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She was an amazing woman and lived a full life. Her sense of humor was non-stop - think of Great-Aunt Gussie in the Garfield comic strips and you'll get a sense of her flavor. Sometimes, I felt like she was more youthful than I was - and was great fun to be around. She was a STRONG woman - so very strong. I know she's gone on to better places - but the ache is pretty poignant right now.

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. . . As the daughter of a bridge engineer, she and her family moved frequently, living in Yakima, Omak, Tacoma, Hoodsport, Potlatch, Quilcene, Shelton, and, finally, Olympia. She graduated from Shelton High School. She attended Business College in Tacoma, Washington and moved to San Francisco, where she met and married her first husband, Arnold Curtis. In 1942, she moved to Alabama, where her husband was stationed at the United States Army Prisoner of War Camp during World War II. In 1945, they moved back to Olympia, where she lived for the remainder of her life. They divorced in 1952. Mary Jane worked as a secretary for the Washington State Attorney General's office for several years, and then was employed by the Olympia Brewing Company as a secretary for fifteen years. Mary Jane worked diligently as a single mother, raising two sons who were the center of her life. This was during an era when society looked down upon divorced women. After her children were raised, she met and married Howard Bolster and began work at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. She and Howard build an A-frame home overlooking Budd Inlet, where they enjoyed watching boats come in and out. She retired in 1974. Mary Jane was well-liked by people. She made friends easily, and some of her most favorite times were spent with her friends playing cards. She loved golfing and big band music. She had a delightful sense of humor and loved sharing jokes with her friends and family, frequently leaving notes in her secretarial shorthand.

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I have a great cassette tape of her when she agreed to participate in one of my college class studies on human development. I won't listen to it tonight, but I'll pull it out later. She always said she was a "modern woman" before "modern women" came into existence.

Funny - I was just telling Nathan the other night about how she and her boys decorated tin can lids for Christmas ornaments one yera - because that's all there was . . . and that she treasured that memory because they were healthy, happy, warm, and had enough food.

God bless you, Grandma . . .

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