Mary Katherine Jarrell
Honoree:
Mary Katherine Jarrell
Submitted By:
Mary Lynn Calhoun, Dean UNC Charlotte College of Education
I am writing to honor my mother Mary Katherine Jarrell on the Cato Teaching Discovery Mural.
Mary Katherine attended Marshall University in Huntington, WV during the years of the Great Depression, at a time when university tuition was $16 a month. She majored in home economics, a natural outgrowth of her blend of artistic and scientific talents and her eye for beauty.
She began her teaching career as a home economics teacher in Cabell County Schools, serving young people in the rural community of Barboursville, WV. She taught her students not only how to “make do” in difficult circumstances – making dresses out of feed sacks, for example – but also how to create a home environment that was welcoming, hospitable, and respectful for all family members, friends, and for the stranger. In other words, she taught her students to “do well” even when experiencing deep poverty.
One of her students shared with me how Mary Katherine influenced her life: “I had no idea that there was such a thing as a napkin; I had no idea that there was such a thing as a salad until I took her class. Mary Katherine gave me the gifts of health and beauty in my home that set me on the path toward a meaningful life.”
Mary Katherine retired to Charlotte in 1980 to be close to her grandchildren. In her retirement, she focused a lifelong interest in quilts and quilting in new ways as a quilting teacher and a quilt historian. She saw quilts as a metaphor for the strengths, adaptability, creativity, and sisterhood of women. Passing on the knowledge of quilts and the skills to create them to the next generation brought her great joy.
Our faith tradition teaches that we are created in God’s image. For Mary Katherine Jarrell, that image is reflected in her ability to create and inspire beauty.
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” ~ Psalm 84:1
Mary Katherine Jarrell is honored by Dean Mary Lynne Jarrell Calhoun