Mavis May Ruth Jackson Terry

Mavis Ruth Jackson was born in a log cabin in Whitlock Tennessee, the eldest of three daughters of Sadie Oliver Wofford and Hallet Erie Jackson who were 15 and 18 respectively when she was born. Her two younger sisters -- Eva Arrine and Eron Armanda – were each born 3 years apart, so the young family was complete by the time Ms. Sadie was 21 years old. The parents would have a 63 year marriage.

At an early age Mavis joined the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Paris Tennessee where the family had moved. Along with her mother, she sang in the choir. Like all of the other “colored children” in Paris, she attended school in a one room school house through high school there. There were only 8 children in her graduation class.

Upon graduation she wanted to be a nurse. However, in the South in those times there were no facilities for such training. In fact, there was no hospital there which would treat or admit Black people. Still, because of the closeness she had with her parents and her sisters, she never considered leaving Paris to pursue this goal. Instead, after high school, she went to work as a “domestic” where she was able to hone her cooking skills to perfection. It was a profession she would keep for the next 60+ years until she was finally forced to retire at age 80 to care for her husband.

On August 24, 1935, at age 26, she married a local boy from Paris, John Terry – a divorcee with 3 children. He was the love of her life. That union would last 58 years until his death in 1994. In search of better opportunities in the 1940’s, they moved from Paris, to Louisville Ky., and again to St. Louis Missouri where they finally settled. John went to work delivering milk, then driving a forklift at the Volkswagon plant where he worked until he was age 72 in 1977. After his death, she lived alone for the next 12 years, spending weekends and holidays with her sisters and niece (who’d followed her to Sr. Louis) until she could finally be convinced to move in permanently in 2005. There she remained a vital part of the family until the last few months of her life.

The only regret she ever really expressed throughout all of her life was the fact that she had no children of her own. Instead she lavished her love not only on her step children and niece but also on the children of the families for whom she worked. In fact she would not work for a family unless there were children, even if the pay or benefits were greater. When they first moved to St. Louis, she was “in service” in the home of St. Louis royalty, August A. Busch. However as a maid in that household she had no contact with the children at all. It was not what she wanted. She quit after a few months and went to work for a family with 3 teenage sons, Buddy, Tommy and Dick Berger. When each of the boys married eventually she left their mother and went to work for the now grown Tommy Berger so she could care for the children who arrived eventually, Margie and Bobby. When this family was transferred out of state, all of their friends set up a bidding war for her services as her cooking and caregiving were legend. Each offer was more generous than the one before, but again, money, cars, and even an offer of her own apartment were not a draw for her. So she went to work where again there were 3 children, Lois, Allen and Patte Soffer. Here she remained to see them grow up, marry and have children of their own.

For the first 102 of her 103 years she lived a very fulfilled and relatively healthy life. She succumbed to kidney failure on 6/29/2013 after being stricken two days earlier.

She is survived by her sister Eva Robertson, her niece Janet Jackson, step children Norma Jean Young and Barbara Walker, and her surrogate children Bobby and Margie Berger, Lois Soffer-Kanefield, Patte Ackermann, and Dr. Allen Soffer and their families. She was loved by many more whose lives she touched with a smile or a song. She will be missed beyond words by all of us (even the current family pets that she doted on, Scotch and Kira). She was an inspiration to us all.

Goodbye May, until we meet again.