Mary Ethel (Johnson) Eckard

Mary Ethel (Johnson) Eckard

Mary Ethel (Johnson) Eckard, 78, of 2119 Bantam Ridge Road, Wintersville, Ohio, passed into the arms of God October 31, 2018, after a brief hospital stay at Trinity West in Steubenville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Howard and Anice (Lewis) Johnson of Lynn, Indiana. Born August 6, 1940, she was preceded in death by her parents, a brother James Parker Johnson, and two sisters, Phyllis “Pat” (Zicht) Woods of Winchester, Indiana, and Wanda (Bob, deceased) Pierson, of Tucson, Arizona and South Carolina, and a Grandson, Justin David Abel.

Mrs. Eckard, Mary, (Nammy), was proud to be known as an Educator.  She was an early leader in understanding Learning Disabilities and started classes for those students at Jefferson Union High School long before it became nationally recognized.  She used to tell her classes, in truth, that she came into the school with the electricity.

After teaching high school for nearly thirty years, she then taught at Franciscan University in Steubenville and Youngstown State University for another eighteen years where she was a much loved and respected professor and guidance counsellor, only retiring when a severe heart condition required it. She won many awards for her work with both the Gifted and Talented and the Learning Disabled. There was never a student she could not reach.

She was a talented musician with a rich alto voice who loved to sing, especially at church. She also had a wonderful sense of humor that often came out in her singing.

She married her husband James, in Buncombe County, Ashville, North Carolina, November 9, 1961. She leaves her husband and three children, James C. “Chet” Eckard II, Shannon K. (James) Abel, and Timothy S. Eckard.  She leaves four grandchildren, Stephanie L. Abel (Johnny Riot), James C. “Jay” Eckard III (Ariel Brzycki), Cary Ann Eckard (Steven Casey Search) and Holly E. Eckard, along with three great grandchildren, Emma June Search, Victor Clash Riot and Thomas Edward Eckard plus a sister-in-law, Kathleen L. (Bill, deceased) Miller, as well as a number of nieces, nephews and cousins from Florida to Indiana and Arizona to the Carolinas.

She was First Family of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana but her humility would not let her take advantage of it.  She was Past Worthy Matron of Toronto Chapter OES and Past President of Steubenville Assembly S.O.O.B. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. She had a thirst for knowledge which led to her average reading a book a day from age 5.  She was an avid crossword aficionado, doing her puzzles in ink. She was a collector of stuffed bears and leaves many without a companion now.

She willed her body to the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee.  There will be a celebration party in her honor at the North River Avenue Christian Church, 207 North River Avenue, Toronto, OH, 43964, November 24, 2018, from Noon to 5 PM and all who come will be required to take a stuffed bear home.  In lieu of flowers, etc., it was her wish that money be donated in her memory to the North River Avenue Christian Church in Toronto, Ohio, Ekklesia Christian Church, in Conway, S.C., or Promise Land Ministries in Gallivants Ferry, SC

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