Mary Jane Layne

Mary Jane (Breting) Layne was born November 4th 1917 to George and Marie Breting in Kansas City MO, the eldest of their 4 children. She grew up during the Great Depression and learned to be resourceful and frugal without worrying or hoarding. She knew how to budget what she needed. When she was about 7 years old she developed a cough from coal dust in the city and spent the next 4 years in a convent boarding school in the country in Clyde MO, treasuring the memories of those years for the rest of her long life. After high school she attended the College of St. Teresa (now Avila University) for two years, leaving at the age of 19 to marry Kenneth Layne. They raised seven children over their 35 years together. It is noteworthy to remember that her husband died in 1971 – and she still had another 50 years of “adventures” ahead of her. She looked at everything as an adventure waiting to happen. During the ‘60s and ‘70s she was a Girl Scout Troop leader for her younger two daughters. When the activities of her large family quieted down she worked for 15 years as secretary to the president of Rockhurst High School, a Jesuit boys’ school in Kansas City. She loved learning new things, and in her 90s she used-mail and did research on the internet (how many grandchildren can say they have a 90 year old grandmother who sends e-mails?). She loved gardening, walking everywhere, reading, baking and just thinking. She was a good listener, always listening with compassion and understanding, after which you might get a quiet one-liner that would be just the pearl of wisdom you needed to hear. In 2007 she decided she wanted another “adventure” and moved lock stock and barrel to Big Timber, MT, leaving Kansas City after 90 years! but which provided the family a great place to visit! She quickly became an active member of the town, joining Hoe & Hope Garden Club, Kill Kare Klub, the Big Timber Community Garden, was a practicing Catholic and Eucharistic Minister at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, spent hours in Carnegie Library, and walked to the IGA for baking supplies, ACE hardware for gardening supplies, and the medical center to visit older patients – most of whom were years younger. Then, after 14 years of her Montana adventure, her body just couldn’t keep up the pace any longer, and on Friday April 16th 2021 she began her final adventure, going peacefully to Heaven. She is preceded in death by her parents, brother, 2 sisters, husband, a son and a daughter. She is survived by 4 daughters, 1 son, 18 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, 7 great-great grandchildren, and a score of nieces and nephews. A Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated 11:00 am, April 29, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Big Timber. Burial will take place May 6th, at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kansas City, MO. The family requests memorial donations to Hearts and Hands Hospice of Big Timber,