Marion was born 6/1921 in a small town in rural Nebraska, the second of eight children. Her family worked their farm through the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, eventually losing the farm in foreclosure. The lessons of hardship and hard work left a lasting impression on their family. The Ickes children attended an all grades school house in town, Marion started young so she and her older brother could commute together on the same horse, consequently graduating at age 15. She then left her small town to go to secretarial school in Lincoln, NE. There she worked, sending money home to help, and met John Jackson, who became her husband of 57 happy years. Their early life together was interrupted by WW II. John joining the Navy and Marion moving to California to join the war effort. After the war they returned to Nebraska starting their lives together, building a home and adding two children, Jayne and Fred. In the mid fifties, job opportunities brought them to Seattle where they settled in the Magnolia neighborhood. She worked for King County election and licensing, served as an elder to the Magnolia Presbyterian Church, Magnolia Newcomers and was an Ambassador for the Seattle Seafair. She was an avid bridge player, and an adventuresome traveler visiting many parts of the U.S., Central America, Europe and Asia. In retirement they were able to enjoy time at their second home on Hood Canal. Fishing, crabbing, boating and spending time with friends and family filled their days. After John's death Marion enjoyed a second marriage to Col. Robert B. Logan (retired) and his three sons and families were added to her extended family. Marion was steadfastly connected to her family, friends, neighbors and community. She will be missed by all who knew her for her loyalty, generosity, quick wit and love of life. She is survived by three siblings, her daughter, Jayne Scribner (Rob), her son Fred Jackson (Chrissie), six grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren. Because we can not gather at this time friends and family are invited to view photos, read and share memories on her memory/obituary page at dignitymemorial.com/obituary-seattle-wa/marion-Jackson-9921813. Donations can be made in her name to Childhaven, 316 Broadway, Seattle ,98122.
To view Marion's Memorial Service please visit:
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Fred's Eulogy:
A century is a long time and mom’s nearly one hundred years were filled with many milestones
and memories. To recall or record them all would require a reader to pack a lunch, a thermos
and with my story telling, a pillow. I will attempt brevity by dividing her life into her early, middle
and later life sections. We have had an outpouring of family and friends’ memories so much is
said in their remembrances, bear with me for redundancies.
Mom’s early years were spent in her home town of Page, Ne. She was the third of nine
children, the second of surviving children of Neven and Rachel Ickes. ( Neven frequently and
proudly proclaimed that he had eight kids and “not a knot head in the bunch”). The family lived
and worked their farm through the Dust Bowl and Depression years eventually losing the farm
in foreclosure. Those years were full of sacrifice, hard work, perseverance and humility against
great adversity. The bond of shared sacrifice and commitment to survival forged a permanent
connection. Our parents talk about these hard times but nothing in my lifetime can compare or
even brings me within shouting distance of their day to day lives. Through these desperate
times the family stayed united and strong. A bond that survived the Dust Bowl, Great
Depression and their everyday challenges continued through each of their lives. Aunt Sybil
published a short story about that time and is included in this memory book under the title
“Tough”…..The lessons we learned through our lives, passed on through our parents had their
origins in the survival of the Ickes and Jackson clans. Hard work, honesty, loyalty, sacrifice,
fiscal responsibility, generosity, faith, family, and friendship are but of a few which guide us and
we hope to pass down to our families.
Mom left Page after graduating from High School (age 15) and entered secretarial school in
Lincoln. This resulted in her being employed at Wentz’s fuel supply making enough to start her
independent life, sending any extra money back home to help. There she met John Jackson,
whom she married and shared 57 years of loving partnership. Their courtship was over a year
many of their dates included John’s mother, Edna (spend a minute thinking about that!). Their
marriage June 1, 1941 was a gala at the Page Methodist Church and memorable for a goat
pulled carriage (think Cinderella). Their early life together was interrupted by WW II and John’s
enlistment in the Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Marion left Nebraska to work at
Lockheed, in California, living with John’s Aunt Grace. After the war they returned to Nebraska,
building their first home ( building it after work and on weekends) and bringing their children
Jayne and Fred into their family. Job opportunities in Seattle moved the family to the NW, mom,
Jayne and Fred flying (seriously in an airplane, mid fifties). John and Neven (Marion’s father)
drove the family car and belongings (again, think about that, your father-in-law in a car, cross
country when they may have said ten private words before the road trip).
The middle years were spent in Seattle, raising the family, working for extra money, bridge
clubs and bridge games with the family after dinner, losers did the dishes. I should mention
here, the great marriage negotiation/compromise. Mom said she would go fishing with dad if
he would play bridge with her. Of course the beauty of that is mom actually loved fishing and
dad’s quirky bidding and play made him a desirable partner, he actually looked forward to
these social events. We paid homage to our Nebraska roots traveling 24 straight hours by car
each summer on a pilgrimage to Valentine, Omaha and Page to visit family. I am trying to
remember if the concept of a seatbelt existed as Jayne and I slept in the backseat untethered. I
do clearly remember where the best hamburgers and chocolate milk shakes were served,
hands down Little America, Wyoming. Miles and miles of advertising were on all roads and
from every direction.
Mom started working part time for the election board, evolving into a full time position in the
King County licensing department. These extra dollars paid for their rental homes and
scratching mom’s travel and adventure itch. Visits to far flung parts of the U.S., Europe, Central
America and Asia filled her itinerary. Dad went on a few, just to see what he might be missing. It
turns out he didn’t think he was missing much and mom then traveled with friends and family.
She wrote out each trip with postcard pictures and a hand written travelogue. This itch
continued through out her life, ending only when her health precluded safe passage.
Jayne's Eulogy:
I would like to thank my mother for her Many life lessons which has influenced my life significantly.
1. Survival skills. My mother went through many examples of hard times as a child and then again in old age. She never talked about the dust bowl until rob and I watched Ken Burns dust bowl with her. At that point she shared how her mother made her wear a handkerchief over her nose and mouth when she went outside and how her eyes hurt. She also never acted like she and her family were poor except that when I complained about wanting something new to wear she would remind me she only had one dress and one pair of shoes when she was young and her sisters wore them when she grew out of them.
In her old age when she had to have monthly shots for macular degeneration and she couldn’t see to read even large print books and had to go to services for the blind to get books on tape she didn’t complain, nor when she couldn’t hear or chew food, did she complain.
She did not dwell on bad things or ask for sympathy. She just dealt with issues the best she could
2. Family loyalty. Of course there never was a family as great as the Ickes family. She was always so proud to be a member with her sisters as her best friends and her brothers as her saviors. She also cared for and helped her nieces and nephews when she could. Fred and I are fortunate to be blessed with a caring big family since we were the smallest family with only two kids and grew up away from everyone. We always felt included and of course benefitted from our summers away "helping” our aunts and uncles.
3. Neighbors and community. Mom was always a good neighbor and Fred and I also had a extended family surrounding us when we grew up. Our dad also was a good neighbor always helping when he could. Mom worked in the greater community and seemed to enjoy volunteering and of course played bridge as often as she could. This carried over to me as I moved often as a single mom and neighbors were very generous to me as well.
My mother’s influence on my life different from hers to benefit me directly.
Education. Education was emphasized and college was understood since both she and my father never had that opportunity. I learned that even though I wanted to major in English, I was encouraged strongly to have a vocation when I graduated so I could support myself if need be( became true) I chose nursing since nursing and education were most common when I went to college. At that time my mother advised me she had always wanted to be a nurse.
Music: I didn’t have much of a choice for piano lessons and in retrospect I am now grateful. I think my mother always wanted to play so I benefited from her desire.
Travel: when I graduated from collage I went with a friend to Europe for six weeks which was such a wonderful gift in terms of my growth and maturity.
Teeth: since my mother never had dental care until she could afford to go on her own my brother and I always had both regular and orthodontic care.
Work ethic: work was a big emphasis when we grew up and I would say helped me a great deal to further my education and advance my career.
Creative interests: my mother taught me how to knit and sew, often making my own clothes to save money.
Single parenting: both my parents helped me a great deal as my children benefited from their beach time and life skills lessons
Summarizing what my husband-rob said as well as my three children
Rob: we were just dating when rob came to a family reunion in Nebraska. We drove from Seattle snd the whole way rob had me quiz him on the names of my aunts and uncles as well as which cousins belonged to whom
Kyle said his best memory from my mom was when he would go to her magnolia house and play cribbage and offer assistance with her computer questions. He said it always made him feel like a computer genius!
Ty said his best memory of grandma j was sitting at the table at the beach house facing a seemingly huge pile of crab that needed picking. He said he was a lucky kid
Kim said her best memory of grandma was going to her house and picking apples at the neighbors peeling them, and then learning how to make pie dough for making her supreme good pies!
In summary thank-you mom for all that you both taught me by example and by your care and concern always.
Dennis' Tribute to His Sister Marion:
Marion set a high standard for what was expected of a daughter of Neven and Rachel Ickes in the 1920s and 1930s in rural Nebraska. A daughter must play when she plays and works quickly when she works. She must be a multitalented – a milkmaid twice a day, a chore girl and a housemaid the remainder of the day. She must help prepare meals on a stove that was powered with wood and corn cobs, do the laundry on a rough wash board, crank the cream separator and tend younger siblings, Neva, Sybil, Bud and Lionel in a house with six small rooms. (Denny would arrive in 1943 after she left home). She must do her work, play and study by gas lamp. She sweat into her bed sheets in the summer nights and piled on blankets to repel the cold in winter.
An understudy sister of Marion would have gained a great sense of humor, be quick, attentive to hygiene and skin care in a dusty farm environment, conscious of the opposite gender, respectful of her parents, considerate of her teachers and religious leaders, curious about the future, and always always be dedicated to her family.
Economics and practicality linked her and her brother, Millard, as nearly twins. They attended school together in the same grade. They rode Brownie to district 57 one room school with Millard in the front and Marion hanging on for dear life. This joint arrangement continued through high school graduation. Millard graduated from high school on schedule and Marion graduated at age 15.
Marion ventured out into the world much earlier than her peers. Her father, Neven, believed that his daughters could support themselves after being certificated as a stenographer and secretary by the Lincoln School of Commerce. Certification led to a job at Wentz Plumbing and Heating, which led to employee plumber and all-around handyman, John Jackson from a Valentine, Nebraska ranch. They wed on June 1, 1941. John frequently reminded Denny, the youngest, that he had been in the Ickes family longer than he. John served in the Navy during WWII while Marion awaited him in California and Florida.
After WWII, they built a home at 4840 South Street in Lincoln where Jayne and Frederick (“Jackie” aka “Fred”) were born. This home was also shared with brother Lionel when he began studies at the University of Nebraska.
By the mid-1950s, the discomfort of Nebraska’s extreme temperatures and the acceptability of the humid moderate climate of Seattle, as well as job opportunities, encouraged the migration to a home in the Queen Anne district in Seattle. Marion’s parents and siblings were aghast that the sister that often came home to Page on weekends would move 1500 miles away. The extreme distance was somewhat softened by the annual Jackson trek to Valentine and Page through Nampa.
Distance was also softened by Marion’s stenography skills that translated into frequent letter writing, mostly to her parents. Her letters’ right-tilted stylistic handwriting evidenced the speed that she wrote, the quickness of her mind, and the nearness of her heart to her Page family. She also stayed in touch with high school classmates and Page friends that kept her close to her humble roots.
I have heard the stories about the “dirty thirties”: the railroad engineers who threw candy to tanned Ickes children running with outstretched arms along the train track that ran through part of the farm; the dresses made from flour sacks; the crop yields decimated by drought, dust, and hot winds; the need for tight-fisted fiscal management; and Neven and Rachel’s eventual loss of the farm to the bank. Leaving home in 1937 for the “big city” of Lincoln must have been welcomed relief from the ever-present brink of disaster.
Marion felt blessed with her life in Seattle where she quickly made friends, used her social and vocational talents to get good jobs, engage in community activities, and build a house into a home. She and John thrived there individually, as a couple, and as parents. Still, she never lost the love of friends and family from Page. She generously and selflessly served as the tour guide and hostess for her parents, siblings, cousins, and friends that visited. She also reached out to extended Ickes and Schwasinger relatives that she discovered in the area, as well as to Page people who had relocated to the area. Marion was not only popular, she was loved.
Marion was the female trendsetting prototype daughter for the entire Neven and Rachel Ickes family. Marion was shaped by Neven’s optimism, sense of humor, work ethic, thoughtfulness, generosity and willingness to risk. Rachel contributed faith, loyalty, realism and carefulness to Neven’s attributes. Marion redeployed these attributes into the lives of others eight-fold.
Marion’s Book of Life is thick with repetitive works of realistic optimism, humor, faith, thoughtfulness, loyalty, generosity, fairness, compassion, a touch of adventure and much achievement. Although this book has closed, another has opened for her. Meanwhile, John’s and her earthly lives will forever be an influence for good to their following generations.
Alexander Dumas penned it; Neven and Rachel embodied it; Marion and John practiced it - “All for one, and one for all ….”
Sybil's Tribute to Her Sister Marion:
“WHERE HAVE ALL MY LITTLE GIRLS GONE”, our mother queried once, when I came home wearing a big hat for Easter. She was sitting beneath her four boys’ portraits by Joan Buckles, asking plaintively: “WHERE HAVE ALL MY LITTLE GIRLS . . . “Tee” & Tooty”, “Tiny” and “Ole”, GONE? She was seeing again us wearing her organdy dresses with a slip underneath that her sewing machine whirred all night to finish . . . she was seeing new white sox and patent leather shoes and combing Neva’s, Sybil’s and Lola’s beautiful blonde and Marion’s chestnut brown curly hair that she ‘set’ in deep waves with ‘flaxseed to ‘hold’. As the boys, all spiffy in suits, got in line to march to their ‘Whippet’, she marveled how she got them all ready at once to go to Sunday School on Easter. She had hidden eggs at the crack of dawn and each basket with a name on with jellybeans and one chocolate bunny was elusive.
What glorious days growing up and remembering Ickes love . . . for today November 28, 2020, Marion Evadell went to heaven, where Mom and Dad, Sonny Man, Tooty, Buddy Boy and Ole were waiting.
Dr. French had come to their Page, Nebraska home to deliver baby Marion Evadell June 28, 1921 . . . who knew she was destined to live 99 ½ yrs. Big brother, Sonny Man, had a whirlwind that never stopped spinning with sister “Tee”. One day she climbed to the top of the windmill and was screaming for Sonny Man to come get her! Mom, scared of heights, scampered up the ladder to bring her down! That was after she got in Dad’s axle grease and smeared herself all over. Patiently, Mom cleaned her up and put dependable “Sonny Man” Millard in charge of her in the wagon, so she could help Dad pick corn.
When they started to school Marion rode horseback behind Sonny Man to District #57 with Velma & Bonnie Bernholtz, Floyd, Florence, Bob, Don & Goldie Bridge, Howard Holliday, Wendell Rakow and Dorothy Newman rising to face the flag on the flag pole to salute it, Marion was very bright and memorized all of their lessons on the way with Sonny Man teaching her, because she could not see the blackboard. One day he stuttered to tell the teacher, Miss Dorothy Holliday, why “Tee” couldn’t answer the questions and the teacher sent a note home! Soon Marion came with little rimmed glasses placed on her turned-up nose, making the whole school giddy that she could see the blackboard. No one was more proud than Sonny Man, because she sailed to the head of the class with Dorothy Newman, Wendell Rakow and Millard, best friends, sailing on together all through High School.
Marion and Millard rode horseback to High School, putting “Old Dot” in the horse barn to wait with dozens of others. Millard took sports and always had trouble finding her to go home, as she was visiting Leona French, Audine Cork or Virgie Woods to kill time. When Millard had a game, the whole family trailed into the gym and one time Bid Wanser ‘ticked us off’ on his fingers, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …” as we went by and I whispered to Mom, “Why did we have so much kids??? She hissed back: “Who would you eliminate ...?” And loving everyone so, I stuck my tongue out at Bid Wanser.
Marion vowed to Mom often that she did not like baby-tending Neva and me and was never having so ‘much kids’! (She did not and had plenty of money to care nicely for Jaynie and Jackie with Johnny’s good salary.)
In High School Marion was popular and voted “Miss Page”, had lots of friends and dates and was cheerleader at the basket ball games, leading the pep club and yelling in a big megaphone.
Mom was an intellectual and tried to pound in “Tee’s” head with her thimble that she study, more than socialize. So on their long horseback ride to school, Millard taught her everything he knew as a top serious student.
When Neva started to Dist. #57 school, they walked and Millard took her under his wing for a lifetime, as Mom ordered, also giving Marion charge of Sybil, only four, walking the ridges and crying, because she wanted to stay home with “Buddy Boy.”
Marion told Mom her little sisters were a pain in the neck, but she loved “{Buddy Boy”, who was so sick that Mom had to carry him on her hip, as she did her work. Mom and our nurse, Faye, thought he had a ‘burst appendix’ and sure enough, when he finally went to the hospital for the first time in his life, almost 90 and got a heart monitor, the doctors couldn't find any appendix!
Late one night ‘Old Dot’ shied into the fence and cut Marion’s leg to the bone! Dr. French fixed her up and a big jagged scar remained a lifetime.
Graduating in 1937, a year after Lionel was born, Dad got a new car to drive them to Lincoln on ‘sneak day’ and enrolled them in The University &
Lincoln School of Commerce. It was the Depression and they went with little more than ‘permission to go’, as few kids in Page went. Marion soon graduated and got a fancy personal Secretarial job at Wentz Fuel and Oil and met the dashing Johnny Jackson who won her hand to marry!
Page had never seen the likes of the wedding bash the Ickes family pulled off and the angel dust never settled to this day.
That was the magic of Marion’s life, she made money working hard, hand over fist, saving it to bring gifts for the whole family, when she came home and helping Millard join his college Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. Grandpa, NDI, loved the grandkids and said: “Hitch your wagon to the stars and ‘By Jeez’ make a difference!”
Although Mom and Dad should have sent Marion to Harvard with her fiscally competent mind, Dad’s proclamation: “There’s not a knot head in the bunch, still stands.” “No Brag; Just Fact”.
Marion was blessed Johnny was a good provider and she, too, always worked to contribute to the pot, so she could enjoy travelling, have condos, play bridge, give to her heart’s content and be happy raising Jaynie and Jackie with all the best in her nice home (with a view of Mt. Rainier that gleaned her almost a million dollars).
Marion passed away in her sleep with no regrets to the very end, generous to the utmost, following Dad’s axiom: “Cast your bread upon the waters and it will come back to you!”
Farewell and Sweet Dreams, dear sister, Marion Evadell Ickes Jackson. It’s been good to know you!
Sybil Ickes ~ number four.
Lionel's Tribute To His Sister Marion:
My mind was flooded with memories at the news of Marion’s death. The indelible impressions I have held in my memory for most of my life include both Marion and John, who together, mentored me throughout my youth and adulthood. I was the ring bearer in their wedding and remember that Marion, to my delight, rode in a cart pulled by a goat! They moved to Lincoln where John had a job with Wentz Oil Company. I loved their visits and soon after WWII John and Marion made a trek to Paige in a 1940 Ford Coupe with a “rumble seat!!” One of the gifts they brought me was a little Terrier dog named “Peanuts.” Peanuts was my first actual “pet” and not just a substitute farm hand to scare the foxes away from the henhouse and chase passing cars! I could have been spoiled by the gifts and attention but I was determined not to let that happen so they might keep coming! When the State Basketball Tournament was held in Lincoln I took it upon myself to invite two classmates and we stayed at Marion and John’s for nice beds and lots of good food thanks to their hospitality and Marion’s great cooking.
In 1953 our mother, in spite of my protestations, insisted I go to college. She gave a neighbor kid $5.00 to take me with him to Lincoln and deliver me to Marion and John’s-I’m not sure to this day if I was expected!! Nonetheless they, along with Fred, about 4 and Jayne about 6 at the time, welcomed me with open arms and Fred shared his room with me. Their gracious assistance and hospitality made it possible for me to embark on my life’s work and I will forever be in their debt for the help, encouragement and council they provided that led me to engage in a more than 50 year career in veterinary medicine. I simply couldn’t/wouldn’t have been able to do it without them!
Later when they moved to Seattle, we remained close and my family and I visited them many times, and they us, in Idaho. It is still a joy to Jeannine & me to know that our children knew the Ickes family members so well and have so many wonderful memories of them. They were models of generosity! Marion was particularly liberal with bestowing gifts. If one of us admired a household item or piece of clothing, we would find it when we got home, tucked away in our car or slipped into the bottom of a suitcase! Among other gifts from them, Jeannine still uses a cast iron pot she admired after using it in Marion’s kitchen to make jambalaya and commented that she had never been the recipient of such spontaneous largesse!!
Marion and John, as well as my parents and all of my brothers and sisters, had an immeasurable influence on me and my family and I am deeply indebted to them all for the proud heritage I hope that I have been worthy to carry on and pass forward. It is with humble gratitude and proud love that I bid farewell to my dear sister, Marion, as well as all of the others who have gone before me. I also must express my thanks to those of my family members who remain and continue to mentor and care for me and my family in the honorable tradition that was established long ago by our parents. May we all continue to carry on, strengthen and perpetuate this worthy legacy.
Love to all,
Lionel
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