Jill Macy Obituary

Jill C. Macy died Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Iowa Falls, Iowa. She was 92. A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in the Lowell and Jill Macy Family plot at Bluff View Cemetery in Vermillion. Funeral arrangements are under the guidance of the Sietsema Funeral Home in Ackley.
Jill was born on October 17, 1932, to Marshall B. and Loyola Curtiss in Cedar Rapids, IA. Jill had a fraternal twin brother nicknamed Jack, born four minutes earlier. In 1939, the family moved to Detroit, MI, when her father took a position with the Flintkote Company, a construction firm involved in the war effort. Jill attended school in Detroit, graduating from Redford High School in 1951. Jill remembered taking the train to Bradford, Illinois, every summer to visit her beloved paternal grandmother.
Jill attended Ohio Wesleyan for one year before transferring to Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. Jill graduated in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in music. Jill started working at the Detroit News, writing obituaries. No one could spell complicated names better than her. She was never stumped.
In 1957, while working at the Detroit News, Jill earned her teaching certificate from the night program at the University of Detroit. It was unusual then for women to attend school, let alone at night, while working during the day. She taught first grade from 1957-64 at Sylvester Shear Elementary School in Detroit. Jill loved first grade, especially teaching children to read. She treasured the joy in their faces when they learned new words or finished that first book.
Jill earned her master's degree in education from the University of Michigan. While at the University of Michigan, she met Lowell Macy, a graduate student in pharmaceutical chemistry. They were married on June 23, 1962, at Martha Mary Chapel, Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan. They were married for 61 years until his passing in 2023.
Lowell and Jill built their life in Illinois, where Lowell worked for Abbott Laboratories. Later, they moved to Vermillion, SD, when Lowell switched to consulting. Jill taught first grade until Robert was born. She also substituted at Vermillion High School during the years Anne Marie attended VHS.
Jill claimed she had a second job working for the church. No matter where they lived, Jill found a home at church. Jill liked to say that she was born Christian and stayed faithful for her life. Starting in the early 1980s and lasting over 30 years, Jill led a multi-denominational Monday morning Bible study in Vermillion. Lowell may not have liked attending church, but he always showed up at home for lunch on Monday to learn the weekly news. When Jill returned from the Bible study he would ask, "What did the girls visit about today?"
Detroit's vibrancy in the 1940s and 50s fueled Jill's love for the arts. She was an excellent organist with, as she said, an acceptable alto voice. She played her organ until her mid-80s, when arthritis made it difficult. She adored the theater, especially Shakespeare. Her favorite plays were Othello and Macbeth. For decades, Jill attended the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Stratford, Canada. While in Vermillion, Jill attended the plays from the University of South Dakota's theater department.
A green thumb does not even begin to describe Jill. Her extensive gardens in her Illinois and South Dakota yards were well known. The Eastgate house garden was lined with stones she hauled home from her many trips from the farm. She loved heritage plants, especially the daylilies that originated from Lowell's aunt. While she treasured all flowers, her homestead roses were trusted favorites. Always an introvert, Jill weeded for her alone time as no other family member was willing to help with that chore, which pleased her. Inside the house, Jill maintained anywhere from 60 to 150 houseplants. Several plants originated from plants her father grew in the 1940s or were given to her at her wedding. Even at the assisted living facility, houseplants filled Jill's apartment.
Later in life, Jill traveled with Anne Marie and her family, especially to national parks and the Western states. While the Grand Tetons were her favorite park, she would proclaim each new place she visited to be the best after that trip. They visited 18 different states on those trips. She always found a few rocks to add to her collection.
Jill was an excellent seamstress. She made all her clothes for decades. Jill took up cross stitch while volunteering with the Bluff View 4-H club in the 1980s. Her stitching was always straight, neat, and even, a product of her attention to detail.
Jill had many hobbies in addition to flowers, music, and sewing. She loved to read, especially about Biblical archeology and psychology. For television shows, no one liked a murder mystery better than her. She loved to cook casseroles and stews.
Jill treasured and celebrated the blessings of God that filled her life-nature, family, the fine arts, keeping a home, laughter, and high moral character.
Jill is preceded in death by her husband, Lowell R. Macy; her parents, Marshall B. and Loyola Curtiss, and her twin brother, Marshall L. Curtiss. She is also preceded in death by her in-laws, Harry and Lenore Macy; brother-in-law Elwood Macy and his wife, Lenette Lind Macy; two nephews, Gary Macy and Steven Macy; and sister-in-law, Shirley Macy Berry.
Jill is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Patty Macy, and grandsons, James and Benjamin Macy of Wellsburg, Iowa; and her daughter and son-in-law, Anne Marie and Neil Terry, and granddaughter Hannah Marie Terry of Canyon, Texas.
The family of Jill Macy would like to thank her many church friends and neighbors who shared and appreciated her talents and her love of Christianity, the arts, and nature.
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