Marie Agnes Mason
September 28, 1920 - March 5, 2013
Obituary
Marie Mason left this temporal world March 5, 2013, at the Highline Medical Center in Burien, WA.
She was preceded in death by her father and mother Andrew J. and Honora M. Jarnig; brother Andrew E. Jarnig and sister Honora Minshall.
Survivors include her son Robert (Brenda) Mason, nephews and niece Gordon Jarnig, Hap (Wendy) Minshall and Diane (Allen) Hull; grandniece Debbie (Brian) Dornbush; great grandniece Rebecca Dornbush and great grandnephew Jake Dornbush.
A ceremony to celebrate Maries’s life will be held Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at the Bonney-Watson Washington Memorial, 16445 International Blvd, SeaTac, WA 98188. Open viewing begins at 9am and service starts at 11am. A brief graveside ceremony will be conducted followed by a reception.
In lieu of flowers the family requests to please make a monetary donation to Highline Medical Center, 16259 Sylvester Road SW, Suite 101, Burien, WA 98166 in memory of Marie A. Mason.
Marie was born September 28, 1920 in Seattle, WA. She was the middle child of three children born to Andrew “Daddy” Jarnig and Honora “Mother” Jarnig. She spent a few of her early years in Tacoma, WA, before her family moved to Seattle. Her daddy enjoyed fishing and the family eventually moved to and homesteaded on the shores of Angle Lake south of Seattle.
Marie had a memory like a steel archive vault. She often recalled activities on the lake. From entertaining troops during the war, to raising horses, dancing at the Angle Lake Plunge, and swimming in 4th of July races on the lake. She enjoyed watching her daddy’s abilities to train animals especially her dad’s horse Bootsie and later in life his dog Pal.
Marie was an athlete in her youth. She excelled and was a champion in bowling and competition swimming events. Her accomplishments were often documented in local papers. One article stated, in part, “…Washington A.C. girls may get some competition from Marie Jarnig, an up-and-coming junior…”. In bowling Marie was a star, playing on her father’s A-1 Ornamental Iron Works team and often paired with her sister Hon.
Marie married in her early thirties. Her beloved little Bobby was born in 1955. She became a single mother and raised her son just a few miles from the lake. Marie was a working mom. She started her professional career at SeaTac Airport with Northwest Airlines. A short period passed and she joined her mother as a telephone operator with Pacific Northwest Bell in the Burien area. Marie later transferred to the administration offices in Seattle. She took an early retirement after 35 years with the company to care for her aging dad. She was proud of her affiliation with the company and her friends in the Telephone Pioneers in which she was a lifetime member.
Marie worked hard in maintaining her home, while helping her dad at his house after her mother passed away. She toiled long hours. She would recall stories to neighbors about pushing a lawn mower at the acreage on the lake to far hours in the night, only to do the same at her own home the following nights. Marie maintained her activity level by enjoying RVing with friends and dancing on Friday’s, including tap dancing in her 60’s. In her 70’s she bought a computer and took classes. At the age of 80 she drove a shuttle bus for the Goodwill games in Seattle. At 89 she bought an iPhone and began texting. A member of the family recalls: “Since Marie turned 30, she has gotten younger every year”!
Marie prided herself as an informal historian and story teller of the lake and regional area. She belonged to the Angle Lake Shore Club and had her house showing the Red-White-Blue on the 4th of July every year. Ribbons for house decorations still hang in her home today. She guarded the lake fiercely, but with love. Non-lake residents would occasionally use the family high dive and she could be heard by neighbors yelling, “Private dock.” The high dive is now considered a shared private dock for the neighbors in the cove.
Marie ferociously claimed her independence by insisting on living by herself in her parents’ home on the lake. She held to tradition and many items in her home that were placed by her parents still remain in the same position. Marie would occasionally leave the lake for special trips: cruises to Alaska, Las Vegas, and visits to her dad’s home villages in St. Georgen and Labientschach, Austria. In the early 60s, Marie visited her sister’s family living in a town of 1,100 in North Dakota. The day she arrived, her brother-in-law, Hud, drove her down Main Street to give her a feel for small-town living. Marie leaned out of the open car window and loudly called “Hi, how are you!?” to everyone on the sidewalk and laughed uncontrollably at their expressions of surprise. By the time she left a week later, she knew practically everyone in town by name and corresponded with many of them for years afterwards. Her last visit to Austria was with her son and daughter-in-law—Marie was 84 years old at the time.
As Marie slowed in her later years her independence was respected by everyone around her. Her loving neighbors and friends helped and visited her often. She loved her neighbors and often referred to them as family. Marie would tell stories to them about early life on the lake. In the last few years when it was hard to walk the driveway hill to Military Road her neighbors would bring the newspapers and mail to her door. One childhood friend, who lived across the lake, would look for her house light at night. All Marie wanted to do was to sit in her chair and read the newspaper, play her circle the word puzzle, listen to 30s and 40s music, watch televised news, make calls to her family & friends, and listen for her son’s tapping on the window when he came to visit.
She was ready to say, “Goodbye” to her lake and parents’ home only two days before passing. She will be missed greatly. As one family friend has said, “Marie has just changed addresses and will be forever with us.”
We all are with you
Our deepest sympathies during your time of loss. Marie was a very special woman and will be missed also on this side of the pond…
Rob & Bren, Marie was a true pistol. I am so grateful to both of you for allowing me to meet and get to know this wonderful woman. She will be greatly missed by all whose lives she touched. The world was a better place because Marie was in it; her memory will live on. Love to you.
Our deepest sympathies. Love to you.
Oh, no! Marie left for the best fishing there is!
She paid me the highest compliment one day and I shall treasure it forever! Tears, hugs and much love to you, Marie. You are a true pure light to follow.
Rob, you took the best care of your grand lady. My thoughts and prayers are with you. We’ll all miss her very much.
Whenever I remember Angle Lake, I remember her and Grampa Jarnig and Pal. Fish on!!!!
Marie…..I never had the chance to meet you but I feel like I know you after sharing the many stories of you with Bren and Robby. May you rest in peace…..
Marie would call us to ask if we were going to Pioneers
luncheon. She could talk and talk about the good old
days when she was young and it was interesting to hear
what life was like in those days. Will miss her
Marie was always happy to be with family including our family. Of course, Rob was her pride and joy and he took such good care of her. She seemed to have touched a lot of lives. May Rob and Brenda find comfort knowing she is at peace. Love you guys
I worked with Marie many years at PNB and she was wonderful to everyone. She will be long remembered.
My family knew Marie and Rob for many years in the neighborhood and through the Boy Scouts. She was dedicated to all that Rob did and always had a smile and kind word for everyone. loved taking my own children, Erin and Evan over to her lake house to visit and Trick or Treat. She had a little duck toy they always had to find and take for a walk. She will be missed but never forgotten and I know she’s here close by as we are their heaven on Earth.