Marye J. Jackson
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Marye Jackson, voracious reader, lifelong learner, Master Gardener, community garden developer, scuba diver and lover of the wonder of nature, died at home in Durango with family at her side on January 14, 2023. Marye was born August 19, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, Richard W. Jeffery was a school superintendent and her mother, Gretchen H. Jeffery was a public health nurse. She is survived by her children, Nancy G. Elder, Hashim Ahmad (Hafsah Amatul-Wakil), Lauren E. Patterson (Daniel Patterson), R. Bradley Elder, her brother, Richard W. Jeffery II and numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
She married Richard D. Elder in 1948 and in 1961 the couple, their four children and two other families moved to Durango to build and operate Colorado Trails Ranch. Marye went from being a home cook to cooking for hundreds. She loved to sing and would often dash out of the kitchen after meals for folk song singalongs. She also loved singing in church choirs, eventually finding her final spiritual community at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Durango.
After divorce, Marye and her children moved to West Los Angeles in 1965 where she found work in hospital food service. Marye confessed the LA counterculture of the 60s mystified her but it also had an impact that gave her the courage to move with her teenage son Brad to the San Francisco bay area in 1974. She bought a sailboat which she and Brad lived on until her second marriage to Peter Jackson in 1979.
Mary's love of gardening was fully expressed when she and Peter moved to Poulsbo, Washington. She became a Washington Master Gardener and when Peter died in 2000, she returned to Durango and became a Colorado Master Gardener. She worked and shared her vast knowledge at the following community gardens: Shared Harvest, Ohana Kuleana, the Family Center at Sunnyside and a teaching garden at the DeNier Youth Detention Center. As Darrin Parmenter, our La Plata County Extension Agent is fond of saying, "Marye is gardening royalty."
In lieu of flowers, please make memorial donations to the SOIL Outdoor Learning Lab at Riverview Elementary School at www.soillab.org. A Celebration of Life will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Durango at a date to be announced.