Maralyn (Harrison) Jackson
1944 ~ 2018
Maralyn (Harrison) Jackson died at home in Meridian, Idaho, in her garden on Sunday, June 3, after enduring many years of Alzheimer's disease.
Maralyn was born on August 13, 1944 to Stanford and Marian Harrison in Rexburg, Idaho. She was the second in a family of five children, consisting of Evan, Maralyn, Gary, John, and Martha.
Maralyn graduated from Borah High in 1962 and then attended Boise Junior College, where she met her future husband, Brent Jackson. Maralyn earned an associate's degree in 1964 and then attended Brigham Young University where she graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Home Economics, with a teaching certificate in secondary education. She and Brent married on June 8, 1965 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.
After graduation from BYU, Maralyn attended the University of Utah to complete courses in social work for her first job in the Protection Service Division of the Salt Lake County Department of Health and Welfare as a case worker for child abuse and neglect cases. She worked there until August 1968 when her first child, Cindy, was born. Upon Brent's graduation from law school, they moved to the Bay Area in California where they had their second child, Clint, in September 1970. In 1972, the family permanently returned to Idaho to farm. Sons Layne and Derek were born in November 1975 and September 1980, respectively.
The Jackson Family Farm is one of the last operating dairy farms in Meridian, and Maralyn was an integral working partner who milked cows, raised calves, and worked the fields as needed. She also kept the accounting and cattle records for decades, continually upskilling herself to utilize new computerized systems.
Maralyn also worked for the Canyon County Health and Welfare Department as a case worker, an office manager for State Farm, a bookkeeper for Meridian Glass, and an office manager at Karcher Estates. In 1993, she decided to return to school at Northwest Nazarene University for her Elementary Education Teaching Credential. Upon graduation, she taught at Lincoln Elementary in Nampa in the computer lab for the first year and then third grade for the subsequent five years. When the new Ronald Reagan Elementary School opened in Nampa in 2003, she pioneered kindergarten teaching there, later retiring in 2007 after 11 years of service to the Idaho public education system. She was named Teacher of the Year for the Nampa School District in 2003.
Maralyn was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she served in many positions of leadership, including Sunday school teaching of adults, young women, and children and as Relief Society president twice. Maralyn had a life-long passion for music and served as church chorister for many years starting as a teenager. She also played the flute and piano.
Maralyn was a vivacious and hard-working woman and mother who was passionately devoted to her husband and children. She created a wonderful and nurturing home environment. She adored children. Bright and intelligent, she was an avid reader, an outstanding teacher, and a talented seamstress and cook. She particularly loved gardening.
Maralyn is survived by her husband of 53 years, Brent, her four siblings, her four children: Cindy McNutt (CA), Clint Jackson (ID), Layne Jackson (MA), and Dr. Derek Jackson (South Africa); their respective spouses: Dave, Lara, Janelle, and Morné; and grandchildren: Jackson McNutt, Hudson McNutt, Garrison McNutt, Ian Jackson, Logan Jackson, Dylan Jackson, Luke Jackson, and Heidi Jackson.
Funeral services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2555 S. Stoddard Road, Meridian, Idaho on July 5th at 11 a.m. Friends may call prior to the service from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Burial will be at the Cloverdale Cemetery later that day.
A tribute fund to the Alzheimer's Association has been set up in honor of Maralyn at: act.alz.org/goto/Maralyn_Jackson