Obituary: Harwood, Mary Lou
Age 80
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at the St. John Methodist Church with vault interment to follow at the St. John Cemetery.
A reception will follow the graveside at the St. John Community Center.
Mary Lou was born in Renton, Washington on February 13, 1934, the second child of Oliver and Ruth (Kilham) Martin.
Her father passed away when she was nine months old.
With the loss of her father and the height of the Great Depression, the small family moved to Pullman to live with Mary Lou’s grandfather.
Times were tough and Mary Lou learned to live very frugally during those times, recalling the times she, her mother and her brother would split the very rare treat of a candy bar three ways.
She grew up in Pullman and graduated from Pullman High School with the class of 1952.
After graduation, she attended classes at Washington State College (now WSU) while also working at in the school’s copying and mailing department.
In the early summer of 1953, freshly out of the service, Jack Harwood and his friend spotted Mary Lou and her friend in Pullman and offered to take them for a ride around town in Jack’s convertible.
Garnering a positive response from the girls, and not knowing who liked whom, the boys were quite polite and let the girls choose who they wanted to sit next to in the car.
Mary Lou sat right down next to Jack and didn’t leave his side ever again.
The couple married a few months later in Pullman on November 21, 1953.
After their wedding, Jack and Mary Lou moved to their farm two miles northwest of St. John, WA.
It was at the farm that they raised their four sons - Mark, Alan, Eric and Gary.
Jack and Mary Lou lived at the farm until moving into St. John proper in 2011.
Mary Lou loved farm life and being a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Her kitchen was always open to anyone who would wander through the farm, mostly friends of the boys who would come and stay.
She never knew a stranger and made new friends wherever she went, including the time she and Jack spent snowbirding in Park Moabi, Arizona.
She was a kind and caring person and would give the shirt off of her back if she thought it would help someone.
She loved to garden, was an avid grower of raspberries, and will be remembered by her family for her oversized fruit pies - made in a cake pan with each half of the pie being a different fruit.
Her favorite hobby was collecting driftwood and no trip on the boat would be complete without coming back with a few new pieces to add to her collection.
Mary Lou is survived by her husband of 60 years, Jack Harwood of St. John; sons Mark (Della) Harwood of Greenacres; Alan (Nancy) Harwood of Walla Walla; Eric (Judy) Harwood of Prosser and Gary (Monica) Harwood of Spokane; as well as her ten grandchildren Amanda Lou, Jerod, Jason, Jeff, Jeremy, Rolan, Robin, Justin, Josee and Adelaide and three great grandchildren Weston, Brielle and Layton.
Her parents and her brother, Will Martin, preceded her in death.
Memorial contributions in Mary Lou’s honor are suggested to the St. John Volunteer Fire Department.
The family wishes to express their gratitude to the fire department for their many kindnesses as well as to the staff of St. John Community Pride and Whitman Hospital for their exceptional care of Mary Lou over the past few years.
BRUNING FUNERAL HOME of Colfax has been entrusted with funeral arrangements.
Online condolences may be left at www.bruningfuneralhome.com