grave import

Obituary

Duerr, Mary Jane - Stack
Mary Jane Duerr passed away peacefully at her son's home on November 10, 2006. Born on August 26, 1917, on a family plantation in Arkansas, her family soon moved back to Burlington, Iowa, where she was raised and where she has always called her home. Her parents, Harold and Harriet White, had two more children, Carolyn and Blair, with whom she remained close to throughout her life. She received a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Iowa, and subsequently earned a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago. At the start of the Second World War she moved to California to work with the Red Cross. After the war she worked with the Red Cross in Japan during the American occupation. She returned to the far East again when she worked as a social worker in a MASH unit during the Korean War. She enjoyed her career as a social worker, and for all of her life she was concerned about the fate of those less fortunate. After the war she returned to California where she met and married her husband, Robert L. Duerr. She and her husband built a house in Redwood City, Calif., had one son, Robert Duerr, III. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church both in California and here in Idaho. After spending 35 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, she and her husband moved to Boise to be closer to her son, Robert, her daughter-in-law, Elaine, and her grandchildren, Conrad and Taylor. She loved her final years in Boise in the company of her husband and family. She was preceded in death by her husband and they will both be interred together in her home town of Burlington, Iowa, overlooking the Mississippi River. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, November 21st at 12 at the First Presbyterian Church on 9th and State Street. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Boise. Services are under the direction of Cloverdale Funeral Home.