Mary Jane Ross

Mother Mary Jane Hobbs Wilson Ross was the eleventh child of twelve children born to the late James (Jim) Hobbs and the late Ada McGinnis Hobbs. She was affectionately sometimes called "Queen Mary" and "Mrs. Reagan" because she was very meticulous in her dress (quite the dresser). She was the last of her siblings and of her first cousins also. Mary was, for the most part, educated in the Alachua County School System...completing the sixth grade at the then, Jerusalem School. Her mother, Ada, then sent her to Avon Park (Highlands County) FL to live with her older sister, Lizzie. There, she completed the seventh and eighth grades. In later years, she obtained her GED and continued on to take courses at Santa Fe Community College, which has now become Santa Fe College. At the age of eighteen, Mary was married to the late Eddie Wilson Sr. To this union was born seven children, one of which was stillborn. Upon the sudden death of her husband, Mary, being with child at the time, was left to raise five young children, the oldest being eleven and a half years old plus the one still in the womb... but God! She later met and married Ellestine Ross, Sr. No children were born to this union. Mary was no stranger to hard work. She planted tobacco, watermelons, and cucumbers for market. She did this on her own land which she eventually rented to other farmers. She gained employment at Shands Teaching Hospital as a housekeeper and sometimes, after working eight hours, she would also pick beans, as a domestic worker, day care worker-taking care of children, and a physical therapy aide at Sunland Center now known as Taccachale Developmental Disability Center. Mary often told the story of how her mother, Ada, told her when she was twelve years old that she (Ada) no longer had her (Mary's) sins and that Mary was now old enough to carry her own sins. Ada told her that it was now time for her to give her life to God and so she did being twelve years old. It was then that she joined Atlas African Methodist Episcopal Church and remained there until she was in her fifties. She then joined Jerusalem Church of God by Faith under the leadership of the late Elder Nazarene Burney, where she remained until her death. While serving God at Jerusalem, she was honored the title of "Mother of the Church" and she endearingly became known as "Mother Ross." She loved God first, her family, the Jerusalem family and the Church of God by Faith Organization. In her last weeks while she still could, she would sometimes get her hymn book and sing different hymns: "Father I stretch My Hands To Thee"; "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah"; "Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior"; and "There's Not A Friend Like The Lowly Jesus". She said, "I learned these when I was a child at Atlas." She daily read her Bible, once in the morning after getting up and once in the evening before lying down for the night. The last scripture she actually read aloud from her Bible to her daughter (Gloria) was Psalms 57. She leaves to cherish her memory: her son - Aaron Wilson (Izola); daughters - Evelyn W Goodson (James), Mary Jean W Waters (Walter/deceased), and Gloria Jean W Trotman (Rev. George); sixteen grandchildren - thirty-five great grandchildren; twenty-two great-great grandchildren; a friend and confidante - Betty Powers Fumby; one goddaughter - Mary Catherine Brown; a 'highly thought of' young lady - Linali Freeman; and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. Her husband, Ellestine Ross, two sons-Henry and Eddie Jr., one daughter-in-law-Pauline, and three grandchildren preceded her in death. To God be the Glory for Mother Ross and for all the years HE allowed us to have her.

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Mary Jane Ross

March 18, 1921 - September 2, 2023