at 10:00 am at Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home,

1490 B Street, Merced, CA 95340.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made in Mary Jo’s name to; Merced County

Historical Society and Courthouse Museum, PO Box 3557, Merced, CA 95344.