Keith Cook's Memorial for Mary Jane:
Mary Jane was a woman of great presence, power, wit, intelligence, wisdom and faith. Originally a Baptist, Mary Jane and her husband Earl (they married in 1941) were active leaders at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE for many years. Later they were active at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha, where she was secretary for some years. She'd been a secretary at various businesses, but for many years was on staff as the Mission Educator for the Synod of Nebraska and the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, headquartered in Omaha. She was an avid, active, articulate and able supporter of justice and equality-for-all issues.
Earl died August 30, 1999 from the complications of Alzheimer's Disease. He and Mary Jane had four children: Thomas (Tom), who in 2009 and several years before was the Choral Conductor at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs, IA. Cynthia (Cindy) was at the time pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, NE. Michael (Mike) was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carson, IA. And William (Bill) was an attorney in Omaha. There are two grandchildren, Kaitlin and Bob (children of Bill).
Mary Jane's cremains were buried January 2, 2009 next to those of Earl's at Forest Lawn Cemetery. They are next to the graves of Mary Jane's parents.
Mary Jane's memorial service was January 5, 2009 at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha. There was a very large attendance, including many clergy who had known her and valued her.
Mary Jane's Story of Her Life (written 10 Feb 2007)
Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. At age 12 her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
From then on she was involved in one way or the other in "slave" labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins.
She intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen. One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, interested in music and church , was a great dancer, and was discovered to be very compatible.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. She worked at a number of secretarial jobs until in l971 she was hired by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska as an Administrative Assistant. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
She was the first woman hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery.
Most important in Mary Jane's life is her family. She and Earl raised four children. Since then, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren have been added. Of the four children, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 32 years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. Cynthia (No. 3 child) is pastor of Hector and Lodi Presbyterian churches in upstate New York, where she has been for 11 years. Bill (No. 4) and wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys and busy parents of Kaitlin (16) and Robert (13). They attend Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Omaha, where Bill has served on the governing board and sings in the choir, and the kids are active in the youth program.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7! Every day was a pleasure and she was inspired and uplifted by the hard work and devotion of the faithful members. Since her eyesight has prevented her from driving, when she feels well enough, she attends church with Tom. She and Tom live together in a roomy apartment that has too much "stuff" in it. Mary Jane sends her best wishes and prayers to all of you.
Recollections of Childhood
When I was about 7 or 8 years old (1927-28) my dad bought his first Model T that was a touring car with side curtains which could be buttoned on to (theoretically) keep out wind, rain etc. We always had a two weeks vacation and this time took our first trip to see our relatives.
We went first to Arkansas -the northwest corner - to see my mothers aunt - Grandmother Jobes sister, Josephine Webb Cox who with her husband Ben and four or five grown sons lived on a farm near West Fork Arkansas. This is not far from Prairie Grove where my great grandfather David Webb lived. Aunt Jo and her family had a completely self sufficient operation - cows, hogs, chickens, a bountiful supply of food which they grew and a table which was overflowing with good food and fellowship.
Some of the boys were college educated, but never left home to marry. There was a daughter, Laura, who had married and lived some distance away.
The first thing that happened to me was that the old dog, who was not used to children, and particularly not one as rambunctious as I was - bit me on the hand. My dad had to pry his jaws apart with his car keys. Uncle Ben allowed that we could pout some coal oil on the bite and it would heal right up - It did. You can still his took mark on my right hand if you look carefully.
The house, I now realize, was a treasure house of antiques - of course I didnt know it then. There was a real spinning wheel in the parlor, beautiful hand carved furniture, big feather beds and wonderful stuff everywhere. A beautiful Seth Thomas clock, with David Webbs name written on the face, was in the attic and was given to my mom as a memento of our trip.
A couple of years later when we had a better car - a brand new Durant - after much correspondence, we went back picked up Aunt Jo and took her to see my grandmother in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma (clear across the state). These sisters had not seen each other for many decades and the talk flew fast and long.
After the visit, we took Aunt Jo back to her home and the minute she hit the house she was cooking up a storm and issuing orders to the "Boys" and Uncle Ben.
She and my grandmother looked very much alike, both about 5 feet tall and no doubt less than 90 pounds soaking wet!
When we got back there the first thing Aunt Jo wanted to organize was a trip via horseback across the mountain to see her daughter. The roads were not passable by auto yet. She asked my mom if she could still ride "side saddle." Guess what, the next morning we decided to leave suddenly - needed to get home - my mom was NOT going horseback riding.
On this trip or another one to the Ozarks - my dad had a brother-in-law and sister who lived in eastern Oklahoma - we were traveling down a hot dusty road and saw a sign that said ice cream cones. So Dad stopped and we went in and ordered one for each of us - only to be told they had cones but no ice dream. My nose was out of joint all day.
On that same journey we tried to get the Model T to go up a very steep hill and it just stalled out - Uncle Henry Parvin suggested that we all get out - that Daddy back the car up the hill as it probably had a gravity feed carburetor - sure enough it worked - the old Model T going up the hill backwards, Uncle Henry walking alongside guiding my Dad and the rest us timidly following up the hill huffing and puffing.
We took my dads sister Lil and brother-in-law Harley Moyer with us on that trip and the car was full. Then when we got ready to go home - aunt Etta Parvin decided to go with us. Here is a car meant to hold 4 there are now 5 adults and me (not very large) sandwiched in. My mom, got to ride between the two rather large Adams girls) and me in the front seat between Daddy and Uncle Harley. Mom had her look on for the whole drive. As I recall we took the Moyers to eastern Oklahoma to Parvins - and we left them there and went to western Oklahoma to see the Jobe family. When that visit was over, we went back to pick up the Moyers and got an extra passenger.
I think that was the LAST time we gathered up relatives for a vacation.
Traveling by car in those days was an adventure - there were no amenities - very few hotels - some "cabin camps" and cafes were not plentiful or particularly fine dining. But when you found a café a chicken dinner might be 50 cents including homemade pie.
We went every summer to see moms family in western Oklahoma - my grandma was an invalid - having influenza in the World War I epidemic from which she never recovered. She was supposed to be dying every year, but in fact did not die till 1939 - the year I was a senior in High School.
I was the only child who ever came around that household and was not looked upon as anything but someone who let screen doors slam (hurt Grandmas head) and talked too loudly or did any number of things that did not please the matriarch.
Two people stood out in my childhood - my uncle Sherman Thompson - married to my mothers older sister, Susie, and my aunt Lela Kendall Jobe married to my mothers youngest brother, Hugh. Both Aunt Lela and Uncle Sherman took it upon themselves to entertain me and recognize that kids will be kids.
Aunt Lela had a degree in home ec from Oklahoma State and was a wonderful cook. She taught school much of her life and was a treasure. Uncle Sherman was manager of a coop mill and elevator in Hammon, Oklahoma - and when I was 14 years old used to take me along when he went out to see customers. He decided that was old enough to learn to drive - my dad had been teaching me - but it was not like driving on sand hill back roads. One adventure was a place where a gully (quite wide and deep) was crossed by driving on two planks laid from edge to edge. He said all I had to do was keep the wheels on the planks. After that I thought I could drive anywhere!
My dad and I went to Strong City where Grandpa lived - about 20 miles away and when we got ready to come home - there was a lightning storm like I have never seen since. The lightning ran along the barbed wire fences- lit up the whole sky and just popped and cracked. I was deathly afraid of lightning and thunder. My dad said as long as we were in the car - the rubber wheels would insulate us. I dont know if it was scientific or not - but we were not struck by lightning - and I was never as afraid of storms again.
One night late driving across the sand hills on narrow hilly roads - two men stepped out in front of the car - carrying violin cases - (in the movies the gangsters carried their machine guns in violin cases) and my dad said - well were going to be robbed. Turned out they were two old country boys on their way home from fiddling at a dance and they needed a ride. I can still see those men (looked like they were ten feet tall) standing in front of the car - the road wasnt wide enough to go around them.
The main highways were narrow enough - they were 75 and 81 running north and south and 66 running across Oklahoma. If you got off these - taking what appeared to be a shorter route - the roads were two ruts through the sand - and if it rained - good luck.
There was a place between Auburn and Dawson, Nebraska that was not paved and invariably at the end of August on the way home - the rain would hit there if no where else. The Model T would stay in the tracks but the big cars - Buicks, Dodges Studebakers would all slide off in the ditch - if they slid all the way off you could still go along side them, but sometimes all the men would get out and push them off. There was a farmer - in Oklahoma,. I think it was who regularly kept the mud hole in front of his farm wet down with an old hose - so he could charge the city folks to pull them through.
Most roads in that part of the country did not have bridges at the bottom of hills, but the water just ran across the road - and a lot of rain made a real problem. One time we were caught in eastern Oklahoma - near a town called Locust Grove where the water was so deep that it took 14 hours for it to go down and nothing to do but sit there and wait - till it drained down to where one could drive through it. We could drive back into Locust Grove to get food - but there were not accommodations, so it was just sit and wait it out. Tempers were very short - and frustration high. Todays interstate travel is a far cry from those pioneer days of motoring. When a tire went flat which they often did - it was take it off the wheel scratch the inner tube with a special rough gadget and then glue a patch on and pump it up by hand put it back in the tire - remount the wheel and go on your way. I can see my dad sitting beside the road - patching away at an inner tube, waiting for the glue to dry. No AAA in those days to come and rescue one.
We seldom saw a car from Nebraska - and folks in filling stations would say "NEEBRASKKA - where's that??"
When I was 14, we became really adventurous - it was 1934 and while we still went to see Grandma - we first took off west to see the Rockies.
The first night we stayed in a motel at North Platte, forgetting the Union Pacific ran right beside the highway, so every 20 minutes a train whistle - my dad was not happy - the second night we were in Big Thompson Canyon and stayed at The Dam Store - It's still there, but much larger - after the big flood - My mom loved telling everyone we stayed at the "dam" store.
We drove around in the mountains and ended up at Colorado Springs where we decided to drive up Pike's Peak. Had a new l934 Plymouth - after we passed timber line - the car just stopped - we flatlanders did not know what to do - a Nebraska, Omaha to be exact, car stopped and the man said "You have a vapor lock" poured cold water on the carburetor and away she went! Turned out he ran a garage a half block south of 30th and Newport where we went to church.
Then we proceeded south to Raton Pass - across 66 to Oklahoma and visited in Hammon, OK where mom's family lived. Had a lot to tell about getting stuck on Pike's Peak.
Eulogy (written and delivered by Cynthia R. Harvey)
"Life's a banquet, and most poor slobs are starving to death."
That was Mary Jane's favorite quote. I think I remember at least one sermon that quoted that line from "Auntie Mame." Of course, Auntie Mame never said "slobs" but rather another phrase. The abbreviation for that phrase is found within the word "slobs." Mom knew that, of course, but she cleaned it up for church, as did I.
With Mom, life was always a banquet. We, her four children, can attest to that. Every day was an event.
Mom was an only child. She was born, this is very embarrassing for a Nebraska fan, but she was born in rural Oklahoma. Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when she and her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. She stayed in school one extra year, not because she wasn't a good student, she excelled at all her courses. In the depth of the depression, jobs were few and she might as well get another year's education.
She was 12 years old when her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad, Fred, had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
Mary Jane's mother was the formidable Jettie Jobe Adams. Jettie's motto was "just learn." Grandma had left school after the eighth grade, but she was better read than most college professors. She passed that love of reading and that eager mind on to her only child.
From then on Mom was involved in one way or the other in unpaid labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins. The business courses she took at North High in things that people never learn anymore, skills like typing and shorthand proved to be the key to her working life.
Mom intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary at the Beebe and Runyon Furniture Company, where her father had worked for many years, delivering furniture by horse and wagon. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen.
One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, Earl Harvey. He was interested in music and church, was tall and good looking and was a great dancer. Now, mom had a boyfriend, Parky, who had moved out to California. He was supposed to come back to Omaha for Mary Jane. But Parky was in California, and Earl would come to Mary Jane's office when she had to work late and would drive her home in his old Model A, Lem, short for lemon. Parky's loss was Earl's and eventually, all our gain.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941 at mom's church, Parkside Baptist. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. 1942 was a busy year for Mary Jane. In quick succession, she became pregnant, gave birth to Earl Thomas, Jr. (Tom). Then Pop was drafted into the Army. Just before Pop was reported for duty, Tom was baptized in the pastor's office at Dundee Presbyterian Church.
Now, how did a nice Baptist girl end up a Presbyterian? Well Pop was Presbyterian, but he had been going to church with Mom. Pop sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, the Baptists just adored him. They wanted him to join, but there was a catch: Pop had to be baptized by immersion. He was enough of a Calvinist to insist that this would be redundant, since he had been baptized as an infant. So, that's how we became Presbyterian. It's funny how your life can be profoundly influenced by small things.
Earl was in the army for exactly 90 days. That's all the time it took for him to catch influenza and for the army doctors to discover he had a heart murmur that would preclude active military service. They were right about that heart murmur; it contributed to his death some 60 years later. Pop worked in the bomber plant for the duration and worked in sales after the war. Over the years, Mom held a variety of secretarial jobs for various companies in Omaha including Brandeis and Carpenter Paper Company. Mary Jane and Earl also owned a hearing aid sales and service company in downtown Omaha's Barker Building for many years.
Tom was followed by a true baby boomer, Mike in 1947. For 12 years they were a family of four, but in 1959, Mom and Pop got a surprise. While Mom was pregnant with me, some wit at Central church walked up to her and cracked, "I'm so glad you and Earl are speaking again!" Pretty risqué for 1959. They were determined that I should not grow up totally spoiled by an adoring father and two indulgent big brothers, so in 1963 they went to the hospital to get me a baby sister. For sometime I was sure there was some sort of mix-up when they came home with another brother, Bill. But he does look like the rest of us, I must admit.
In l971 Mom's life changed forever when she was hired as an Administrative Assistant by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
After Dr. Marsh's term as moderator, he took a new job with the Synod of the South. Dr. Marsh told mom to apply for his job. Mary Jane was skeptical, she had no college education. But she applied and became the first woman and the first non-minister hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Mary Jane served on Omaha's Police Community Relations task force at the request of Mayor Ed Zorinsky. She helped to form a number of community organizations that exist and thrive today including Together, Inc. and the Omaha Food Bank. Also during the 1970's she attended a White House conference on unemployment hosted by First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery. Mom was also part of bringing Willie Nelson to Memorial Stadium for a Farm Aid Concert.
Even though mom never got a chance to go to college and Dad never finished, all four of us kids went to UNO (or in Tom's case, Omaha University, he's pretty old!) All four of us hold a post graduate degree. None of us would have gotten as far as we did without Mom (air quotes) "urging" us on, sometimes resorting to outright threats.
Of the four of us kids, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 34years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. I am pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, Nebraska. Mom was overjoyed when I returned to Nebraska after 20 years away in California, Ohio and New York. Her last overnight trip was to attend my installation in August of 2007.
Bill, the baby, and his wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys. We call Bill the black sheep because he is not only an attorney, but an Episcopalian, but all is forgiven because he and Gretchen produced the only grandchildren. They are busy parents of Kaitlin (18) and Robert (14). Kaitlin and Bob were the life and joy of the last part of both Earl and Mary Jane's lives. Your grandma was so proud to see the poised young woman and well mannered young man you are both becoming. Your aunts and uncles adore you too, I hope you know that.
I hope you know we are all so proud of how kind and gentle you have been with us since we lost Grandma.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as the world's most over qualified church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7. Her increasing ill health and failing sight finally side lined her. Benson church adopted our whole family, I can never come here without remembering my ordination or my dad's funeral and how wonderfully you treated all of us not only on red letter days, but any time any member of the Harvey family came through the door.
After mom lost her sight and could not drive anymore, she moved her membership to Tom's church, New Horizon and gained yet another caring church family.
I said that everyday with Mom was an event. She loved the world beyond Omaha and imparted that love to each of her children. We always traveled, often piled six of us in a station wagon, sometimes with an extra kid in tow.
Mom went to places other people didn't think about, Cuba, Russia, China? Who goes there? Mom did. Mom visited 4 Canadian provinces and 49 states. She never made it to Alaska. She regretted that until recently, when Sarah Palin fixed that problem.
That brings me to another of mom's passions: politics. When she was in high school, she traveled with the Junior Red Cross to Washington DC and met Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. While she didn't vote for John Kennedy in 1960, she soon became enamored of all things Kennedy and stood in the rain to shake hands with Bobby when he came to campaign in Omaha for the Nebraska primary. Less than one month later, Mom got up in the middle of the night to see how Bobby had done in the California primary. Her shrieks of anguish sent us all tumbling out of our beds and down the stairs, to find mom sobbing in front of the television.
Mom got most involved in politics in 1972 on the George McGovern campaign. Mom had first become aware of Senator McGovern during her battle for school lunch. In the late 1960's and early 1970's she went to battle with the Omaha Public Schools and along with other Presbyterian women and community activists, forced the district to properly use federal funds it was already receiving, to provide lunch programs to low income children. In May 1971, she testified in front of the United States Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Need chaired by Senator McGovern about the experience with School lunch and federal funding in Omaha. A World Herald editorial cartoon depicted this struggle. Mom had the original of this cartoon framed and it hung in her office for many years.
During the McGovern campaign, Mom would go to headquarters, Bill and I in tow, and answered phones, typed letters, organized mailings. One day, when she was answering the phones, a young guy came in and told her she wasn't doing it correctly. She fixed him with one of her looks, and said, "Sonny, I was answering phones when your father was in short pants." He withered away. Mom was later told by a McGovern campaign staffer that they suspected that the young man was a Nixon operative. He hadn't been seen before and wasn't seen again. As Mom told this story in later years, the campaign staffer became McGovern's campaign manager, future Senator Gary Hart and the young man became known Nixon operative, Karl Rove. I can believe that it might have been Gary Hart, but it wasn't Karl Rove. He wouldn't still be around if Mom had fixed him with one of her looks.
Mom arranged for Bill and me to accompany her and Pop on George McGovern's whistle stop campaign train across Nebraska. The only opening was in the bar car for the press corps. So mom and Pop tended bar while Bill and I had the run of the train. Only mom would pen a thirteen year old girl up in a train car full of liquor with the Washington press corps, Gary Hart and Hunter Thompson. It turned out fine and more than fine. I showed up beside Senator McGovern on the ABC evening news and Bill and I had an experience others just dream about.
Mom's interest continued to the day she died. She was a devoted viewer of CNN and MSNBC, particularly enjoying Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and her recent favorite, Rachel Maddow. She loved Hillary Clinton, but when Hillary said to adopt Obama, mom adopted and voted and helped Omaha go for Obama. Although she was hospitalized at the time, she wasted no time in submitting her early vote for Barack Obama for president. This vote continued her tradition of voting in every single election in which she was eligible to vote. Mom was born in 1920, the year women got the vote. She knew that the freedoms we love are not that old and to take them for granted was wrong.
Her last conversation with her longtime friend, Helen Douthy, was to celebrate Obama's victory. Helen was gone by the end of November, but both she and mom lived to see that momentous election day.
At this point I need to mention, my mother was not a perfect person. She made some doozies of mistakes in her life. She paid for them with many moments of regret and anguish. I know she helped many more people than she harmed. But does the good we do wipe away our sins? Mom didn't believe that and didn't teach us to believe that. She taught us to believe in God's abundant grace and mercy. Without that, we are all up the creek.
I wish I could say that there was nothing Mom loved more than Pop and us kids, daughters in law and grandkids. There was something I was never entirely sure that she loved more, but we were a close second or it was. I am speaking of course, of football.
Mom was the die-hard Nebraska fan. She loved football, beyond all reason. When she went to her first day at North High, the girls and boys were separated into two assemblies. Mom never found out what the boys did in their assembly, but in the girls' assembly, the football coach came in and explained how football was played to the girls. Mom was intrigued, went to North's season opener and was hooked.
I was born during halftime of the North/Creighton Prep game in October 1959. I hasten to add, Mom was not at the stadium at the time. But Tom was, leading the band, Mike in the stands with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Pop settled down to listen to the first half on the radio, she went into labor, they went to the hospital, I was born and mom and dad listened to the second half. I have to admit with some modesty, North was behind at the half, but went on to win the game. This is a source of secret shame for me, because as most you know, I went on to graduate from Benson.
Mom went to games in Lincoln whenever she could get tickets, but in 1967, Mom got her season tickets to Nebraska. She and Pop did not miss a lot of Saturdays. She saw all or part of 5 National Championship teams, sending her personal instructions psychically to Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Frank Solich and Bill Callahan never learned to listen to her. Bo seemed to take her instructions pretty well, though. Apparently, Mom is still giving Bo plays from Heaven, given the outcome of the Gator Bowl.
Mom also followed the NFL. Her favorite NFL team? Which ever team had the most Huskers. She liked some non-Nebraskan players like Joe Montana and Brett Favre, but they almost always had Husker teammates.
After mom could no longer physically make the trip to Memorial Stadium, Bill took over the tickets. Bob is now our family's biggest Nebraska fan. A few years ago, when I went to Lincoln with Bob to attend a game, Bob mentioned that someday, these tickets would be his. I replied that someday, maybe I could take Bob's son to a game. "Well," Bob replied, "only if I can't go." Bob, grandma loved that story because she recognized herself in that story.
The hardest thing my mom ever had to do was when she lost my dad. First she had to watch him slowly slip away because of Alzheimer's. Later there was the shock of his absence. Through these recent years, it became harder and harder for her to lose more and more contemporaries. Just this fall brought the deaths of Noreen Klein in this congregation, Evie Hodges in Mike's congregation and of course, Helen Douthy. You could see how each death wore her down a little more.
That's just a little bit about our mom, our grandma, our friend. Mom and I had a relationship as complex, stormy and loving as any mother and daughter. She was my best friend. She was the best friend of a lot of people here, including my three brothers. We are all feeling lost without her. She was someone people just adored. In calling people this past week from her friends of many decades to the guy who delivered her oxygen, everyone has been broken up about mom. I know how you feel.
Life's a banquet, my mother believed that. It is just another way of saying, "I came that they may have life and have it in abundance."
Mary Jane was a woman of great presence, power, wit, intelligence, wisdom and faith. Originally a Baptist, Mary Jane and her husband Earl (they married in 1941) were active leaders at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE for many years. Later they were active at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha, where she was secretary for some years. She'd been a secretary at various businesses, but for many years was on staff as the Mission Educator for the Synod of Nebraska and the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, headquartered in Omaha. She was an avid, active, articulate and able supporter of justice and equality-for-all issues.
Earl died August 30, 1999 from the complications of Alzheimer's Disease. He and Mary Jane had four children: Thomas (Tom), who in 2009 and several years before was the Choral Conductor at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs, IA. Cynthia (Cindy) was at the time pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, NE. Michael (Mike) was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carson, IA. And William (Bill) was an attorney in Omaha. There are two grandchildren, Kaitlin and Bob (children of Bill).
Mary Jane's cremains were buried January 2, 2009 next to those of Earl's at Forest Lawn Cemetery. They are next to the graves of Mary Jane's parents.
Mary Jane's memorial service was January 5, 2009 at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha. There was a very large attendance, including many clergy who had known her and valued her.
Mary Jane's Story of Her Life (written 10 Feb 2007)
Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. At age 12 her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
From then on she was involved in one way or the other in "slave" labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins.
She intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen. One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, interested in music and church , was a great dancer, and was discovered to be very compatible.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. She worked at a number of secretarial jobs until in l971 she was hired by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska as an Administrative Assistant. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
She was the first woman hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery.
Most important in Mary Jane's life is her family. She and Earl raised four children. Since then, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren have been added. Of the four children, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 32 years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. Cynthia (No. 3 child) is pastor of Hector and Lodi Presbyterian churches in upstate New York, where she has been for 11 years. Bill (No. 4) and wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys and busy parents of Kaitlin (16) and Robert (13). They attend Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Omaha, where Bill has served on the governing board and sings in the choir, and the kids are active in the youth program.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7! Every day was a pleasure and she was inspired and uplifted by the hard work and devotion of the faithful members. Since her eyesight has prevented her from driving, when she feels well enough, she attends church with Tom. She and Tom live together in a roomy apartment that has too much "stuff" in it. Mary Jane sends her best wishes and prayers to all of you.
Recollections of Childhood
When I was about 7 or 8 years old (1927-28) my dad bought his first Model T that was a touring car with side curtains which could be buttoned on to (theoretically) keep out wind, rain etc. We always had a two weeks vacation and this time took our first trip to see our relatives.
We went first to Arkansas -the northwest corner - to see my mothers aunt - Grandmother Jobes sister, Josephine Webb Cox who with her husband Ben and four or five grown sons lived on a farm near West Fork Arkansas. This is not far from Prairie Grove where my great grandfather David Webb lived. Aunt Jo and her family had a completely self sufficient operation - cows, hogs, chickens, a bountiful supply of food which they grew and a table which was overflowing with good food and fellowship.
Some of the boys were college educated, but never left home to marry. There was a daughter, Laura, who had married and lived some distance away.
The first thing that happened to me was that the old dog, who was not used to children, and particularly not one as rambunctious as I was - bit me on the hand. My dad had to pry his jaws apart with his car keys. Uncle Ben allowed that we could pout some coal oil on the bite and it would heal right up - It did. You can still his took mark on my right hand if you look carefully.
The house, I now realize, was a treasure house of antiques - of course I didnt know it then. There was a real spinning wheel in the parlor, beautiful hand carved furniture, big feather beds and wonderful stuff everywhere. A beautiful Seth Thomas clock, with David Webbs name written on the face, was in the attic and was given to my mom as a memento of our trip.
A couple of years later when we had a better car - a brand new Durant - after much correspondence, we went back picked up Aunt Jo and took her to see my grandmother in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma (clear across the state). These sisters had not seen each other for many decades and the talk flew fast and long.
After the visit, we took Aunt Jo back to her home and the minute she hit the house she was cooking up a storm and issuing orders to the "Boys" and Uncle Ben.
She and my grandmother looked very much alike, both about 5 feet tall and no doubt less than 90 pounds soaking wet!
When we got back there the first thing Aunt Jo wanted to organize was a trip via horseback across the mountain to see her daughter. The roads were not passable by auto yet. She asked my mom if she could still ride "side saddle." Guess what, the next morning we decided to leave suddenly - needed to get home - my mom was NOT going horseback riding.
On this trip or another one to the Ozarks - my dad had a brother-in-law and sister who lived in eastern Oklahoma - we were traveling down a hot dusty road and saw a sign that said ice cream cones. So Dad stopped and we went in and ordered one for each of us - only to be told they had cones but no ice dream. My nose was out of joint all day.
On that same journey we tried to get the Model T to go up a very steep hill and it just stalled out - Uncle Henry Parvin suggested that we all get out - that Daddy back the car up the hill as it probably had a gravity feed carburetor - sure enough it worked - the old Model T going up the hill backwards, Uncle Henry walking alongside guiding my Dad and the rest us timidly following up the hill huffing and puffing.
We took my dads sister Lil and brother-in-law Harley Moyer with us on that trip and the car was full. Then when we got ready to go home - aunt Etta Parvin decided to go with us. Here is a car meant to hold 4 there are now 5 adults and me (not very large) sandwiched in. My mom, got to ride between the two rather large Adams girls) and me in the front seat between Daddy and Uncle Harley. Mom had her look on for the whole drive. As I recall we took the Moyers to eastern Oklahoma to Parvins - and we left them there and went to western Oklahoma to see the Jobe family. When that visit was over, we went back to pick up the Moyers and got an extra passenger.
I think that was the LAST time we gathered up relatives for a vacation.
Traveling by car in those days was an adventure - there were no amenities - very few hotels - some "cabin camps" and cafes were not plentiful or particularly fine dining. But when you found a café a chicken dinner might be 50 cents including homemade pie.
We went every summer to see moms family in western Oklahoma - my grandma was an invalid - having influenza in the World War I epidemic from which she never recovered. She was supposed to be dying every year, but in fact did not die till 1939 - the year I was a senior in High School.
I was the only child who ever came around that household and was not looked upon as anything but someone who let screen doors slam (hurt Grandmas head) and talked too loudly or did any number of things that did not please the matriarch.
Two people stood out in my childhood - my uncle Sherman Thompson - married to my mothers older sister, Susie, and my aunt Lela Kendall Jobe married to my mothers youngest brother, Hugh. Both Aunt Lela and Uncle Sherman took it upon themselves to entertain me and recognize that kids will be kids.
Aunt Lela had a degree in home ec from Oklahoma State and was a wonderful cook. She taught school much of her life and was a treasure. Uncle Sherman was manager of a coop mill and elevator in Hammon, Oklahoma - and when I was 14 years old used to take me along when he went out to see customers. He decided that was old enough to learn to drive - my dad had been teaching me - but it was not like driving on sand hill back roads. One adventure was a place where a gully (quite wide and deep) was crossed by driving on two planks laid from edge to edge. He said all I had to do was keep the wheels on the planks. After that I thought I could drive anywhere!
My dad and I went to Strong City where Grandpa lived - about 20 miles away and when we got ready to come home - there was a lightning storm like I have never seen since. The lightning ran along the barbed wire fences- lit up the whole sky and just popped and cracked. I was deathly afraid of lightning and thunder. My dad said as long as we were in the car - the rubber wheels would insulate us. I dont know if it was scientific or not - but we were not struck by lightning - and I was never as afraid of storms again.
One night late driving across the sand hills on narrow hilly roads - two men stepped out in front of the car - carrying violin cases - (in the movies the gangsters carried their machine guns in violin cases) and my dad said - well were going to be robbed. Turned out they were two old country boys on their way home from fiddling at a dance and they needed a ride. I can still see those men (looked like they were ten feet tall) standing in front of the car - the road wasnt wide enough to go around them.
The main highways were narrow enough - they were 75 and 81 running north and south and 66 running across Oklahoma. If you got off these - taking what appeared to be a shorter route - the roads were two ruts through the sand - and if it rained - good luck.
There was a place between Auburn and Dawson, Nebraska that was not paved and invariably at the end of August on the way home - the rain would hit there if no where else. The Model T would stay in the tracks but the big cars - Buicks, Dodges Studebakers would all slide off in the ditch - if they slid all the way off you could still go along side them, but sometimes all the men would get out and push them off. There was a farmer - in Oklahoma,. I think it was who regularly kept the mud hole in front of his farm wet down with an old hose - so he could charge the city folks to pull them through.
Most roads in that part of the country did not have bridges at the bottom of hills, but the water just ran across the road - and a lot of rain made a real problem. One time we were caught in eastern Oklahoma - near a town called Locust Grove where the water was so deep that it took 14 hours for it to go down and nothing to do but sit there and wait - till it drained down to where one could drive through it. We could drive back into Locust Grove to get food - but there were not accommodations, so it was just sit and wait it out. Tempers were very short - and frustration high. Todays interstate travel is a far cry from those pioneer days of motoring. When a tire went flat which they often did - it was take it off the wheel scratch the inner tube with a special rough gadget and then glue a patch on and pump it up by hand put it back in the tire - remount the wheel and go on your way. I can see my dad sitting beside the road - patching away at an inner tube, waiting for the glue to dry. No AAA in those days to come and rescue one.
We seldom saw a car from Nebraska - and folks in filling stations would say "NEEBRASKKA - where's that??"
When I was 14, we became really adventurous - it was 1934 and while we still went to see Grandma - we first took off west to see the Rockies.
The first night we stayed in a motel at North Platte, forgetting the Union Pacific ran right beside the highway, so every 20 minutes a train whistle - my dad was not happy - the second night we were in Big Thompson Canyon and stayed at The Dam Store - It's still there, but much larger - after the big flood - My mom loved telling everyone we stayed at the "dam" store.
We drove around in the mountains and ended up at Colorado Springs where we decided to drive up Pike's Peak. Had a new l934 Plymouth - after we passed timber line - the car just stopped - we flatlanders did not know what to do - a Nebraska, Omaha to be exact, car stopped and the man said "You have a vapor lock" poured cold water on the carburetor and away she went! Turned out he ran a garage a half block south of 30th and Newport where we went to church.
Then we proceeded south to Raton Pass - across 66 to Oklahoma and visited in Hammon, OK where mom's family lived. Had a lot to tell about getting stuck on Pike's Peak.
Eulogy (written and delivered by Cynthia R. Harvey)
"Life's a banquet, and most poor slobs are starving to death."
That was Mary Jane's favorite quote. I think I remember at least one sermon that quoted that line from "Auntie Mame." Of course, Auntie Mame never said "slobs" but rather another phrase. The abbreviation for that phrase is found within the word "slobs." Mom knew that, of course, but she cleaned it up for church, as did I.
With Mom, life was always a banquet. We, her four children, can attest to that. Every day was an event.
Mom was an only child. She was born, this is very embarrassing for a Nebraska fan, but she was born in rural Oklahoma. Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when she and her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. She stayed in school one extra year, not because she wasn't a good student, she excelled at all her courses. In the depth of the depression, jobs were few and she might as well get another year's education.
She was 12 years old when her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad, Fred, had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
Mary Jane's mother was the formidable Jettie Jobe Adams. Jettie's motto was "just learn." Grandma had left school after the eighth grade, but she was better read than most college professors. She passed that love of reading and that eager mind on to her only child.
From then on Mom was involved in one way or the other in unpaid labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins. The business courses she took at North High in things that people never learn anymore, skills like typing and shorthand proved to be the key to her working life.
Mom intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary at the Beebe and Runyon Furniture Company, where her father had worked for many years, delivering furniture by horse and wagon. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen.
One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, Earl Harvey. He was interested in music and church, was tall and good looking and was a great dancer. Now, mom had a boyfriend, Parky, who had moved out to California. He was supposed to come back to Omaha for Mary Jane. But Parky was in California, and Earl would come to Mary Jane's office when she had to work late and would drive her home in his old Model A, Lem, short for lemon. Parky's loss was Earl's and eventually, all our gain.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941 at mom's church, Parkside Baptist. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. 1942 was a busy year for Mary Jane. In quick succession, she became pregnant, gave birth to Earl Thomas, Jr. (Tom). Then Pop was drafted into the Army. Just before Pop was reported for duty, Tom was baptized in the pastor's office at Dundee Presbyterian Church.
Now, how did a nice Baptist girl end up a Presbyterian? Well Pop was Presbyterian, but he had been going to church with Mom. Pop sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, the Baptists just adored him. They wanted him to join, but there was a catch: Pop had to be baptized by immersion. He was enough of a Calvinist to insist that this would be redundant, since he had been baptized as an infant. So, that's how we became Presbyterian. It's funny how your life can be profoundly influenced by small things.
Earl was in the army for exactly 90 days. That's all the time it took for him to catch influenza and for the army doctors to discover he had a heart murmur that would preclude active military service. They were right about that heart murmur; it contributed to his death some 60 years later. Pop worked in the bomber plant for the duration and worked in sales after the war. Over the years, Mom held a variety of secretarial jobs for various companies in Omaha including Brandeis and Carpenter Paper Company. Mary Jane and Earl also owned a hearing aid sales and service company in downtown Omaha's Barker Building for many years.
Tom was followed by a true baby boomer, Mike in 1947. For 12 years they were a family of four, but in 1959, Mom and Pop got a surprise. While Mom was pregnant with me, some wit at Central church walked up to her and cracked, "I'm so glad you and Earl are speaking again!" Pretty risqué for 1959. They were determined that I should not grow up totally spoiled by an adoring father and two indulgent big brothers, so in 1963 they went to the hospital to get me a baby sister. For sometime I was sure there was some sort of mix-up when they came home with another brother, Bill. But he does look like the rest of us, I must admit.
In l971 Mom's life changed forever when she was hired as an Administrative Assistant by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
After Dr. Marsh's term as moderator, he took a new job with the Synod of the South. Dr. Marsh told mom to apply for his job. Mary Jane was skeptical, she had no college education. But she applied and became the first woman and the first non-minister hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Mary Jane served on Omaha's Police Community Relations task force at the request of Mayor Ed Zorinsky. She helped to form a number of community organizations that exist and thrive today including Together, Inc. and the Omaha Food Bank. Also during the 1970's she attended a White House conference on unemployment hosted by First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery. Mom was also part of bringing Willie Nelson to Memorial Stadium for a Farm Aid Concert.
Even though mom never got a chance to go to college and Dad never finished, all four of us kids went to UNO (or in Tom's case, Omaha University, he's pretty old!) All four of us hold a post graduate degree. None of us would have gotten as far as we did without Mom (air quotes) "urging" us on, sometimes resorting to outright threats.
Of the four of us kids, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 34years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. I am pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, Nebraska. Mom was overjoyed when I returned to Nebraska after 20 years away in California, Ohio and New York. Her last overnight trip was to attend my installation in August of 2007.
Bill, the baby, and his wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys. We call Bill the black sheep because he is not only an attorney, but an Episcopalian, but all is forgiven because he and Gretchen produced the only grandchildren. They are busy parents of Kaitlin (18) and Robert (14). Kaitlin and Bob were the life and joy of the last part of both Earl and Mary Jane's lives. Your grandma was so proud to see the poised young woman and well mannered young man you are both becoming. Your aunts and uncles adore you too, I hope you know that.
I hope you know we are all so proud of how kind and gentle you have been with us since we lost Grandma.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as the world's most over qualified church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7. Her increasing ill health and failing sight finally side lined her. Benson church adopted our whole family, I can never come here without remembering my ordination or my dad's funeral and how wonderfully you treated all of us not only on red letter days, but any time any member of the Harvey family came through the door.
After mom lost her sight and could not drive anymore, she moved her membership to Tom's church, New Horizon and gained yet another caring church family.
I said that everyday with Mom was an event. She loved the world beyond Omaha and imparted that love to each of her children. We always traveled, often piled six of us in a station wagon, sometimes with an extra kid in tow.
Mom went to places other people didn't think about, Cuba, Russia, China? Who goes there? Mom did. Mom visited 4 Canadian provinces and 49 states. She never made it to Alaska. She regretted that until recently, when Sarah Palin fixed that problem.
That brings me to another of mom's passions: politics. When she was in high school, she traveled with the Junior Red Cross to Washington DC and met Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. While she didn't vote for John Kennedy in 1960, she soon became enamored of all things Kennedy and stood in the rain to shake hands with Bobby when he came to campaign in Omaha for the Nebraska primary. Less than one month later, Mom got up in the middle of the night to see how Bobby had done in the California primary. Her shrieks of anguish sent us all tumbling out of our beds and down the stairs, to find mom sobbing in front of the television.
Mom got most involved in politics in 1972 on the George McGovern campaign. Mom had first become aware of Senator McGovern during her battle for school lunch. In the late 1960's and early 1970's she went to battle with the Omaha Public Schools and along with other Presbyterian women and community activists, forced the district to properly use federal funds it was already receiving, to provide lunch programs to low income children. In May 1971, she testified in front of the United States Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Need chaired by Senator McGovern about the experience with School lunch and federal funding in Omaha. A World Herald editorial cartoon depicted this struggle. Mom had the original of this cartoon framed and it hung in her office for many years.
During the McGovern campaign, Mom would go to headquarters, Bill and I in tow, and answered phones, typed letters, organized mailings. One day, when she was answering the phones, a young guy came in and told her she wasn't doing it correctly. She fixed him with one of her looks, and said, "Sonny, I was answering phones when your father was in short pants." He withered away. Mom was later told by a McGovern campaign staffer that they suspected that the young man was a Nixon operative. He hadn't been seen before and wasn't seen again. As Mom told this story in later years, the campaign staffer became McGovern's campaign manager, future Senator Gary Hart and the young man became known Nixon operative, Karl Rove. I can believe that it might have been Gary Hart, but it wasn't Karl Rove. He wouldn't still be around if Mom had fixed him with one of her looks.
Mom arranged for Bill and me to accompany her and Pop on George McGovern's whistle stop campaign train across Nebraska. The only opening was in the bar car for the press corps. So mom and Pop tended bar while Bill and I had the run of the train. Only mom would pen a thirteen year old girl up in a train car full of liquor with the Washington press corps, Gary Hart and Hunter Thompson. It turned out fine and more than fine. I showed up beside Senator McGovern on the ABC evening news and Bill and I had an experience others just dream about.
Mom's interest continued to the day she died. She was a devoted viewer of CNN and MSNBC, particularly enjoying Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and her recent favorite, Rachel Maddow. She loved Hillary Clinton, but when Hillary said to adopt Obama, mom adopted and voted and helped Omaha go for Obama. Although she was hospitalized at the time, she wasted no time in submitting her early vote for Barack Obama for president. This vote continued her tradition of voting in every single election in which she was eligible to vote. Mom was born in 1920, the year women got the vote. She knew that the freedoms we love are not that old and to take them for granted was wrong.
Her last conversation with her longtime friend, Helen Douthy, was to celebrate Obama's victory. Helen was gone by the end of November, but both she and mom lived to see that momentous election day.
At this point I need to mention, my mother was not a perfect person. She made some doozies of mistakes in her life. She paid for them with many moments of regret and anguish. I know she helped many more people than she harmed. But does the good we do wipe away our sins? Mom didn't believe that and didn't teach us to believe that. She taught us to believe in God's abundant grace and mercy. Without that, we are all up the creek.
I wish I could say that there was nothing Mom loved more than Pop and us kids, daughters in law and grandkids. There was something I was never entirely sure that she loved more, but we were a close second or it was. I am speaking of course, of football.
Mom was the die-hard Nebraska fan. She loved football, beyond all reason. When she went to her first day at North High, the girls and boys were separated into two assemblies. Mom never found out what the boys did in their assembly, but in the girls' assembly, the football coach came in and explained how football was played to the girls. Mom was intrigued, went to North's season opener and was hooked.
I was born during halftime of the North/Creighton Prep game in October 1959. I hasten to add, Mom was not at the stadium at the time. But Tom was, leading the band, Mike in the stands with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Pop settled down to listen to the first half on the radio, she went into labor, they went to the hospital, I was born and mom and dad listened to the second half. I have to admit with some modesty, North was behind at the half, but went on to win the game. This is a source of secret shame for me, because as most you know, I went on to graduate from Benson.
Mom went to games in Lincoln whenever she could get tickets, but in 1967, Mom got her season tickets to Nebraska. She and Pop did not miss a lot of Saturdays. She saw all or part of 5 National Championship teams, sending her personal instructions psychically to Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Frank Solich and Bill Callahan never learned to listen to her. Bo seemed to take her instructions pretty well, though. Apparently, Mom is still giving Bo plays from Heaven, given the outcome of the Gator Bowl.
Mom also followed the NFL. Her favorite NFL team? Which ever team had the most Huskers. She liked some non-Nebraskan players like Joe Montana and Brett Favre, but they almost always had Husker teammates.
After mom could no longer physically make the trip to Memorial Stadium, Bill took over the tickets. Bob is now our family's biggest Nebraska fan. A few years ago, when I went to Lincoln with Bob to attend a game, Bob mentioned that someday, these tickets would be his. I replied that someday, maybe I could take Bob's son to a game. "Well," Bob replied, "only if I can't go." Bob, grandma loved that story because she recognized herself in that story.
The hardest thing my mom ever had to do was when she lost my dad. First she had to watch him slowly slip away because of Alzheimer's. Later there was the shock of his absence. Through these recent years, it became harder and harder for her to lose more and more contemporaries. Just this fall brought the deaths of Noreen Klein in this congregation, Evie Hodges in Mike's congregation and of course, Helen Douthy. You could see how each death wore her down a little more.
That's just a little bit about our mom, our grandma, our friend. Mom and I had a relationship as complex, stormy and loving as any mother and daughter. She was my best friend. She was the best friend of a lot of people here, including my three brothers. We are all feeling lost without her. She was someone people just adored. In calling people this past week from her friends of many decades to the guy who delivered her oxygen, everyone has been broken up about mom. I know how you feel.
Life's a banquet, my mother believed that. It is just another way of saying, "I came that they may have life and have it in abundance."
Keith Cook's Memorial for Mary Jane:
Mary Jane was a woman of great presence, power, wit, intelligence, wisdom and faith. Originally a Baptist, Mary Jane and her husband Earl (they married in 1941) were active leaders at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE for many years. Later they were active at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha, where she was secretary for some years. She'd been a secretary at various businesses, but for many years was on staff as the Mission Educator for the Synod of Nebraska and the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, headquartered in Omaha. She was an avid, active, articulate and able supporter of justice and equality-for-all issues.
Earl died August 30, 1999 from the complications of Alzheimer's Disease. He and Mary Jane had four children: Thomas (Tom), who in 2009 and several years before was the Choral Conductor at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs, IA. Cynthia (Cindy) was at the time pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, NE. Michael (Mike) was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carson, IA. And William (Bill) was an attorney in Omaha. There are two grandchildren, Kaitlin and Bob (children of Bill).
Mary Jane's cremains were buried January 2, 2009 next to those of Earl's at Forest Lawn Cemetery. They are next to the graves of Mary Jane's parents.
Mary Jane's memorial service was January 5, 2009 at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha. There was a very large attendance, including many clergy who had known her and valued her.
Mary Jane's Story of Her Life (written 10 Feb 2007)
Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. At age 12 her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
From then on she was involved in one way or the other in "slave" labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins.
She intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen. One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, interested in music and church , was a great dancer, and was discovered to be very compatible.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. She worked at a number of secretarial jobs until in l971 she was hired by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska as an Administrative Assistant. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
She was the first woman hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery.
Most important in Mary Jane's life is her family. She and Earl raised four children. Since then, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren have been added. Of the four children, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 32 years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. Cynthia (No. 3 child) is pastor of Hector and Lodi Presbyterian churches in upstate New York, where she has been for 11 years. Bill (No. 4) and wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys and busy parents of Kaitlin (16) and Robert (13). They attend Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Omaha, where Bill has served on the governing board and sings in the choir, and the kids are active in the youth program.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7! Every day was a pleasure and she was inspired and uplifted by the hard work and devotion of the faithful members. Since her eyesight has prevented her from driving, when she feels well enough, she attends church with Tom. She and Tom live together in a roomy apartment that has too much "stuff" in it. Mary Jane sends her best wishes and prayers to all of you.
Recollections of Childhood
When I was about 7 or 8 years old (1927-28) my dad bought his first Model T that was a touring car with side curtains which could be buttoned on to (theoretically) keep out wind, rain etc. We always had a two weeks vacation and this time took our first trip to see our relatives.
We went first to Arkansas -the northwest corner - to see my mothers aunt - Grandmother Jobes sister, Josephine Webb Cox who with her husband Ben and four or five grown sons lived on a farm near West Fork Arkansas. This is not far from Prairie Grove where my great grandfather David Webb lived. Aunt Jo and her family had a completely self sufficient operation - cows, hogs, chickens, a bountiful supply of food which they grew and a table which was overflowing with good food and fellowship.
Some of the boys were college educated, but never left home to marry. There was a daughter, Laura, who had married and lived some distance away.
The first thing that happened to me was that the old dog, who was not used to children, and particularly not one as rambunctious as I was - bit me on the hand. My dad had to pry his jaws apart with his car keys. Uncle Ben allowed that we could pout some coal oil on the bite and it would heal right up - It did. You can still his took mark on my right hand if you look carefully.
The house, I now realize, was a treasure house of antiques - of course I didnt know it then. There was a real spinning wheel in the parlor, beautiful hand carved furniture, big feather beds and wonderful stuff everywhere. A beautiful Seth Thomas clock, with David Webbs name written on the face, was in the attic and was given to my mom as a memento of our trip.
A couple of years later when we had a better car - a brand new Durant - after much correspondence, we went back picked up Aunt Jo and took her to see my grandmother in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma (clear across the state). These sisters had not seen each other for many decades and the talk flew fast and long.
After the visit, we took Aunt Jo back to her home and the minute she hit the house she was cooking up a storm and issuing orders to the "Boys" and Uncle Ben.
She and my grandmother looked very much alike, both about 5 feet tall and no doubt less than 90 pounds soaking wet!
When we got back there the first thing Aunt Jo wanted to organize was a trip via horseback across the mountain to see her daughter. The roads were not passable by auto yet. She asked my mom if she could still ride "side saddle." Guess what, the next morning we decided to leave suddenly - needed to get home - my mom was NOT going horseback riding.
On this trip or another one to the Ozarks - my dad had a brother-in-law and sister who lived in eastern Oklahoma - we were traveling down a hot dusty road and saw a sign that said ice cream cones. So Dad stopped and we went in and ordered one for each of us - only to be told they had cones but no ice dream. My nose was out of joint all day.
On that same journey we tried to get the Model T to go up a very steep hill and it just stalled out - Uncle Henry Parvin suggested that we all get out - that Daddy back the car up the hill as it probably had a gravity feed carburetor - sure enough it worked - the old Model T going up the hill backwards, Uncle Henry walking alongside guiding my Dad and the rest us timidly following up the hill huffing and puffing.
We took my dads sister Lil and brother-in-law Harley Moyer with us on that trip and the car was full. Then when we got ready to go home - aunt Etta Parvin decided to go with us. Here is a car meant to hold 4 there are now 5 adults and me (not very large) sandwiched in. My mom, got to ride between the two rather large Adams girls) and me in the front seat between Daddy and Uncle Harley. Mom had her look on for the whole drive. As I recall we took the Moyers to eastern Oklahoma to Parvins - and we left them there and went to western Oklahoma to see the Jobe family. When that visit was over, we went back to pick up the Moyers and got an extra passenger.
I think that was the LAST time we gathered up relatives for a vacation.
Traveling by car in those days was an adventure - there were no amenities - very few hotels - some "cabin camps" and cafes were not plentiful or particularly fine dining. But when you found a café a chicken dinner might be 50 cents including homemade pie.
We went every summer to see moms family in western Oklahoma - my grandma was an invalid - having influenza in the World War I epidemic from which she never recovered. She was supposed to be dying every year, but in fact did not die till 1939 - the year I was a senior in High School.
I was the only child who ever came around that household and was not looked upon as anything but someone who let screen doors slam (hurt Grandmas head) and talked too loudly or did any number of things that did not please the matriarch.
Two people stood out in my childhood - my uncle Sherman Thompson - married to my mothers older sister, Susie, and my aunt Lela Kendall Jobe married to my mothers youngest brother, Hugh. Both Aunt Lela and Uncle Sherman took it upon themselves to entertain me and recognize that kids will be kids.
Aunt Lela had a degree in home ec from Oklahoma State and was a wonderful cook. She taught school much of her life and was a treasure. Uncle Sherman was manager of a coop mill and elevator in Hammon, Oklahoma - and when I was 14 years old used to take me along when he went out to see customers. He decided that was old enough to learn to drive - my dad had been teaching me - but it was not like driving on sand hill back roads. One adventure was a place where a gully (quite wide and deep) was crossed by driving on two planks laid from edge to edge. He said all I had to do was keep the wheels on the planks. After that I thought I could drive anywhere!
My dad and I went to Strong City where Grandpa lived - about 20 miles away and when we got ready to come home - there was a lightning storm like I have never seen since. The lightning ran along the barbed wire fences- lit up the whole sky and just popped and cracked. I was deathly afraid of lightning and thunder. My dad said as long as we were in the car - the rubber wheels would insulate us. I dont know if it was scientific or not - but we were not struck by lightning - and I was never as afraid of storms again.
One night late driving across the sand hills on narrow hilly roads - two men stepped out in front of the car - carrying violin cases - (in the movies the gangsters carried their machine guns in violin cases) and my dad said - well were going to be robbed. Turned out they were two old country boys on their way home from fiddling at a dance and they needed a ride. I can still see those men (looked like they were ten feet tall) standing in front of the car - the road wasnt wide enough to go around them.
The main highways were narrow enough - they were 75 and 81 running north and south and 66 running across Oklahoma. If you got off these - taking what appeared to be a shorter route - the roads were two ruts through the sand - and if it rained - good luck.
There was a place between Auburn and Dawson, Nebraska that was not paved and invariably at the end of August on the way home - the rain would hit there if no where else. The Model T would stay in the tracks but the big cars - Buicks, Dodges Studebakers would all slide off in the ditch - if they slid all the way off you could still go along side them, but sometimes all the men would get out and push them off. There was a farmer - in Oklahoma,. I think it was who regularly kept the mud hole in front of his farm wet down with an old hose - so he could charge the city folks to pull them through.
Most roads in that part of the country did not have bridges at the bottom of hills, but the water just ran across the road - and a lot of rain made a real problem. One time we were caught in eastern Oklahoma - near a town called Locust Grove where the water was so deep that it took 14 hours for it to go down and nothing to do but sit there and wait - till it drained down to where one could drive through it. We could drive back into Locust Grove to get food - but there were not accommodations, so it was just sit and wait it out. Tempers were very short - and frustration high. Todays interstate travel is a far cry from those pioneer days of motoring. When a tire went flat which they often did - it was take it off the wheel scratch the inner tube with a special rough gadget and then glue a patch on and pump it up by hand put it back in the tire - remount the wheel and go on your way. I can see my dad sitting beside the road - patching away at an inner tube, waiting for the glue to dry. No AAA in those days to come and rescue one.
We seldom saw a car from Nebraska - and folks in filling stations would say "NEEBRASKKA - where's that??"
When I was 14, we became really adventurous - it was 1934 and while we still went to see Grandma - we first took off west to see the Rockies.
The first night we stayed in a motel at North Platte, forgetting the Union Pacific ran right beside the highway, so every 20 minutes a train whistle - my dad was not happy - the second night we were in Big Thompson Canyon and stayed at The Dam Store - It's still there, but much larger - after the big flood - My mom loved telling everyone we stayed at the "dam" store.
We drove around in the mountains and ended up at Colorado Springs where we decided to drive up Pike's Peak. Had a new l934 Plymouth - after we passed timber line - the car just stopped - we flatlanders did not know what to do - a Nebraska, Omaha to be exact, car stopped and the man said "You have a vapor lock" poured cold water on the carburetor and away she went! Turned out he ran a garage a half block south of 30th and Newport where we went to church.
Then we proceeded south to Raton Pass - across 66 to Oklahoma and visited in Hammon, OK where mom's family lived. Had a lot to tell about getting stuck on Pike's Peak.
Eulogy (written and delivered by Cynthia R. Harvey)
"Life's a banquet, and most poor slobs are starving to death."
That was Mary Jane's favorite quote. I think I remember at least one sermon that quoted that line from "Auntie Mame." Of course, Auntie Mame never said "slobs" but rather another phrase. The abbreviation for that phrase is found within the word "slobs." Mom knew that, of course, but she cleaned it up for church, as did I.
With Mom, life was always a banquet. We, her four children, can attest to that. Every day was an event.
Mom was an only child. She was born, this is very embarrassing for a Nebraska fan, but she was born in rural Oklahoma. Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when she and her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. She stayed in school one extra year, not because she wasn't a good student, she excelled at all her courses. In the depth of the depression, jobs were few and she might as well get another year's education.
She was 12 years old when her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad, Fred, had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
Mary Jane's mother was the formidable Jettie Jobe Adams. Jettie's motto was "just learn." Grandma had left school after the eighth grade, but she was better read than most college professors. She passed that love of reading and that eager mind on to her only child.
From then on Mom was involved in one way or the other in unpaid labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins. The business courses she took at North High in things that people never learn anymore, skills like typing and shorthand proved to be the key to her working life.
Mom intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary at the Beebe and Runyon Furniture Company, where her father had worked for many years, delivering furniture by horse and wagon. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen.
One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, Earl Harvey. He was interested in music and church, was tall and good looking and was a great dancer. Now, mom had a boyfriend, Parky, who had moved out to California. He was supposed to come back to Omaha for Mary Jane. But Parky was in California, and Earl would come to Mary Jane's office when she had to work late and would drive her home in his old Model A, Lem, short for lemon. Parky's loss was Earl's and eventually, all our gain.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941 at mom's church, Parkside Baptist. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. 1942 was a busy year for Mary Jane. In quick succession, she became pregnant, gave birth to Earl Thomas, Jr. (Tom). Then Pop was drafted into the Army. Just before Pop was reported for duty, Tom was baptized in the pastor's office at Dundee Presbyterian Church.
Now, how did a nice Baptist girl end up a Presbyterian? Well Pop was Presbyterian, but he had been going to church with Mom. Pop sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, the Baptists just adored him. They wanted him to join, but there was a catch: Pop had to be baptized by immersion. He was enough of a Calvinist to insist that this would be redundant, since he had been baptized as an infant. So, that's how we became Presbyterian. It's funny how your life can be profoundly influenced by small things.
Earl was in the army for exactly 90 days. That's all the time it took for him to catch influenza and for the army doctors to discover he had a heart murmur that would preclude active military service. They were right about that heart murmur; it contributed to his death some 60 years later. Pop worked in the bomber plant for the duration and worked in sales after the war. Over the years, Mom held a variety of secretarial jobs for various companies in Omaha including Brandeis and Carpenter Paper Company. Mary Jane and Earl also owned a hearing aid sales and service company in downtown Omaha's Barker Building for many years.
Tom was followed by a true baby boomer, Mike in 1947. For 12 years they were a family of four, but in 1959, Mom and Pop got a surprise. While Mom was pregnant with me, some wit at Central church walked up to her and cracked, "I'm so glad you and Earl are speaking again!" Pretty risqué for 1959. They were determined that I should not grow up totally spoiled by an adoring father and two indulgent big brothers, so in 1963 they went to the hospital to get me a baby sister. For sometime I was sure there was some sort of mix-up when they came home with another brother, Bill. But he does look like the rest of us, I must admit.
In l971 Mom's life changed forever when she was hired as an Administrative Assistant by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
After Dr. Marsh's term as moderator, he took a new job with the Synod of the South. Dr. Marsh told mom to apply for his job. Mary Jane was skeptical, she had no college education. But she applied and became the first woman and the first non-minister hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Mary Jane served on Omaha's Police Community Relations task force at the request of Mayor Ed Zorinsky. She helped to form a number of community organizations that exist and thrive today including Together, Inc. and the Omaha Food Bank. Also during the 1970's she attended a White House conference on unemployment hosted by First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery. Mom was also part of bringing Willie Nelson to Memorial Stadium for a Farm Aid Concert.
Even though mom never got a chance to go to college and Dad never finished, all four of us kids went to UNO (or in Tom's case, Omaha University, he's pretty old!) All four of us hold a post graduate degree. None of us would have gotten as far as we did without Mom (air quotes) "urging" us on, sometimes resorting to outright threats.
Of the four of us kids, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 34years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. I am pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, Nebraska. Mom was overjoyed when I returned to Nebraska after 20 years away in California, Ohio and New York. Her last overnight trip was to attend my installation in August of 2007.
Bill, the baby, and his wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys. We call Bill the black sheep because he is not only an attorney, but an Episcopalian, but all is forgiven because he and Gretchen produced the only grandchildren. They are busy parents of Kaitlin (18) and Robert (14). Kaitlin and Bob were the life and joy of the last part of both Earl and Mary Jane's lives. Your grandma was so proud to see the poised young woman and well mannered young man you are both becoming. Your aunts and uncles adore you too, I hope you know that.
I hope you know we are all so proud of how kind and gentle you have been with us since we lost Grandma.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as the world's most over qualified church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7. Her increasing ill health and failing sight finally side lined her. Benson church adopted our whole family, I can never come here without remembering my ordination or my dad's funeral and how wonderfully you treated all of us not only on red letter days, but any time any member of the Harvey family came through the door.
After mom lost her sight and could not drive anymore, she moved her membership to Tom's church, New Horizon and gained yet another caring church family.
I said that everyday with Mom was an event. She loved the world beyond Omaha and imparted that love to each of her children. We always traveled, often piled six of us in a station wagon, sometimes with an extra kid in tow.
Mom went to places other people didn't think about, Cuba, Russia, China? Who goes there? Mom did. Mom visited 4 Canadian provinces and 49 states. She never made it to Alaska. She regretted that until recently, when Sarah Palin fixed that problem.
That brings me to another of mom's passions: politics. When she was in high school, she traveled with the Junior Red Cross to Washington DC and met Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. While she didn't vote for John Kennedy in 1960, she soon became enamored of all things Kennedy and stood in the rain to shake hands with Bobby when he came to campaign in Omaha for the Nebraska primary. Less than one month later, Mom got up in the middle of the night to see how Bobby had done in the California primary. Her shrieks of anguish sent us all tumbling out of our beds and down the stairs, to find mom sobbing in front of the television.
Mom got most involved in politics in 1972 on the George McGovern campaign. Mom had first become aware of Senator McGovern during her battle for school lunch. In the late 1960's and early 1970's she went to battle with the Omaha Public Schools and along with other Presbyterian women and community activists, forced the district to properly use federal funds it was already receiving, to provide lunch programs to low income children. In May 1971, she testified in front of the United States Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Need chaired by Senator McGovern about the experience with School lunch and federal funding in Omaha. A World Herald editorial cartoon depicted this struggle. Mom had the original of this cartoon framed and it hung in her office for many years.
During the McGovern campaign, Mom would go to headquarters, Bill and I in tow, and answered phones, typed letters, organized mailings. One day, when she was answering the phones, a young guy came in and told her she wasn't doing it correctly. She fixed him with one of her looks, and said, "Sonny, I was answering phones when your father was in short pants." He withered away. Mom was later told by a McGovern campaign staffer that they suspected that the young man was a Nixon operative. He hadn't been seen before and wasn't seen again. As Mom told this story in later years, the campaign staffer became McGovern's campaign manager, future Senator Gary Hart and the young man became known Nixon operative, Karl Rove. I can believe that it might have been Gary Hart, but it wasn't Karl Rove. He wouldn't still be around if Mom had fixed him with one of her looks.
Mom arranged for Bill and me to accompany her and Pop on George McGovern's whistle stop campaign train across Nebraska. The only opening was in the bar car for the press corps. So mom and Pop tended bar while Bill and I had the run of the train. Only mom would pen a thirteen year old girl up in a train car full of liquor with the Washington press corps, Gary Hart and Hunter Thompson. It turned out fine and more than fine. I showed up beside Senator McGovern on the ABC evening news and Bill and I had an experience others just dream about.
Mom's interest continued to the day she died. She was a devoted viewer of CNN and MSNBC, particularly enjoying Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and her recent favorite, Rachel Maddow. She loved Hillary Clinton, but when Hillary said to adopt Obama, mom adopted and voted and helped Omaha go for Obama. Although she was hospitalized at the time, she wasted no time in submitting her early vote for Barack Obama for president. This vote continued her tradition of voting in every single election in which she was eligible to vote. Mom was born in 1920, the year women got the vote. She knew that the freedoms we love are not that old and to take them for granted was wrong.
Her last conversation with her longtime friend, Helen Douthy, was to celebrate Obama's victory. Helen was gone by the end of November, but both she and mom lived to see that momentous election day.
At this point I need to mention, my mother was not a perfect person. She made some doozies of mistakes in her life. She paid for them with many moments of regret and anguish. I know she helped many more people than she harmed. But does the good we do wipe away our sins? Mom didn't believe that and didn't teach us to believe that. She taught us to believe in God's abundant grace and mercy. Without that, we are all up the creek.
I wish I could say that there was nothing Mom loved more than Pop and us kids, daughters in law and grandkids. There was something I was never entirely sure that she loved more, but we were a close second or it was. I am speaking of course, of football.
Mom was the die-hard Nebraska fan. She loved football, beyond all reason. When she went to her first day at North High, the girls and boys were separated into two assemblies. Mom never found out what the boys did in their assembly, but in the girls' assembly, the football coach came in and explained how football was played to the girls. Mom was intrigued, went to North's season opener and was hooked.
I was born during halftime of the North/Creighton Prep game in October 1959. I hasten to add, Mom was not at the stadium at the time. But Tom was, leading the band, Mike in the stands with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Pop settled down to listen to the first half on the radio, she went into labor, they went to the hospital, I was born and mom and dad listened to the second half. I have to admit with some modesty, North was behind at the half, but went on to win the game. This is a source of secret shame for me, because as most you know, I went on to graduate from Benson.
Mom went to games in Lincoln whenever she could get tickets, but in 1967, Mom got her season tickets to Nebraska. She and Pop did not miss a lot of Saturdays. She saw all or part of 5 National Championship teams, sending her personal instructions psychically to Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Frank Solich and Bill Callahan never learned to listen to her. Bo seemed to take her instructions pretty well, though. Apparently, Mom is still giving Bo plays from Heaven, given the outcome of the Gator Bowl.
Mom also followed the NFL. Her favorite NFL team? Which ever team had the most Huskers. She liked some non-Nebraskan players like Joe Montana and Brett Favre, but they almost always had Husker teammates.
After mom could no longer physically make the trip to Memorial Stadium, Bill took over the tickets. Bob is now our family's biggest Nebraska fan. A few years ago, when I went to Lincoln with Bob to attend a game, Bob mentioned that someday, these tickets would be his. I replied that someday, maybe I could take Bob's son to a game. "Well," Bob replied, "only if I can't go." Bob, grandma loved that story because she recognized herself in that story.
The hardest thing my mom ever had to do was when she lost my dad. First she had to watch him slowly slip away because of Alzheimer's. Later there was the shock of his absence. Through these recent years, it became harder and harder for her to lose more and more contemporaries. Just this fall brought the deaths of Noreen Klein in this congregation, Evie Hodges in Mike's congregation and of course, Helen Douthy. You could see how each death wore her down a little more.
That's just a little bit about our mom, our grandma, our friend. Mom and I had a relationship as complex, stormy and loving as any mother and daughter. She was my best friend. She was the best friend of a lot of people here, including my three brothers. We are all feeling lost without her. She was someone people just adored. In calling people this past week from her friends of many decades to the guy who delivered her oxygen, everyone has been broken up about mom. I know how you feel.
Life's a banquet, my mother believed that. It is just another way of saying, "I came that they may have life and have it in abundance."
Mary Jane was a woman of great presence, power, wit, intelligence, wisdom and faith. Originally a Baptist, Mary Jane and her husband Earl (they married in 1941) were active leaders at Central Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE for many years. Later they were active at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha, where she was secretary for some years. She'd been a secretary at various businesses, but for many years was on staff as the Mission Educator for the Synod of Nebraska and the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, headquartered in Omaha. She was an avid, active, articulate and able supporter of justice and equality-for-all issues.
Earl died August 30, 1999 from the complications of Alzheimer's Disease. He and Mary Jane had four children: Thomas (Tom), who in 2009 and several years before was the Choral Conductor at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs, IA. Cynthia (Cindy) was at the time pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, NE. Michael (Mike) was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carson, IA. And William (Bill) was an attorney in Omaha. There are two grandchildren, Kaitlin and Bob (children of Bill).
Mary Jane's cremains were buried January 2, 2009 next to those of Earl's at Forest Lawn Cemetery. They are next to the graves of Mary Jane's parents.
Mary Jane's memorial service was January 5, 2009 at Benson Presbyterian Church in Omaha. There was a very large attendance, including many clergy who had known her and valued her.
Mary Jane's Story of Her Life (written 10 Feb 2007)
Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. At age 12 her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
From then on she was involved in one way or the other in "slave" labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins.
She intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen. One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, interested in music and church , was a great dancer, and was discovered to be very compatible.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. She worked at a number of secretarial jobs until in l971 she was hired by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska as an Administrative Assistant. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
She was the first woman hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery.
Most important in Mary Jane's life is her family. She and Earl raised four children. Since then, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren have been added. Of the four children, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 32 years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. Cynthia (No. 3 child) is pastor of Hector and Lodi Presbyterian churches in upstate New York, where she has been for 11 years. Bill (No. 4) and wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys and busy parents of Kaitlin (16) and Robert (13). They attend Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Omaha, where Bill has served on the governing board and sings in the choir, and the kids are active in the youth program.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7! Every day was a pleasure and she was inspired and uplifted by the hard work and devotion of the faithful members. Since her eyesight has prevented her from driving, when she feels well enough, she attends church with Tom. She and Tom live together in a roomy apartment that has too much "stuff" in it. Mary Jane sends her best wishes and prayers to all of you.
Recollections of Childhood
When I was about 7 or 8 years old (1927-28) my dad bought his first Model T that was a touring car with side curtains which could be buttoned on to (theoretically) keep out wind, rain etc. We always had a two weeks vacation and this time took our first trip to see our relatives.
We went first to Arkansas -the northwest corner - to see my mothers aunt - Grandmother Jobes sister, Josephine Webb Cox who with her husband Ben and four or five grown sons lived on a farm near West Fork Arkansas. This is not far from Prairie Grove where my great grandfather David Webb lived. Aunt Jo and her family had a completely self sufficient operation - cows, hogs, chickens, a bountiful supply of food which they grew and a table which was overflowing with good food and fellowship.
Some of the boys were college educated, but never left home to marry. There was a daughter, Laura, who had married and lived some distance away.
The first thing that happened to me was that the old dog, who was not used to children, and particularly not one as rambunctious as I was - bit me on the hand. My dad had to pry his jaws apart with his car keys. Uncle Ben allowed that we could pout some coal oil on the bite and it would heal right up - It did. You can still his took mark on my right hand if you look carefully.
The house, I now realize, was a treasure house of antiques - of course I didnt know it then. There was a real spinning wheel in the parlor, beautiful hand carved furniture, big feather beds and wonderful stuff everywhere. A beautiful Seth Thomas clock, with David Webbs name written on the face, was in the attic and was given to my mom as a memento of our trip.
A couple of years later when we had a better car - a brand new Durant - after much correspondence, we went back picked up Aunt Jo and took her to see my grandmother in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma (clear across the state). These sisters had not seen each other for many decades and the talk flew fast and long.
After the visit, we took Aunt Jo back to her home and the minute she hit the house she was cooking up a storm and issuing orders to the "Boys" and Uncle Ben.
She and my grandmother looked very much alike, both about 5 feet tall and no doubt less than 90 pounds soaking wet!
When we got back there the first thing Aunt Jo wanted to organize was a trip via horseback across the mountain to see her daughter. The roads were not passable by auto yet. She asked my mom if she could still ride "side saddle." Guess what, the next morning we decided to leave suddenly - needed to get home - my mom was NOT going horseback riding.
On this trip or another one to the Ozarks - my dad had a brother-in-law and sister who lived in eastern Oklahoma - we were traveling down a hot dusty road and saw a sign that said ice cream cones. So Dad stopped and we went in and ordered one for each of us - only to be told they had cones but no ice dream. My nose was out of joint all day.
On that same journey we tried to get the Model T to go up a very steep hill and it just stalled out - Uncle Henry Parvin suggested that we all get out - that Daddy back the car up the hill as it probably had a gravity feed carburetor - sure enough it worked - the old Model T going up the hill backwards, Uncle Henry walking alongside guiding my Dad and the rest us timidly following up the hill huffing and puffing.
We took my dads sister Lil and brother-in-law Harley Moyer with us on that trip and the car was full. Then when we got ready to go home - aunt Etta Parvin decided to go with us. Here is a car meant to hold 4 there are now 5 adults and me (not very large) sandwiched in. My mom, got to ride between the two rather large Adams girls) and me in the front seat between Daddy and Uncle Harley. Mom had her look on for the whole drive. As I recall we took the Moyers to eastern Oklahoma to Parvins - and we left them there and went to western Oklahoma to see the Jobe family. When that visit was over, we went back to pick up the Moyers and got an extra passenger.
I think that was the LAST time we gathered up relatives for a vacation.
Traveling by car in those days was an adventure - there were no amenities - very few hotels - some "cabin camps" and cafes were not plentiful or particularly fine dining. But when you found a café a chicken dinner might be 50 cents including homemade pie.
We went every summer to see moms family in western Oklahoma - my grandma was an invalid - having influenza in the World War I epidemic from which she never recovered. She was supposed to be dying every year, but in fact did not die till 1939 - the year I was a senior in High School.
I was the only child who ever came around that household and was not looked upon as anything but someone who let screen doors slam (hurt Grandmas head) and talked too loudly or did any number of things that did not please the matriarch.
Two people stood out in my childhood - my uncle Sherman Thompson - married to my mothers older sister, Susie, and my aunt Lela Kendall Jobe married to my mothers youngest brother, Hugh. Both Aunt Lela and Uncle Sherman took it upon themselves to entertain me and recognize that kids will be kids.
Aunt Lela had a degree in home ec from Oklahoma State and was a wonderful cook. She taught school much of her life and was a treasure. Uncle Sherman was manager of a coop mill and elevator in Hammon, Oklahoma - and when I was 14 years old used to take me along when he went out to see customers. He decided that was old enough to learn to drive - my dad had been teaching me - but it was not like driving on sand hill back roads. One adventure was a place where a gully (quite wide and deep) was crossed by driving on two planks laid from edge to edge. He said all I had to do was keep the wheels on the planks. After that I thought I could drive anywhere!
My dad and I went to Strong City where Grandpa lived - about 20 miles away and when we got ready to come home - there was a lightning storm like I have never seen since. The lightning ran along the barbed wire fences- lit up the whole sky and just popped and cracked. I was deathly afraid of lightning and thunder. My dad said as long as we were in the car - the rubber wheels would insulate us. I dont know if it was scientific or not - but we were not struck by lightning - and I was never as afraid of storms again.
One night late driving across the sand hills on narrow hilly roads - two men stepped out in front of the car - carrying violin cases - (in the movies the gangsters carried their machine guns in violin cases) and my dad said - well were going to be robbed. Turned out they were two old country boys on their way home from fiddling at a dance and they needed a ride. I can still see those men (looked like they were ten feet tall) standing in front of the car - the road wasnt wide enough to go around them.
The main highways were narrow enough - they were 75 and 81 running north and south and 66 running across Oklahoma. If you got off these - taking what appeared to be a shorter route - the roads were two ruts through the sand - and if it rained - good luck.
There was a place between Auburn and Dawson, Nebraska that was not paved and invariably at the end of August on the way home - the rain would hit there if no where else. The Model T would stay in the tracks but the big cars - Buicks, Dodges Studebakers would all slide off in the ditch - if they slid all the way off you could still go along side them, but sometimes all the men would get out and push them off. There was a farmer - in Oklahoma,. I think it was who regularly kept the mud hole in front of his farm wet down with an old hose - so he could charge the city folks to pull them through.
Most roads in that part of the country did not have bridges at the bottom of hills, but the water just ran across the road - and a lot of rain made a real problem. One time we were caught in eastern Oklahoma - near a town called Locust Grove where the water was so deep that it took 14 hours for it to go down and nothing to do but sit there and wait - till it drained down to where one could drive through it. We could drive back into Locust Grove to get food - but there were not accommodations, so it was just sit and wait it out. Tempers were very short - and frustration high. Todays interstate travel is a far cry from those pioneer days of motoring. When a tire went flat which they often did - it was take it off the wheel scratch the inner tube with a special rough gadget and then glue a patch on and pump it up by hand put it back in the tire - remount the wheel and go on your way. I can see my dad sitting beside the road - patching away at an inner tube, waiting for the glue to dry. No AAA in those days to come and rescue one.
We seldom saw a car from Nebraska - and folks in filling stations would say "NEEBRASKKA - where's that??"
When I was 14, we became really adventurous - it was 1934 and while we still went to see Grandma - we first took off west to see the Rockies.
The first night we stayed in a motel at North Platte, forgetting the Union Pacific ran right beside the highway, so every 20 minutes a train whistle - my dad was not happy - the second night we were in Big Thompson Canyon and stayed at The Dam Store - It's still there, but much larger - after the big flood - My mom loved telling everyone we stayed at the "dam" store.
We drove around in the mountains and ended up at Colorado Springs where we decided to drive up Pike's Peak. Had a new l934 Plymouth - after we passed timber line - the car just stopped - we flatlanders did not know what to do - a Nebraska, Omaha to be exact, car stopped and the man said "You have a vapor lock" poured cold water on the carburetor and away she went! Turned out he ran a garage a half block south of 30th and Newport where we went to church.
Then we proceeded south to Raton Pass - across 66 to Oklahoma and visited in Hammon, OK where mom's family lived. Had a lot to tell about getting stuck on Pike's Peak.
Eulogy (written and delivered by Cynthia R. Harvey)
"Life's a banquet, and most poor slobs are starving to death."
That was Mary Jane's favorite quote. I think I remember at least one sermon that quoted that line from "Auntie Mame." Of course, Auntie Mame never said "slobs" but rather another phrase. The abbreviation for that phrase is found within the word "slobs." Mom knew that, of course, but she cleaned it up for church, as did I.
With Mom, life was always a banquet. We, her four children, can attest to that. Every day was an event.
Mom was an only child. She was born, this is very embarrassing for a Nebraska fan, but she was born in rural Oklahoma. Mary Jane Adams was just one year old when she and her parents moved to Omaha. She loved school and graduated from Omaha North High in l939. She stayed in school one extra year, not because she wasn't a good student, she excelled at all her courses. In the depth of the depression, jobs were few and she might as well get another year's education.
She was 12 years old when her father unwittingly set her on her life course. The small Baptist church where her parents were very active lost the person who typed the Sunday worship folder. The previous Christmas her dad, Fred, had given her a new Remington typewriter and he figured she could do the bulletins. He also brought home the church's mimeograph (the inkiest one ever) and she was in business. Her dad's motto was "learning by doing."
Mary Jane's mother was the formidable Jettie Jobe Adams. Jettie's motto was "just learn." Grandma had left school after the eighth grade, but she was better read than most college professors. She passed that love of reading and that eager mind on to her only child.
From then on Mom was involved in one way or the other in unpaid labor for the church. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and worked on the bulletins. The business courses she took at North High in things that people never learn anymore, skills like typing and shorthand proved to be the key to her working life.
Mom intended to go to college, but shortly after graduation she got a temporary job as a secretary at the Beebe and Runyon Furniture Company, where her father had worked for many years, delivering furniture by horse and wagon. She loved it. There were several other young women in the office and a whole department of young single salesmen.
One of those young men was a fellow North High graduate, Earl Harvey. He was interested in music and church, was tall and good looking and was a great dancer. Now, mom had a boyfriend, Parky, who had moved out to California. He was supposed to come back to Omaha for Mary Jane. But Parky was in California, and Earl would come to Mary Jane's office when she had to work late and would drive her home in his old Model A, Lem, short for lemon. Parky's loss was Earl's and eventually, all our gain.
She and Earl Harvey were married in August, l941 at mom's church, Parkside Baptist. She was told that her job was not open to married women and she went to work at Central High School in the office. 1942 was a busy year for Mary Jane. In quick succession, she became pregnant, gave birth to Earl Thomas, Jr. (Tom). Then Pop was drafted into the Army. Just before Pop was reported for duty, Tom was baptized in the pastor's office at Dundee Presbyterian Church.
Now, how did a nice Baptist girl end up a Presbyterian? Well Pop was Presbyterian, but he had been going to church with Mom. Pop sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, the Baptists just adored him. They wanted him to join, but there was a catch: Pop had to be baptized by immersion. He was enough of a Calvinist to insist that this would be redundant, since he had been baptized as an infant. So, that's how we became Presbyterian. It's funny how your life can be profoundly influenced by small things.
Earl was in the army for exactly 90 days. That's all the time it took for him to catch influenza and for the army doctors to discover he had a heart murmur that would preclude active military service. They were right about that heart murmur; it contributed to his death some 60 years later. Pop worked in the bomber plant for the duration and worked in sales after the war. Over the years, Mom held a variety of secretarial jobs for various companies in Omaha including Brandeis and Carpenter Paper Company. Mary Jane and Earl also owned a hearing aid sales and service company in downtown Omaha's Barker Building for many years.
Tom was followed by a true baby boomer, Mike in 1947. For 12 years they were a family of four, but in 1959, Mom and Pop got a surprise. While Mom was pregnant with me, some wit at Central church walked up to her and cracked, "I'm so glad you and Earl are speaking again!" Pretty risqué for 1959. They were determined that I should not grow up totally spoiled by an adoring father and two indulgent big brothers, so in 1963 they went to the hospital to get me a baby sister. For sometime I was sure there was some sort of mix-up when they came home with another brother, Bill. But he does look like the rest of us, I must admit.
In l971 Mom's life changed forever when she was hired as an Administrative Assistant by Dr. Clinton Marsh, a staff member of the old Synod of Nebraska. When he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1973, she kept the office going.
After Dr. Marsh's term as moderator, he took a new job with the Synod of the South. Dr. Marsh told mom to apply for his job. Mary Jane was skeptical, she had no college education. But she applied and became the first woman and the first non-minister hired as a member of the new synod staff as a specialist in urban mission. There were many exciting challenges, emergencies, and changes during her tenure, but principally in the areas of human relations, race relations, education, hunger and even a program in l978 dealing with undocumented immigrants imported to work in the nurseries in Shenandoah. The tornado in l975 in Omaha led to her being trained by the Red Cross in post-disaster management.
Working with Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska and churches of the Presbytery, dozens of Vietnamese refugees were sponsored and settled in our area. Linked with UNO she worked to bring over 200 Afghan citizens fleeing the Talaban to Omaha, some of whom are now part of the elected government of Afghanistan, including the current president.
Mary Jane served on Omaha's Police Community Relations task force at the request of Mayor Ed Zorinsky. She helped to form a number of community organizations that exist and thrive today including Together, Inc. and the Omaha Food Bank. Also during the 1970's she attended a White House conference on unemployment hosted by First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
Another field opened up to wider vistas when she was drafted by synod and General Assembly colleagues to work on issue committees for the GA. These included hunger, homelessness and peacemaking. She traveled to Cuba in l978 with a church-wide group, to China in 1982, and to the USSR in l985, where they were greeted warmly as fellow Christians.
In the early 80's, farmers in our presbytery were caught in serious financial hardships. A program was worked out whereby pastors could refer needy farmers for grants to engage an attorney in Council Bluffs to negotiate with the bankers to forestall foreclosure. Grants were obtained from Self Development of People, the Hunger Fund and other GA resources. Over 100 people were helped with these grants, and some of them are still very active in their churches and appreciative of the presbytery. Mom was also part of bringing Willie Nelson to Memorial Stadium for a Farm Aid Concert.
Even though mom never got a chance to go to college and Dad never finished, all four of us kids went to UNO (or in Tom's case, Omaha University, he's pretty old!) All four of us hold a post graduate degree. None of us would have gotten as far as we did without Mom (air quotes) "urging" us on, sometimes resorting to outright threats.
Of the four of us kids, three are professional church workers. The oldest (Tom) is Director of Music Ministry at New Horizon Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs. Number two son, Michael, is pastor of a three church parish headquartered in Carson, Iowa, where he has served 34years. His wife, Suzane Jones, is a multi-talented artist and regularly serves as organist in their churches. I am pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kearney, Nebraska. Mom was overjoyed when I returned to Nebraska after 20 years away in California, Ohio and New York. Her last overnight trip was to attend my installation in August of 2007.
Bill, the baby, and his wife, Gretchen, are both attorneys. We call Bill the black sheep because he is not only an attorney, but an Episcopalian, but all is forgiven because he and Gretchen produced the only grandchildren. They are busy parents of Kaitlin (18) and Robert (14). Kaitlin and Bob were the life and joy of the last part of both Earl and Mary Jane's lives. Your grandma was so proud to see the poised young woman and well mannered young man you are both becoming. Your aunts and uncles adore you too, I hope you know that.
I hope you know we are all so proud of how kind and gentle you have been with us since we lost Grandma.
One of the highlights of Mary Jane's life is her affiliation with Benson Church, which she joined in l991. In the fall of 1995, she was hired as the world's most over qualified church secretary. At the time, she told Jerry Kyuk she would try it for two years. She lasted 7. Her increasing ill health and failing sight finally side lined her. Benson church adopted our whole family, I can never come here without remembering my ordination or my dad's funeral and how wonderfully you treated all of us not only on red letter days, but any time any member of the Harvey family came through the door.
After mom lost her sight and could not drive anymore, she moved her membership to Tom's church, New Horizon and gained yet another caring church family.
I said that everyday with Mom was an event. She loved the world beyond Omaha and imparted that love to each of her children. We always traveled, often piled six of us in a station wagon, sometimes with an extra kid in tow.
Mom went to places other people didn't think about, Cuba, Russia, China? Who goes there? Mom did. Mom visited 4 Canadian provinces and 49 states. She never made it to Alaska. She regretted that until recently, when Sarah Palin fixed that problem.
That brings me to another of mom's passions: politics. When she was in high school, she traveled with the Junior Red Cross to Washington DC and met Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. While she didn't vote for John Kennedy in 1960, she soon became enamored of all things Kennedy and stood in the rain to shake hands with Bobby when he came to campaign in Omaha for the Nebraska primary. Less than one month later, Mom got up in the middle of the night to see how Bobby had done in the California primary. Her shrieks of anguish sent us all tumbling out of our beds and down the stairs, to find mom sobbing in front of the television.
Mom got most involved in politics in 1972 on the George McGovern campaign. Mom had first become aware of Senator McGovern during her battle for school lunch. In the late 1960's and early 1970's she went to battle with the Omaha Public Schools and along with other Presbyterian women and community activists, forced the district to properly use federal funds it was already receiving, to provide lunch programs to low income children. In May 1971, she testified in front of the United States Senate Committee on Nutrition and Human Need chaired by Senator McGovern about the experience with School lunch and federal funding in Omaha. A World Herald editorial cartoon depicted this struggle. Mom had the original of this cartoon framed and it hung in her office for many years.
During the McGovern campaign, Mom would go to headquarters, Bill and I in tow, and answered phones, typed letters, organized mailings. One day, when she was answering the phones, a young guy came in and told her she wasn't doing it correctly. She fixed him with one of her looks, and said, "Sonny, I was answering phones when your father was in short pants." He withered away. Mom was later told by a McGovern campaign staffer that they suspected that the young man was a Nixon operative. He hadn't been seen before and wasn't seen again. As Mom told this story in later years, the campaign staffer became McGovern's campaign manager, future Senator Gary Hart and the young man became known Nixon operative, Karl Rove. I can believe that it might have been Gary Hart, but it wasn't Karl Rove. He wouldn't still be around if Mom had fixed him with one of her looks.
Mom arranged for Bill and me to accompany her and Pop on George McGovern's whistle stop campaign train across Nebraska. The only opening was in the bar car for the press corps. So mom and Pop tended bar while Bill and I had the run of the train. Only mom would pen a thirteen year old girl up in a train car full of liquor with the Washington press corps, Gary Hart and Hunter Thompson. It turned out fine and more than fine. I showed up beside Senator McGovern on the ABC evening news and Bill and I had an experience others just dream about.
Mom's interest continued to the day she died. She was a devoted viewer of CNN and MSNBC, particularly enjoying Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and her recent favorite, Rachel Maddow. She loved Hillary Clinton, but when Hillary said to adopt Obama, mom adopted and voted and helped Omaha go for Obama. Although she was hospitalized at the time, she wasted no time in submitting her early vote for Barack Obama for president. This vote continued her tradition of voting in every single election in which she was eligible to vote. Mom was born in 1920, the year women got the vote. She knew that the freedoms we love are not that old and to take them for granted was wrong.
Her last conversation with her longtime friend, Helen Douthy, was to celebrate Obama's victory. Helen was gone by the end of November, but both she and mom lived to see that momentous election day.
At this point I need to mention, my mother was not a perfect person. She made some doozies of mistakes in her life. She paid for them with many moments of regret and anguish. I know she helped many more people than she harmed. But does the good we do wipe away our sins? Mom didn't believe that and didn't teach us to believe that. She taught us to believe in God's abundant grace and mercy. Without that, we are all up the creek.
I wish I could say that there was nothing Mom loved more than Pop and us kids, daughters in law and grandkids. There was something I was never entirely sure that she loved more, but we were a close second or it was. I am speaking of course, of football.
Mom was the die-hard Nebraska fan. She loved football, beyond all reason. When she went to her first day at North High, the girls and boys were separated into two assemblies. Mom never found out what the boys did in their assembly, but in the girls' assembly, the football coach came in and explained how football was played to the girls. Mom was intrigued, went to North's season opener and was hooked.
I was born during halftime of the North/Creighton Prep game in October 1959. I hasten to add, Mom was not at the stadium at the time. But Tom was, leading the band, Mike in the stands with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom and Pop settled down to listen to the first half on the radio, she went into labor, they went to the hospital, I was born and mom and dad listened to the second half. I have to admit with some modesty, North was behind at the half, but went on to win the game. This is a source of secret shame for me, because as most you know, I went on to graduate from Benson.
Mom went to games in Lincoln whenever she could get tickets, but in 1967, Mom got her season tickets to Nebraska. She and Pop did not miss a lot of Saturdays. She saw all or part of 5 National Championship teams, sending her personal instructions psychically to Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Frank Solich and Bill Callahan never learned to listen to her. Bo seemed to take her instructions pretty well, though. Apparently, Mom is still giving Bo plays from Heaven, given the outcome of the Gator Bowl.
Mom also followed the NFL. Her favorite NFL team? Which ever team had the most Huskers. She liked some non-Nebraskan players like Joe Montana and Brett Favre, but they almost always had Husker teammates.
After mom could no longer physically make the trip to Memorial Stadium, Bill took over the tickets. Bob is now our family's biggest Nebraska fan. A few years ago, when I went to Lincoln with Bob to attend a game, Bob mentioned that someday, these tickets would be his. I replied that someday, maybe I could take Bob's son to a game. "Well," Bob replied, "only if I can't go." Bob, grandma loved that story because she recognized herself in that story.
The hardest thing my mom ever had to do was when she lost my dad. First she had to watch him slowly slip away because of Alzheimer's. Later there was the shock of his absence. Through these recent years, it became harder and harder for her to lose more and more contemporaries. Just this fall brought the deaths of Noreen Klein in this congregation, Evie Hodges in Mike's congregation and of course, Helen Douthy. You could see how each death wore her down a little more.
That's just a little bit about our mom, our grandma, our friend. Mom and I had a relationship as complex, stormy and loving as any mother and daughter. She was my best friend. She was the best friend of a lot of people here, including my three brothers. We are all feeling lost without her. She was someone people just adored. In calling people this past week from her friends of many decades to the guy who delivered her oxygen, everyone has been broken up about mom. I know how you feel.
Life's a banquet, my mother believed that. It is just another way of saying, "I came that they may have life and have it in abundance."
