Maryanna Harvey

On March 27, 2013, Maryanna Babcock Harvey (“Teetoo”) of Durango, Colorado, and widow of Alan B. Harvey, died unexpectedly at Mercy Medical Center. She was 93. She was surrounded by all of her Durango family, her closest friend, Mary Shaw, and her minister, Alan Tebrink. Maryanna was born on October 26, 1919, at home on her family’s dairy farm in Moville, Iowa, the first daughter of seven children. Though Maryanna’s parents lost their family farm to the Great Depression, Maryanna remembered her childhood with the fondest of memories (there was never an end to Maryanna’s optimism). Maryanna attended Moville High School, where she first started to date the love of her life, Alan Harvey. Right after high school, Alan joined the United States Navy, and Maryanna began her long teaching career, first in a one-room school house in Newton, Iowa. When on leave from the Navy in World War II, Maryanna and Alan got married in San Francisco on February 20, 1942. They lived there for two years in a small apartment on Nob Hill in San Francisco, but during much of that time, Alan was at sea aboard the battleship U.S.S. Mississippi. Before the war ended, Maryanna and Alan had their first child, David. At the end of World War II, Alan left the Navy, and he and Maryanna moved to Denver, Colorado, and lived there until 1952 when Alan was called back into the Navy to serve in the Korean War. By then, Maryanna and Alan had two additional children: Patricia and Gary. After the Korean War, Alan decided to stay in the Navy. As all who knew her would attest, Maryanna would go to the ends of the earth with Alan, so staying in the Navy and moving every two years with three children (eventually four with the birth of their son, Craig), was of little concern. And yet, though moving from house to house, town to town and state to state, Maryanna provided the most loving, caring, and warm childhood for her children that any mother could ever do. In 1958, and while raising her four children, Maryanna attended night school teaching courses at Kent State University while Alan was the commanding officer for a Naval reserve unit in Warren, Ohio. Though going to night school, and raising four children, Maryanna still maintained her lifelong, optimistic glow that she had to the end of her life. Alan retired from the Navy in 1962, and the family remained in Virginia Beach, Virginia, near Alan’s last duty assignment in Norfolk, Virginia. Maryanna then began her twenty year career teaching at the Quaker Friends School in Virginia Beach where she was known and loved as “Teacher Maryanna.” Any student of Teacher Maryanna was touched by her loving smile and genuine care, and many remained in touch with her for years. In 1994, Maryanna and Alan moved to Durango, Colorado to be closer to the mountains she loved so much and to be closer to daughter Patricia and her husband, Paul Root, and their two daughters, Sara and Maria. As she did all her life, Maryanna immediately befriended those in her church, those who were her walking companions (even to the last days before her death), her dental hygienist, grocery store clerks, members of the Red Hat Society, Four Corners Nursing Home, her bible study class members, the young boy who shoveled her driveway and did so many errands for her, and many others. Maryanna was loving and loved because she actually cared for every one of her many, many friends. A rare gift. When Alan died on Christmas day 2000, Maryanna lost her soul-mate. Alan was truly the love of Maryanna’s life, a more binding marriage there could never be. But even with the loss of Alan, Maryanna’s optimism never faded. To the last, she was her family’s focal point, where every one of her children and grandchildren found their way from all points of the globe just to be with her. At 93, Maryanna lived in her own home, drove, walked daily, and was as sharp as a tack. She will be missed forever by her three surviving children, David, Patricia (Paul Root), and Gary (Rebecca Harvey), and by her grandchildren, Bryan (Michelle Smith), Erin (Sophie Harvey), Joshua (Tanya Harvey), Seth (Ahlam Chehabi), Hannah Harvey (Tyler Burgess), Sara (JP Pritchard) and Maria Root, and her many Durango friends and friends from all over America. Maryanna was preceded in death by her youngest child, Craig, and he had no children. A family service has been held. Services will be held at First Presbyterian Church on April 19 at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society. The family welcomes comments and shared memories of Maryanna at the Hood Mortuary web page: http://www.hoodmortuary.com