Mary Jane White

1931-2020

Mary Jane White, known as Aunt Molly to her family, died unexpectedly on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, at her home in Berea, OH. She was 89 years old.

Mary Jane was born on June 12, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest daughter of Kenneth M. and Mary F. (Dougherty) White. With her family, she moved to The Bronx, NY and then to Tenafly, NJ, where she attended kindergarten. When she was 6 years old, her family moved to Louisville, KY, which became their home base. During World War II, the family relocated to the Kingsbury Ordnance Depot in La Porte, IN, where her father worked as chief engineer, and her mother served as a meteorologist and a pilot in the Civil Air Patrol. After the war, they returned to Louisville, KY. She attended high school at the Kentucky Home School for girls, graduating in 1948. 

Mary Jane attended college at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, where she belonged to Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. She graduated with a teaching degree and taught school in Indianapolis, Mehlville, MO, and Louisville, KY over the next 9 years, then attended the University of Louisville to obtain a master’s degree in counseling. In 1962, she accepted a position as a junior high/middle school counselor in Berea, OH, which she held for 25 years, until her retirement in 1987. She was the leader of the school ski club for many years, making weekly trips to local ski hills with a bus load of teenagers, and she served as a chaperone for many school trips to Cedar Point amusement park. She became an enthusiastic fan of the Indians and the Browns, retaining a keen interest in both teams even after she stopped attending games in person.

In retirement, Mary Jane traveled extensively in a series of progressively larger motor homes, with her dogs in tow. Although small in stature, she was an intrepid traveler, always ready for a new adventure. In the summer of 1996, she and a friend drove up the Alaska Highway in her motor home. During the 1990s, she grew tired of shoveling snow during the cold Ohio winters, and became a snowbird in Florida for several years. Her twin grandnieces accompanied her on many summer adventures in the motor home during the 1990s, ranging from Disney World in Florida to the Pacific Northwest, and including five consecutive Winnebago Itasca Travelers Grand National Rallies. She planned detours to famous haunted houses the year the twins were obsessed with the “Goosebumps” books. The twins describe how she made new friends everywhere she went, and how she taught them life skills—like properly ordering a steak at a restaurant—before they were 9 years old.

Mary Jane’s faith was important to her. She was an active member of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, and participated extensively with the Episcopal Church Women (ECW). She was active in environmental causes and drove a sporty hybrid car that was the envy of her grandnieces and grandnephews. She was an avid knitter, famous for the personalized Christmas stockings that she knitted for each new member of the family, whether by birth or by marriage. She was mainly a dog person throughout much of her life, but in the past few years she doted on her cat, who would sometimes chime in during phone conversations from his perch on her lap. Although she was a fiercely independent, private person, she faithfully showed up for weddings, graduations, holidays, and other family events across the country for successive generations of nieces and nephews, always cheerful and ready to join in the fun. We will miss Aunt Molly.

Mary Jane is survived by her sister, Carolyn (Boyd) Terry of Columbia, MO; nieces Ann (Peter) Lightfoot of Ayr, Scotland, and Martha Terry (Mike Ohl) of Iowa City, IA; nephews Kenneth (Kim) Terry of Columbia, MO, and Matthew Terry of Tena, Ecuador; and grandnieces and grandnephews Jen Terry (LeRoy De La Rosa), Camille Terry (Nathan Thomas), Madeline Ohl, and Aidan Ohl. Her parents preceded her in death.

Due to COVID, a memorial service for Mary Jane will be held at a later date. Memorial donations may be directed to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 50 E. Bagley Rd. Berea, OH 44017.  ARRANGEMENTS ENTRUSTED TO A. RIPEPI & SONS FUNERAL HOME, MIDDLEBURG HTS. (440) 260-8800