Mary Ruth (Kent) Jacoby

Mary Ruth Kent Jacoby, age 75, was born to Ray and Avis Kent in Des Moines, Iowa, on November 30,1948, and died in Brownsville, TX, at her winter home, of ovarian cancer on Monday, Mrach 25th, 2024.

Mary graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School, Des Moines, Iowa, in 1966. Her greatest achievement there was being selected to All State Chorus. Even though she was an alto and did not get to sing the fun parts, she loved the experience of taking part in something so large and beautiful. Music was a big part of Mary’s upbringing. Her father was choir director at Grace Baptist Church, and it was a forgone conclusion that all four of his children would learn to read music and play an instrument. She was a self-taught pianist. Mary loved to read and make people laugh.

When she was eighteen, Mary moved to Denver, Colorado and started working for Hilton Reservation Service in the Denver Hilton Hotel. She loved that job and over the years, she worked in sales, marketing and banking in Colorado and Minnesota. In Denver she met and married the first of three great loves of her life. Steven Markwood and Mary were married on July 18, 1970. They were blessed with two children, Stacie Markwood Boggs, and Brian Kent Markwood. That union ended in divorce. Mary moved to Redwood Falls, Minnesota, in August of 1981 and within a short time met and fell in love with Peter Simmons. They married on January 2, 1982, and welcomed a son, Andrew Simmons Jacoby. Tragically, two weeks after Andrew was born, Peter was killed in a car accident. And finally, she married Jerry Jacoby on December 23, 1984, after which Mary’s mother told her, “Now Mary, three husbands is enough. Don’t get married again.” She didn’t. Jerry and she blended a family with Jerry’s two children, Michelle Jacoby Schwartz and Steven Bruce Jacoby, joining the Markwood/Simmons brood. Jerry adopted Andrew in 1985.

Jerry and Mary enjoyed many adventures – working together on the farm, sailing on Lake Superior, and traveling on several once-in-a-lifetime trips. In 1995, they bought a beautiful property with a little cabin on Leech Lake. In 2013, they designed and built their dream home on the same property. In 2022, they bought a winter vacation home in Brownsville, Texas.

Mary was preceded in death by numerous family members; her husband, Peter Simmons; and stepson, Steven Bruce Jacoby.

Mary is survived by her beloved husband, Jerry; children Michelle Jacoby Schwartz and her husband Anthony Cadungog, Stacie Boggs, Brian Markwood, and Andrew Jacoby and his partner Bobbi Barron; stepsons, Troy, Todd, and Chad Simmons; grandchildren, Katie, Alyssa, Cody, Blake, Ben, Caleb, and Tyler; and five great-grandchildren. Mary also leaves behind her most wonderful siblings and their spouses, Ron (Priscilla) Kent, Kathy (Larry) Smith, and Bob (Jan) Kent; and ten Kent cousins.

A Celebration of Mary's Life will be held on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Hope Lutheran Church, 305 10th Street S, Walker, Minnesota 56484, with a visitation an hour before the service. Inurnment will immediately follow the service in the Evergreen Cemetery in Walker, MN. A luncheon will follow at Hope Lutheran Church. 

If friends and family would like to honor Mary with a gift, she requested donations to The Steven Bruce Jacoby Memorial Fund. You can do so by going to https://www.thriventcharitable.com/giving/make-gift clicking "give now" and providing the fund name (The Steven Bruce Jacoby Memorial Fund) and account number 412967. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. We will also be accepting cash donations at her celebration of life this summer.

A private family memorial service was held in Brownsville, TX.

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