Obituary

With her family by her side in love and gratitude, Mary Jo Aegerter took her last breath on July 16, 2024.

The first day of Spring was a fitting day for this gentle soul to make her appearance on March 21, 1935, the first of two cherished children born to Gwendolyn (Swift) and Clarence Lindahl. Mary Jo was born in Sutherland, Nebraska and spent her first years in Lincoln, NE, where her father pursued his graduate studies in mathematics. Both her parents were educators and Mary Jo was always a good, thorough student. She approached every endeavor with quiet enthusiasm, care and precision. These attributes would inform her professional, as well as her private pursuits.

When she was twelve years old her family moved from Nebraska to Iowa where her father earned his doctorate and was then hired as professor of mathematics at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) in Ames, Iowa. Mary Jo would go on to attend high school in Ames, as well as ISC where she majored in Home Economics, with an emphasis on Design. During her freshman year she joined Kappa Delta Sorority, and it was during a freshman mixer that she fortuitously met a tall, slim young Architecture student named Bob Aegerter who would become her life partner of sixty-six years.

Mary Jo’s modest and reserved demeanor belied an everlasting eagerness for new experiences. In 1955, at the age of twenty, she embarked on a trip to Europe, sailing there on an Italian ocean liner. The anticipation must have been contagious; even her brother Chuck, who was sixteen at the time and good at saving money, underwrote the trip in part, ensuring his big sister could enjoy the adventure. The trip was extensive, and included en plein air painting in France, sojourns in Sweden and Ireland, where she connected with her father’s and mother’s families, and a jaunt to Germany where she purchased a Rolleicord camera for her boyfriend Bob. That camera would chronicle new adventures that Mary Jo and Bob would share, after they were married in Ames, Iowa on September 14, 1957. After marrying, Mary Jo worked in Minneapolis, while Bob finished his Architecture degree and commuted to Northfield, Minnesota. In 1959 the couple settled in Northfield and began to raise a family. Paul was born in 1960, William was born in 1963.

In 1967 Bob and Mary Jo heard the call of the Pacific Northwest and bundled up their sons and their belongings and headed west. The beauty of the tall grass prairies of Nebraska with its Sandhill Cranes and the fertile cornfields of Iowa would be exchanged for the snowcapped mountains and glistening waters of Puget Sound. From late 1967 to 1979 Mary Jo and Bob made their home in Bellingham, WA. Daughter Brenna was born in 1970. During their residence in Bellingham, Mary Jo worked for over eleven years as a part time instructor at Western Washington University’s former Home Economics department, teaching the elements of design, fiber art techniques including spinning, dyeing, weaving, and batik. In 1979 the family relocated to Seattle where Mary Jo held several positions:  including selling art at Nancy Teague Gallery and as archivist for McKinley Architects. She contributed as a researcher to the 1986 Allied Arts of Seattle publication entitled Impressions of Imagination: Terra Cotta Seattle. With her trademark eye for detail, Mary Jo was an excellent guide to buildings in Seattle which were decorated with terra cotta. In 1985, Mary Jo earned her master’s degree in art from Western Washington University. Her thesis was an examination of the Triumph Tapestry Panel at the Seattle Art Museum, a medieval tapestry. While in Seattle, Mary Jo was a dedicated member of the Seattle Weavers’ Guild.

In 2003, both Mary Jo and Bob retired and moved back up to Whatcom County to be close to son Paul and his family. They quickly engaged in Whatcom County activities; Mary Jo was active in the Whatcom Weavers’ Guild, attending the fiber arts convention Convergence, practicing Tai Chi with a group, and becoming a faithful participant in the great books club “Heavy Culture.” Throughout the transitions in her life, Mary Jo was a steadfast and complementary partner to Bob, collaborating with him in many volunteer activities in environmental advocacy. Mary Jo and Bob shared an interest in historical and contemporary Native American Art and were members of the Friends of Northwest Native Art.

Retirement afforded the opportunity of travel to United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. Mary Jo was a faithful, lifelong member of Kappa Delta Sorority; with Bob at her side, they took regular vacations at diverse locations with her sorority pledge group.

Her family remembers her as supportive and kind-hearted, always up for joining in on what others wanted to do. Some favorite memories include her handmade and neatly wrapped caramels at Christmas time, teaching batik at home, as well as carding and spinning wool in public schools in Whatcom County.

Mary Jo was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Bob, her brother Charles Lindahl, and nephew David Lindahl. She is survived by sons Paul Aegerter (Cecily), Bellingham, WA, and William Aegerter (Joanne Hossack), Portland, OR; daughter Brenna Aegerter (Scott Larwood), Stockton, CA; grandchildren Evan Aegerter, Ian Aegerter, Paul Larwood, Gwen Larwood; step grandchildren Niki Hossack and Levi Marks. Mary Jo is also survived by her niece Maria Lindahl Greenfield (Greg), Norman, OK.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Mary Jo’s name to Allied Arts of Whatcom County, alliedarts.org or Whatcom Hospice, whatcomhospice.org. A memorial will be announced at a later date.