February 6, 1926 – February 22, 2024
San Marino, California
Mary Jane Boggs passed away in her sleep at the age of 98 in Pasadena, California. Mary Jane was born in Liberal, Kansas, to Wade Notley and Olive Jane Noble Zimmerman. Mary Jane was the fourth of six children, five girls and one boy.
She was a farmer’s daughter, her parents and siblings worked the family’s dairy farm. Her parents moved from Kansas when Mary Jane was 12, and relocated the family dairy business to Van Nuys, California, in 1938. Mary Jane attended Van Nuys High School. She then enrolled at UCLA, where she joined the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She graduated from UCLA with a bachelor of arts in political science in 1949. Mary Jane became an elementary school teacher upon graduation. It was in college that she met Logan Boggs. They married in 1950, and had three children together. Mary Jane and her family lived in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Phoenix before settling in the farthest northwest corner of San Marino in the fall of 1962. It was the arrival of their third child in 1963 that she became a full-time homemaker. Mary Jane was actively involved in all three of her children’s lives. She attended every Little League game, water polo match, cheerleading performance, play and musical that her kids were involved in. Mary Jane was an active participant and debutante Ball Chair of The National Charity League, PTA President of Stoneman and San Marino High School, Girl Scouts Leader, Boy Scouts supporter, Pasadena Children’s Guild, Luminaries, a docent at Huntington Library, and an avid supporter of Huntington Hospital. She was also a congregation member of the San Marino Community Church. Mary Jane would spend the rest of her life in San Marino.
In 1986, she met and later married William A. Kurlander. He was a true gentleman and a class act. They had a beautiful marriage and he made her very happy. They had over a decade together before he passed away in 1997. Mary Jane was lucky in love and in 2003 married Richard D. Barger of San Marino. Together they shared so many joyous years. The union was loving and he was a wonderful man whom all of our family adored. He died in January 2016. Mary Jane was also preceded in death by Logan A. Boggs Sr. and her sisters Rose Shufelberger, Thelma Klausner, Kate Ann Scholz, and her brother Wade Zimmerman Jr., and her grandson, Matthew Ary.
Mary Jane lived a long and happy life. She made friends wherever she went. Mary Jane embraced literature and was an avid reader, always a book in hand. She loved politics and actively encouraged debate. She loved to travel and visited nearly all of the states in the U.S. She traveled all over Europe, Japan, and numerous other countries in her lifetime. She especially relished her family vacations to Hawaii, as her spouse, children and grandchildren brought her the most joy of all.
Mary Jane is survived by her sons, Logan Alexander Boggs (wife Janet) and Jonathan Lewis Boggs, (wife Marie) and her daughter, Cynthia Jane Boggs-Ary (husband Vincent). She is also survived by six grandchildren, Elizabeth, Thomas, Logan, Mary Jane, Timothy and Veronica. Mary Jane is survived by her sister, Laura Lea Young of Northridge and many favorite nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 9, at San Marino Community Church. A Celebration of Life will follow at one of her favorite places, the Athenaeum (Caltech) in Pasadena.
