Mary Jocums Obituary Mary Annette was born August 21st, 1938, to Rose Brunner, a pediatric nurse and Viktor O. Wilson, a pediatrician and public health physician, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She joined her brother Viktor to complete the family. As a girl she recalls watching WWII troop transports on the train tracks behind their house. Mary grew up in Rochester, where she was active in Girl Scouts and swimming, enjoyed horseback riding on Wren, and was a voracious reader. In 1960 she earned a Bachelors degree from Grinnell College in Iowa. Highlights in college included a junior year abroad in Munich, Germany, and election to Phi Betta Kappa in 1959. She then attended University of Michigan obtaining a Masters degree in German Language and Literature. Here she met George Anthony Jocums, and they were wed on June 7th, 1962 in Washtenaw Michigan. In 1972 she earned a Masters degree in Library Science from Eastern Illinois University. Their family eventually grew to include 3 children and 3 grandchildren. Mary and George lived in various places during their early married life: Ann Arbor, MI, Albuquerque, NM, Charleston, IL, and Boise, ID. Since 1978 they made their home south of Nampa, Idaho where they began their adventure of farming and raising Murray Grey cattle. They remained on that Down Under Farms the rest of their lives, until after Georges death in 2019. After a few years, Mary relocated to Corvallis, Oregon to be with her daughters. In those latter farm years, she was helped greatly by the Sedlacek, Weaver, and Sayers family neighbors. Mary loved farm life and grew and preserved much of the familys foods. She had a true green thumb. Her love of nature thrived as she watched animals and plants through their life cycle from outside her kitchen window and during her daily farm activities. She and George kept living simple but cherished what the land offered to humans and animals alike. She was experimental in the use of natural ingredients and homemade fare. Mary spent many years hand-making butter, yoghurt and cheese and had an extensive set of customers to whom she delivered milk, eggs, and other products made from the milking cows George kept. She was an active member of the Bennett Club, a farm wives organization that brought social connections to the southern Deer Flat community for decades. She served as its President for several years. Mary and George raised and bred Murray Grey beef cattle, and also showed those cattle in livestock exhibits around the inner Pacific Northwest and even Canada. Mary was faithful and active in the Catholic church throughout her life. She taught youth religious education for several years. In later years she and George attended Latin Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in New Plymouth, ID. She supported her children and grandchildren in their education and her husbands work as a professor, even substituting in his college classes when he needed to be away. She continued to read broadly throughout her life and brought dining-room table education to her family at the dinner table nightly, with the help of encyclopedia references from her home library positioned next to her chair. She loved singing hymns and folk tunes and had a saying to go with any occasion. Mary greatly enjoyed her grandchildren when they came along and developed close and loving relationships with each of them. All had extended "Semi-Private Farm Camp" holidays on the Down Under Ranch and enjoyed many of the very same things that Marys children had while growing up there. One of George and Marys joint projects was doing extensive genealogical research into their ancestors. They travelled widely across the United States with their RV trailer in their retirement to gather primary documents and meet with extended family in this endeavor. This allowed them to enjoy many visits with family and friends, as well as to see nearly the entire continental US a highlight of their retirement. Mary cared for her own mother Rose Brunner Wilson on the farm during her last years. Mary died peacefully on August 14, 2024, at home with all her children at her side. She will be deeply missed and remembered as a loving mother and wife, a hard worker, and a gentle, playful and gracious soul. She is survived by son George Carl, daughter in law Valerie, daughter Stephanie Bernadette, son in law Roy Emery, daughter Kristen Brunner, and grandchildren Zo Alexander Warnek, Rosulian Julia Stracks and Richard George Stracks. She will be interred next to George Anthony in the Melba Cemetery. Services Recitation of the Rosary Friday September 6, 2024 5:00 PM Nampa Funeral Home 415 12th Ave. So. Nampa, Idaho 83651 Mass of Christian Burial Saturday September 7, 2024 10:00 AM St. Joseph??™s Catholic Church 504 Randolph Dr. Melba, Idaho 83641 Interment following funeral service Saturday September 7, 2024 Melba Cemetery Baseline Rd. Melba, Idaho 83641