Marette Jackson Stiritz

Marette Jackson Stiritz of Conway passed away quietly on July 8 at Ridgemere Senior Living in Conway. Her funeral service will be held at First United Methodist Church of Conway, Arkansas, on Monday, July 14 at 11 a.m., preceded by a visitation from 10-11 a.m. Graveside service is that afternoon at Graceland Cemetery in Pine Bluff at 4 p.m.

Mattye Marette McCauley was born in Centerpoint, Arkansas, on Dec. 9, 1931, to Delos and Lucyle McCauley. She was the first of their six children.

Marette graduated from Redfield High School where she was all state in basketball. Her bachelor's degree is from Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, and her master's and doctorate are from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Her career as an english teacher from 1950-1996 covered positions at three Arkansas public schools (Plum Bayou, Augusta, Swifton) and two Arkansas universities (Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia; University of Central Arkansas, Conway).

At Laura Conner High School in Augusta in the early mid-1950s, Marette and her husband Charles were always selected by the students to be the required chaperones at their school dances. After all, they were only a very few years older than the students themselves. During such events, babysitters were in short supply, so they often took their preschool son Chuck to the dances. He still remembers many of the songs.

From casual discussions at SAU over coffee in the university center, Marette's grasp of English history quickly became well-known and appreciated among the faculty. In fact, Dr. Robert Walz, head of the history department and noted scholar on both Arkansas history and history of the American Southwest, once stopped her on a university sidewalk, shook her hand and remarked how proud he was to have her as a colleague on campus.

Marette was very popular among English majors at SAU, too. So much so that a number of them once descended on the department head beseeching him to keep Mrs. Jackson on for teaching Shakespeare the following semester (which hadn't been according to his plans). The students argued that other English majors having taken the class under Mrs. Jackson had lauded it so much as to convince them to take it under her, too, if at all possible. Her popularity among SAU students wasn't limited to English majors. When the SAU student government initiated the practice of naming a teacher of the month, she was the first professor to receive the honor. Her popularity did dim somewhat among a large group of female students, those who participated in the very popular and well-run intramural sports program. Competition among 18 to 22-year-olds was fierce enough without these poor young things having to compete against seasoned veteran faculty athletes twenty to forty years their seniors. The faculty female basketball team, for example, counted among their players three former Arkansas high school all state players and another Louisiana all state player with a very wicked hook shot. The female faculty teams of which Marette was a member consistently took the basketball and softball intramural championships and were awarded the much-coveted championship T-shirts. Not only that, but Marette, herself, was the undefeated intramural women's tennis champion every single year of her tenure at SAU.

At the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), Marette's proficiency in her career would garner additional accolades. She wrote two grammar books while there, one for entering freshmen and another for English majors. Both were adopted by the English department. She received nationwide recognition for her contributions to the teaching of English grammar, American short story, English novel, American modern poetry and composition writing. She was a member of the Arkansas Council of Teachers of English Board of Directors from 1968-1984 and also served a term as president. She served on an Arkansas board for the review and selection of children's books for elementary school libraries. She was invited to speak at several foreign universities and teachers' organizations on various subjects related to teaching English.

She didn't stop teaching English after retirement, either. First United Methodist in Conway has an outreach evening and Saturday program with classes on the fine arts, plastic arts, crafts and other subjects. Several adults in the congregation requested a class on the classics in literature, and Dr. Stiritz was asked if she would consider teaching it. Frankly, she couldn't refuse the money; there wasn't any. Consequently, she gave them hell, ... Dante's Inferno. The course proved such a success she was asked to continue them.

Marette is survived by her husband John Stiritz; her brothers, Delos Mac, Danny and David; her children, Chuck Jackson, Retta Zumwalt and Shelia Jackson; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. She's also survived by her and her husband's extended families. (The McCauleys and Jacksons alone would tally more than five hundred, and the Stiritzes increase in number seemingly every two weeks or so with absolutely beautiful newborns.)