We don't get to pick our parents and we especially don't get to pick our in-laws;  I am so blessed to have the best of both. 
Mary Jo has always made me feel special and loved.
She was full of energy (she was always doing something), very thoughtful and organized. 
She loved her family and friends and would travel to see as much of them as possible. 

Here are just some of my favorite memories of Mary Jo that I will always treasure:
-She always sent a thank you note even if it was just for having them over for dinner. 
-She always remembered your birthday and even kept a supply of birthday, thank you, anniversary cards ready to be sent out. 
-Traveling in her RV was her favorite, especially to Yosemite. Marty and the girls and I tagged along as much as we could. 
-She was always up for a day trip to the beach or drive up to Santa Barbara.
-We always received  postcards from their travels, and it always included the weather and something that they did or who they saw.
-When it came to gift giving for the holidays, Mary Jo made sure everyone was taken care of and knew just exactly what we needed.
-Mary Jo  initiated  some of the families’ collecting habits, Barbies, holiday ornaments, racing memorabilia  and who can’t  forget about the Jack in the box antenna balls, (we all had a collection) or the solar bobble heads for every holiday.
-Her love for playing games especially dominoes that we would play almost every time we all got together.
-She loved a good sale, always ready for a shopping trip, or a good garage sale.

-My most favorite and treasured memory is her love for a beautiful sunset. I will miss her phone calls just to say go look outside the sunset is so pretty. Mary Jo has given that love and enjoyment of the simplest things as a sunset to her family. As Marty's many Facebook posts show his love for sunsets too. So, every time you see a pretty sunset, please be reminded that Mary Jo is admiring its beauty too!


We lived on the same street as the Couches.  I was 8 years old when we moved away, but my mom and Mary Jo never lost contact.  My memories are of Bill and Mary Jo traveling around in the motor home… stopping in AZ to see my parents and I always had the joy of seeing them as well.  Mary Jo was so kind and offered her home to me and my baby boy once when I came to visit a friend many years ago.   I always got a Christmas card, telling of their travels that year and the updates of the family.   I will say that she loved her family more than life and always had a smile on her face.   
My prayer for you now Mary Jo… Numbers 6:24-26.  May the Lord bless you and May you be at peace with the Lord!  ❤️

What to say about my beautiful Mother? 
I always felt loved. 
She was so good at the little things. 
She knew what it was like to be a working mother having to balance it all. 
Over the years, it is the little things I will remember. 
So many things, whether it was the wedding day candles she bought for the rooms of our guests at our wedding in Yosemite or the dinners she would have in the crockpot at our house ready when we came home from work. 
It is the little things I will remember and miss the most.  We always got postcards from all of her and my Dad’s travels. She always made sure to make note of the weather, the sites and the people they were visiting. 
My Mom was not a fancy lady but she loved her jewelry, sparkles, the color lavender and wine. 
It is all the little things I will remember and miss the most.

My dad and Mary Jo.
Having had to say goodbye to dad 6 months before having to say goodbye to Aunt Mary Jo, this photo feels like a sweet message of, "we are together, smiling and watching after you - we are just a little down the road".  Their smiles are so genuine and warm.

I have years of wonderful memories of seeing my Aunt and Uncle and cousins.  She will be deeply missed.  Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary Jo were quite the travelers and would see my dad up in Santa Barbara many times.  All our love and prayers to Bill, Eddie, Marty, Lynn, and their families.

Tom & I met Bill & Mary Jo before we were even married (& they were newly married) when Tom started at Ma Bell in the Hollywood garage in 1959 & bowled with Bill (Hollywood Legion Lanes!).  We quickly became close friends.  So much so that we were honored to be Godparents for Eddie. MaryJo & I were "hours on end shopping buddies" for years, especially every year in Las Vegas at the Telco annual bowling tourney. She was a "sale aficionado",  scanning sale flyers, basking in the glow of the very best deal to be made when finding just the perfect item for someone! 
She was always so pleasant to be with - never a cross or unkind word.  She was my "co-pilot" as we navigated new "shopping" waters anywhere - I'd map out the route and she'd call out the directions!  Besides her Catholic faith (which we shared, as well as the same order of nuns in grammar school in different parts of Calif!) she always made Bill  & her family the most important things in her life.
I truly will miss her! But, now she is again the happy, always considerate, old Mary Jo that we all knew and loved! My Tom, and so many others, were in Heaven to greet her!  I understand your grief at her loss and am keeping all the family in my prayers but know, from experience, that unfortunately, the "missing her" will never stop,.. 
Love...    
                        



OBITUARY

Mary Jo Couch

10 June, 1939 – 15 November, 2021

Bastian & Perrott, Oswald Mortuary

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