Ms. Mary M. Thierry-Jackson

Obituary Mary Thierry Jackson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to the union of Lily Bell Lewis and Abraham Gibson on September 8th, 1938. She departed this life on July 21st, 2021, at the age of 82. Mary was an only child, sadly, she lost her Mother at the young age of 5. Since her Father was a career military man, Mary was lovingly raised by her Grandparents on her mothers side, Willa May and William Lewis. The Lewis’ had a large family support system. Mary enjoyed sharing stories about herself and her cousins’ antics growing up. Mary graduated from Sumner High School in Kansas City, Kansas. She united in marriage to Cleveland Thierry and together raised one son Steven Scott Thierry. Mary and Scotts lives were upended, when her loving husband Cleveland passed away suddenly, her Creator taught her to have faith, that life goes on and she had a son that needed her. Mary accepted Christ as her Savior early in life. She was a member of Jamison Memorial Temple C.M.E. for many years and served faithfully in many church capacities including the Board of Trustees. She learned how to sew from her teens into her twenties with the help of family members and was good at it. Mary went to work for the Columbian Bag Factory in KCMO, where she was a power machine operator sewing potato bags, etc. She was proud to say she was one of the best, youngest and fastest workers they had. Mary later applied for employment with the Federal government. She would talk about the governments’ discriminating employment practices prior to the Civil Rights Movement (1942-1972) when people of color were only hired as cooks or custodians. Her application was accepted, she took the test and was hired in 1968. Mary achieved much success on her job, she was promoted to processing only Corporate tax returns which later involved her traveling around the U.S. to provide training on the newest Corporate Federal guidelines, some of which she helped write. She retired from the IRS after 40 years. Spending summers in Arkansas and working for the IRS spearheaded her love for travel. After retiring, she visited places like Belize, Alaska, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Honduras to name a few. Not sure what Mary enjoyed most traveling or the opportunity to meet new people. She enjoyed spending time with her granddaughter My’ Anna Thierry. Everyone that knew Mary, knows that she had a flare for fashion, from head-to-toe and she dressed My’ Anna accordingly when attending church services. She kept her mind sharp with her word/number puzzles like SUDOKU and Word Seek books. Mary was united in marriage to Earnest Jackson, Jr. on July 3rd, 1995, (Her beloved husband preceded her passing). With that union came an extended family of eight stepsons; Earnest Jackson III, (Donna),Paul Jackson (both Earnest III and Paul preceded her in death) Rev. Edwin Jackson (Denise), Jeffery Jackson (Darlene), Dewayne Jackson, Darryl Jackson, Rev. Tracy Jackson and Vinson Jackson, two stepdaughters, Joyce McAfee and Regina Jackson. She Leaves her son Steven Scott Thierry, (Roslyn Thierry) Grandchildren Steven Thierry Jr., and My’ Anna Thierry, First cousins; Mary King of KCK, Helen Brown of AZ and Theodore Railey of KCK; a host of other family and friends. Funeral Service will be held Saturday, August 7, 2021, 11:00am Jamison Temple CME. Interment Highland Park Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9am-11am at the church. Service conducted by Lawrence A. Jones & Sons Funeral Chapel. Condolences may be shared on our website. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Ms. Mary M. Thierry-Jackson, please visit our floral store. Read More

Ms. Mary M. Thierry-Jackson

September 8, 1938 - July 21, 2021