MaryEvelyn Ludwig Martin Varney was born in Wichita Kansas on April 20, 1938 to Bill and Lorene Ludwig. They moved to Portland in 1941. The family attended Evangel Baptist Church and more recently Montavilla Baptist Church.
She was the May Queen at Girls Polytechnic High School’s as part of their Rose Festival court and graduated there in 1956. After graduation she worked at Young’s Gown Shop in Portland, Oregon. In July 1957 she and John Roger Martin were married and together they had four children. In March 1987 she married Jay Varney and they remained so for 30 years.
MaryEvelyn loved a wide variety of music and passed along her appreciation to her children; often resulting in impromptu dance parties in the living room. She played piano, sang in choirs and a girl’s trio in high school. Although she had worked as a bookkeeper and secretary, her primary career was as a mom and homemaker, which allowed her to serve as a Bible Study Fellowship leader for several years.
MaryEvelyn’s enjoyment of knitting and crocheting resulted in dozens of well-loved baby blankets for her grandchildren. A voracious reader, MaryEvelyn would often emerge from the library with an armload of books and read all of them within a few weeks.
In late 2014, she was diagnosed with Sundowners Syndrome and lived her final year at Cedar Creek Memory Care in Edmonds, WA.
She is preceded in death by Roger Martin (2019) and Jay Varney (2017), her parents and her brother, Wayne. She is survived by her sister, Sheryl Kerr & brother in law, Tom, her children Laura Harrington, Lynda Parsons, Tiffany Merriman, and Scott Martin. She has fourteen grandchildren, ages from 7 through 38 and seven great grandchildren with one on the way, many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Private burial to be held May 28th. A memorial will be planned, as soon as gatherings are possible, at Montavilla Baptist Church in Portland, OR.
Her family would LOVE for you to share special memories in the meantime! Please send those to: [email protected]. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Cure Alzheimers https://curealz.org/
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.skylinememorialgardens.com for the Varney family.
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