Mary Elizabeth Reddin
Mary Elizabeth Reddin passed away in the early hours of January 24, 2024, in her Goleta home of sixty-five years. She lived her ninety-seven years with the kindest of hearts, the keenest of intellects, and the most generous and compassionate of spirits. She is sorely missed by her surviving children Sharon Iverson (Ron), Roy (Karen), Rebecca, and Bowen. Along with Mary’s eight grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren they are filled daily with gratitude for her exquisite nature and the enduring influence she has on their lives. Mary believed strongly in her Christian faith and lived the ideals of humility, generosity, caring for the poor and not judging others. She looked forward to being reunited in heaven with her beloved husband Frank (Bowen Franklin), her son Tom, and her daughters Valerie (Davis) and Elizabeth.
Mary was one of the last remaining women of that generation of Americans who lived through the Great Depression and Dust Bowl and came of age during the Second World War. She was born in Wamego, Kansas on August 22, 1926, the daughter of Carrie (Pugh) and Lee Marshall. She was a farm girl who remembered the hard work involved in growing crops using plow horses, and the auctioning of the farm when it failed due to the Dust Bowl. When the family heard of an opportunity to homestead in Alaska, Mary and her younger brother and sister traveled with their mother by train and steamship to Alaska in 1936, to join their father on the 40 acres he had carved out of the Matanuska Valley wilderness. Though full of hardship, her life in Alaska was rich with nature and community, and another brother and sister.
Mary met and married a soldier in Alaska. She followed Frank to Little Rock, Arkansas, Indianapolis, Indiana, and several places in Texas as he served in the Coast Artillery, then as an Air Corps Cadet trainee, and then Infantryman, and she completed high school. They started their family in Santa Barbara, then added to it in Anchorage, Alaska, Little Rock again, and finally Goleta.
Mary was an unfailingly nurturing mother running a nine-person household with its unrelenting duties with skill and commitment, with few vacations and no resentment. She actively supported her seven children in their pursuits.
Mary worked for a local paper and for many years at the Santa Barbara County Welfare Department, from which she retired. She was a member of the Community Covenant Church. She and Frank enjoyed many extended trips in their small RV to visit friends and family members all over the United States. Mary painted and wrote extensively, and family members now eagerly await the discovery of yet more of her colorful and poetic descriptions of her life and thoughts. She led a life centered on her family, nature, God, and simple beauty.
All who knew her are grateful for Mary and her abundant love.