Merna (Harris) Jones passed away May 5, 2013. Merna was the granddaughter of local homesteaders who settled in what would become Boundary County. Her Harris grandparents had followed the timber east from Minnesota, then to Bonners Ferry. The Heathershaw’s lived in Iowa and moved out to Moyie Springs. Merna was the daughter of William H. Harris and Ethel (Heathershaw) Harris, who had the first marriage license issued in Boundary County. She was born in Coeur d’Alene on March 12, 1923.

She grew up in Coeur d’Alene during the Great Depression. She had many fond memories of swimming in pristine Lake Coeur d’Alene and going to the Wilma Theater with her brothers and sister. Merna was the kid sister to William Harris Jr., and the older sister to Rae (Harris) Johnson and Roger Harris. She graduated from Coeur d’Alene High school in 1941 and attended North Idaho College. She accepted a teaching position at the old Belmont School, located east of Athol in 1943.

While attending Lewiston Normal School in the fall of 1943, she met the love of her life, Marion Baxter Jones, at a local dance. Marion was in the Navy receiving flight training in Lewiston at the time. The two were married in January 1944. Leta Rae Jones (Jessick) was born in October 1944. Baxter was on board an aircraft carrier most of the war seeing action in the Pacific and being present when the peace with Japan was signed in 1945. Baxter left the Navy in 1948 and returned to school with Merna, each earning their degrees from the University of Arkansas.

Merna began teaching elementary school in Las Cruces, N.M., when Baxter began teaching Horticulture at the University of New Mexico. Mark Jones was born to the family in 1960. Marion passed away unexpectedly in 1962, and the family moved back to Coeur d’Alene in 1966. Merna accepted a teaching position with School District 271 in 1967, retiring in 1986.

She spent her years with District 271 teaching second grade at Harding School. Merna cared deeply about her students, and never gave up on a child, especially when a student had difficulty reading. She mentored other teachers and encouraged her coworkers with humor and love. in retirement, Merna excelled at being a grandmother, spoiling all the children in her family with books, goodies and quilts that she had hand sewn. She especially loved eating pizza with her brown-eyed grandson James, and laughing at his antics.

Merna is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Corene Jones, and grandson James; her daughter and son-in-law, Leta Rae and Frank Jessick, and their children, Laurel and Max Downing, and Scott and Anna Jessick; and great-grandchildren, Marissa and Casey Downing, and Madison and Merideth Jessick; her sister, Rae Johnson and brother Roger Harris. She was preceded m death by her husband, Marion Baxter Jones; her parents and brother William Harris.

A viewing is scheduled at noon today, May 10, 2013, at Yates Funeral Home, Coeur d’Alene Chapel, and funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. Merna’s family wishes to thank the staff at Legends Park Assisted Living for their kindness and the excellent care that they provided. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Union Gospel Mission.