Mary Jo Marshall

Mary Jo Marshall (née Ryan), 80, of Seven Lakes, North Carolina, passed away peacefully on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024, surrounded and loved by family.

Mary Jo was born on September 27, 1943, to Dr. and Mrs. Carl Ryan in Akron, Ohio. After she graduated with life-long friends from Our Lady of the Elms in 1961, Mary Jo went on to study business at the University of Akron.

She began her impressive career in the O'Neils Department Store advertising office and continued while the Creative Director of Fred Mayer & Associates Advertising. Later, she transitioned her business acumen to a new sector as the Director of Marketing for the Rapid Response Clinic network in northeast Ohio.

Smart, witty, and compassionate, Mary Jo had a reputation for caring for others and was known for filling a room with her beautiful smile. She was a voracious reader and avid bridge player. Mary Jo was loved by librarians in both Akron and Seven Lakes and her family benefitted from recommendations that flowed from a deep reading list she loved to share. For decades, she was welcomed and respected at scores of bridge tables and tournaments. Her greatest joy, though, was her family. In all ways she was a wonderful mother, wife, and grandmother. Her legacy to her children and grandchildren will forever be lessons in the power of education, the need for gentle compassion, and the importance of a deep faith which she lived out in the Catholic church.

In her final words, Mary Jo said it best: "A life well lived. A woman well loved. A child of God, now welcomed to Heaven."

Mary Jo was predeceased by her father, Dr. Carl Ryan, her mother, Julia Ryan (née Rossi), her sister Francis Comiskey (William) and her husbands Michael Janovic and Dr. E. Thomas Marshall. She is survived by her sister Kathie Jones (Tom), her brother Dennis Ryan, her son Major General Ryan Janovic (Shannon), her daughter Andrea Janovic, Esq, stepdaughters Karen Kaim (Tom) and Deborah Hinson (Al), and her grandchildren: Hanna Janovic, Ryan Janovic, Jr., Patrick Janovic, Chief Warrant Officer Five Thomas Hinson, Noah Kaim, Esq., and Logan Kaim, Esq.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday June, 7, 2024 at 11Am at St. Sebastian Catholic Church, where visitation will be one hour prior. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Knights of Columbus Coats for Kids Campaign or the First Health Hospice House in West End, North Carolina.