Mary Deane Jackson

On April 4, 2022, Mary Deane Jackson went to live with Jesus in Heaven. Mary Deane was called “Deanie” by family, friends, and her five grandchildren who she absolutely adored.

Mary Deane is survived by her loving husband of 48 years, Jim; her daughter, Laura Wilson and husband Dusty and their children Abby, Maddie, and Andrew; her son Jay Jackson and wife Karen and their children Evie and Wes. She is also survived by her mother, Priscilla Tolar; her sister Donna Baumgartner and husband Herb; her brother Tom Tolar and wife Sharon; her sister-in-law Gloria Rinker and husband Mike; numerous nieces and nephews, and a host of other family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, James and Mary Emma Youngblood and E.G. and Zenobia DeaneTolar. She was named after these two grandmothers. She was also preceded in death by her father, William Thomas Tolar, Sr.

Deanie was born September 11, 1953, in Ennis, Texas to William Thomas Tolar and Helen Priscilla Youngblood Tolar. She met her husband, Jim, when they were both members of the Ennis High School Band. They were high school sweethearts and were married on June 22, 1973. She attended Baylor University and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls where she graduated as a registered nurse. Deanie began her nursing career as a Registered Nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs as Night Charge Nurse for Pediatric ICU. Over her career, she served in various capacities for hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. She retired after 40 years of faithful service, but still continued to care for family and friends. She always had a bag packed ready to go when she got the call.

Over the years, Jim and Mary Deane served in church ministry in many towns across Texas and Colorado. Wherever Jim was serving, Deanie was serving as well. They served in Colorado Springs, Killeen, Waco, Uvalde, Corsicana, Pasadena, and Bryan, TX. Everywhere they went, they brought a deaf ministry to their church. In each town, they met, served, and loved many friends. She would brighten up the room with her smile, wit, and infectious laugh.

Mary Deane enjoyed traveling, especially cruises, in which she had enjoyed over 40 trips. She often enjoyed the excursions; zip lining, tubing, lying on the beach, and swimming with stingrays and sharks (she said they were nurse sharks so they wouldn’t harm her due to professional courtesy). Her favorite activity of all was snorkeling as, while she loved all God’s creation, she loved under the sea the best. Her greatest joy was her family, in which she loved it as all her children and grandchildren would get together anywhere, be it her home, a cruise, or a beach house. With them all together, it made her heart content and she was a happy woman. She called it “blessed chaos”.

We will miss Deanie; her love, her care, her humor, her smile and her ability to beat the boys in dominoes. We rejoice that she is in the presence of Jesus and is free from her struggles. We look forward to seeing her again in Heaven.

We will celebrate her life Monday, April 11, 2022, at First Baptist Bryan, 3100 Cambridge Drive, Bryan. Visitation will be at 1:30 with the service to follow at 3:00 in the Worship Center. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to either

Autism Society of Texas
https://tinyurl.com/AutismSocietyTXDonate
OR Deaf Kids Code http://www.deafkidscode.org/donate