December 1, 2011

MANNSVILLE, N.Y.  —  Surrounded by her family, Muriel Evelyn “Mim” Jacobs, 80, of Montario Point Road, passed away Wednesday evening, Nov. 30, at her home.

The memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, at St. James Episcopal Church, 24 Lake St., Pulaski, with the Rev. Bridget McManus officiating. Burial will be at the convenience of the family in Ellisburg Cemetery. Calling hours are 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Carpenter-Stoodley Funeral Home, Belleville.

Born Jan. 6, 1931, in Mineola, a daughter of Anthony Merenda and Gwendolyn Matthews Merenda, she graduated in 1949 from Mineola High School. Muriel graduated from SUNY Fredonia in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She also took undergraduate and graduate courses at SUNY Brockport, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Buffalo and in Akron, Ohio.

She married Arnold John Jacobs on June 28, 1953, at the Hempstead Methodist Church. 

Mr. Jacobs, a department store manager and general store owner, passed away July 29, 1999.
A first-grade teacher, Muriel taught in Churchville, Niagara Falls, Akron, Ohio, Watertown, Sackets Harbor Central School and Belleville Henderson Central School, retiring after 31 years of teaching. 

With her husband, Arnold, she was an owner/partner of the Country Gentleman General Store and operated The Father Time Shoppe, both in Sackets Harbor.

She was a member of the New York State Teachers Association, National Education Association,, the Order of the Eastern Star (Sackets Harbor and Pulaski chapters) since 1959 and was a musician for the OES since 1964. She also was a member and longtime secretary of The Ladies of the Wanderlust, a women’s social and study club started in Sackets Harbor, the vestry of Christ (Episcopal) Church of Sackets Harbor and the vestry of St. James Episcopal Church in Pulaski.

Muriel was church organist at the Community Church of Barberton, Ohio, United Church, Sackets Harbor, and St. James Church, Pulaski. She was a longtime member of the Northern Choral Society.

She was a former member of the Historical Board of Sackets Harbor and served many years on the Belleville Henderson Central School school board, of which she also served as president.

She was a KOPS at TOPS chapter NY #1185 in Belleville and was honored recently by the group for her cheerful disposition and teaching members about diabetes and good nutrition.

She enjoyed decorating her home, creating stained glass windows, boxes and lamps, and attending opera productions. Muriel was an avid reader.

She traveled with a Sackets Harbor school group to Italy, the homeland of her father, and recently visited Poland as part of a pilgrimage led by Fr. Jozef Mucha, pastor of Christ Our Light Roman Catholic Church, Pulaski. While there she sang the psalms during a Mass at Our Lady of Czestochowa Marian Shrine, Jasna Gora, where the famous Black Madonna jeweled painting is revered.

Surviving are a daughter and her husband, Karen Ann and Stephen Goodrich, Sackets Harbor; two sons and their wives, Gordon and Margaret Jacobs, Watertown, and Walter and Judy Jacobs, Mannsville. She delighted in her five grandchildren, Craig, Scott and Anthony Goodrich, and Alexandra and Gretchen Jacobs, as well as two great grandsons born this summer, Wesley and Eric Goodrich. She also is survived by a brother and his wife, Philip and Pat Merenda, Emmaus, Pa.; and several nieces and nephews.

Contributions in her name may be made to Hospice of Jefferson Co., St. James Episcopal Church or to the Joslin Diabetes Clinic, 3229 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13214.

Condolences may be made to the family, on line at, www.carpenterstoodley.com. 










Information provided by Carpenter-Stoodley Funeral Home and Newzjunky, Watertown, N.Y.