RIPLEY – Mary Jeffrey, 94, of North Highlands, CA, formerly of Ripley, WV, passed away of natural causes on July 12, 2010 in California following a 12 day hospital stay.
She was born on June 11, 1916 in Dallas, Texas, daughter of the late James and Marie Schor Nemec. Her parents were immigrants from the Czech Republic, coming to America in search of work in her father’s trade as a bricklayer.
On July 25, 1944 Mary wed Ronald Leslie Jeffrey, an Army Air Corp. flight engineer on C-47 aircraft who was winding down his service in WW-II. The couple settled in Brookfield, IL., and three children were born to the union. They moved to Ripley, in 1974 to be close to Ronald’s family.
Mary worked at various jobs in her life, including seamstress, assembly line work and was employed b y the Hotpoint Corporation. She was a member of the Brookfield Baptist Church in IL and the West Ripley Baptist Church, where she was baptized in 1975. She loved to read, can her own food, sew, quilt, cook and bake and was crocheted up until her illness and death making baby hats for hospitals.
In addition to her parents, her beloved Ronald in 1994, son Ronald Jr., in 1946 and daughter Betty Ellen Jeffrey preceded Mary in death in 2003.
Survived is one son, Kenneth Ronald Jeffrey (Deena) of California; grandson Benjamin Paul Jeffrey (Michelle) of California; great-granddaughter Lily Lynn Jeffrey; stepdaughter Mary Esther Jeffrey Grey of Indore.
Funeral Service will be 1 p.m., Monday, July 19, 2010 at the Waybright Funeral Home, Ripley. Burial will be in the Pine Hill Cemetery, Ripley. Friends may call from 11 a.m. until time of service on Monday at the Funeral Home.
