Mary Therese “Terry” Jarchow
A wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother extraordinaire, Terry passed into her forever home having lived a rich life full of family who adored her.
Born in Chicago during a violent snowstorm to Mary (nee Daegling), and Jack Craig, Terry spent most of her youth on the North Shore in Wilmette and Winnetka, Illinois. She moved to Albuquerque with her family in her early teens and there contracted her lifelong love of the Southwest and horses. Terry graduated from the University of New Mexico majoring in History and minoring in English and Art and spent many years exploring diverse cultures with her husband and collecting art, the love of which she instilled in her children.
Terry’s first job dispatched her to San Francisco, where she met the dashing Naval Medical Officer, Brian Jarchow, with shared roots in Chicago. They were married in Albuquerque and immediately moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where Brian completed a medical residency in Radiology at the Mayo Clinic. Living in a Quonset hut for married students, their first 2 daughters were born. After Brian’s residency, the burgeoning family moved to Los Angeles where 2 sons joined the menagerie. A job offer in Santa Barbara took them up the coast to raise their family in the beauty of the Montecito foothills. There a daughter was born, completing the family.
Terry and Brian joined the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem through the Roman Catholic church and together they traveled to Lourdes, France, and the Holy Land, where they renewed their wedding vows at the location of the marriage feast and Jesus’ first miracle. Terry retired with the rank of Dame Grand Cross having supported the Holy Sepulchre’s work with the Bethlehem University reflecting its great compassion for all in need and desire for all young people to have a chance to succeed.
When their children were grown, Terry embarked on a second career. Having received a degree in equine management, she began raising, breeding, showing, and training Peruvian Paso horses at their ranch in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. Over the course of 30 years, Terry and Brian and Rancho de la Florecita achieved incredible success, breeding more than 100 horses, many which enjoyed exceptional show careers, winning national titles and awards. Their tireless commitment to building a world class breeding program through hard work, study, science, skill, and intuition, mixed with a little bit of luck, produced horses of exceptional quality, At the time of Rancho de la Florecita’s closing in 2013, it had become one of the premier breeding ranches in the country.
Terry’s love of horses was only surpassed by her love of her family. Nothing could bring her greater joy then having the growing family gather at the ranch, ride the horses, swim in the pool, and enjoy being together. The older riders rode in the Santa Barbara Old Spanish Days Fiesta parade for 25 years and the grandchildren rode in the Solvang 4th of July Parade for 15 years highlighting the beauty of the horses as they gaited down the parade routes.
Terry is survived by her five children, Therese Brown, Nancy Beckstrom (Lee), Craig Jarchow (Angela), Brian Jarchow (DeeDee), and Anne Vejvoda (Serge); 14 grandchildren, Barrett (Katie), Tessa, Andrew (Cacia), and Helen Brown, Katie Muller (Justin), Leanne Cary (Craig), Nyuol Tong Matiok, Megan Jarchow, Brian (Madeline), Connor and Chad Jarchow and Jack, Ella and Luke Vejvoda along with 10 great grandchildren. She is also survived by sisters-in-law Maribel Jarchow and Mary Ann Craig and their children, and niece, Patricia Thurston.
The family wishes to thank the caregivers and staff at Valle Verde Assisted Living and the doctor, nurses and support staff involved with Assisted Hospice whose kindness and care were exemplary.
A small memorial was held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Montecito, CA. In lieu of flowers, we invite you to make a memorial donation to Villa Majella, the Santa Barbara home for unwed mothers founded in 1982 by Terry’s mother, Mary Craig, at www.villamajella.org/donate or to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Western Lieutenancy’s Bethlehem University at
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