In Memory of Mary Alice Sciacqua (Carpenter Mary)
July 28, 1954 to June 15, 2023
Mary Alice Sciacqua unexpectedly passed away, peacefully at home, in the early hours of June 15, 2023, at the young age of 68. She has joined her dearest love and best friend, Mark T. Parr, for their eternal life in heaven.
Birth
Mary was born as Mary Alice Prolow, to her Mother, Helen Ione Anderson and her Father, Joseph William Prolow on July 28, 1954 in Fargo, North Dakota.
Residence
She moved to Washington State with her Mother and Siblings when she was very young, where she would spend the majority of her life. She attended Tacoma Schools and then Bates Technical College for Accounting. Later in life she went back to college to earn her bachelor's degree in journalism.
Relationships and Family
She married her first husband, Jason (Jay) Newman in 1970. Together, they had a baby girl, Lorrie Jean, born in March of 1971. Mary and Jay moved away to England for a short time where Jay was stationed in the military. They divorced in 1978.
Mary and her second husband, Daniel Sciacqua had a baby girl, Sheila in May of 1978 and then they married in July of 1978. They lived in the Eastside of Tacoma. When Sheila finished her Kindergarten year of school, Mary and Dan found their dream home in Parkland that they purchased and moved to before the summer was over. They divorced in 1990.
Mary met her true love, Mark Parr through a friend. Mark needed some help remodeling done to his home in Shelton. She was the one for the job! Mark was a little skeptical at first, Mary being a woman and all, but Mark figured he could enjoy having a pretty lady around doing some work on his house. Mary proved she had the skills and knew what she was doing. She was fit for the job! Mark and Mary became good friends and had a blast playing practical jokes on each other. Both of them in a battle, trying to get one up on the other. They enjoyed their time together so much that they decided to take their friendship to the next level and be a couple. They fell in love. They had their good times and their bad times. They took long breaks, but always missed each other and they would reconcile. They were Mark and Mary, Mary and Mark. Mary wasn’t Mary without Mark and Mark wasn’t Mark without Mary! 1Mark always wanted to make Mary his wife. Mary would accept his proposal, but she would get cold feet and they never went through with it. It was Mark’s dying wish to make it official. He wanted her to be secure and have rights to his Veterans Benefits and Retirement, but Mary declined because she was with him for love. Not for what she would have when he was gone. Mary took care of Mark the best she could until he passed away on February 12, 2019. Mary was lost without Mark. She felt as though a part of her had gone with him. She would talk to him every night and say how much she missed and loved him! She would tell him that they will be together again when her work was finished here on earth.
Career
Mary worked for a small company as an Accountant for a short time, but her true passion was Carpentry. Her big Brother, Larry and Uncle Art taught her most of her carpentry skills. She also had a few other skilled Carpenter's that mentored her along the way. She became a Union, Journeyman, Shipwright and built the fiberglass mold forms for custom yachts at Jones Goodell Yachts. She worked on the All Alaskan Seafood fish processing barge to rebuild all the bunks and births in the employee's sleep cabins. She flew to Dutch Harbor where she boarded the barge and started to rebuild the ice house during the barges trip back to Tacoma. Just before she was finished with the ice house, it was time to leave Tacoma and head back to Dutch Harbor for their next processing run. Trident decided to keep Mary on board to finish her job. So off she went to Alaska a second time. This time she went on the boat there and then flew home from Dutch Harbor. Unfortunately, during her time at Jones Goodell Yachts, she took a 30' fall from a scaffold and crushed her hand. She had to do lots of physical therapy and she was able to return to work, but she had some difficulty running her power tools. After her two Alaska trips and running those power tools in the freezing cold weather, she had realized that she suffered a lot of pain in her hand from running those power tools. She decided it was time she hung up those power tools and when she completed the ice house on the All Alaskan Seafood processing barge, that's what she did. She continued to work solo and do small jobs remodeling homes for friends and friends of friends (word of mouth) here and there. She definitely earned her nickname, "Carpenter Mary". Everyone on the Tacoma Tide Flats knew "Carpenter Mary"! Many still do!
Social
Mary made many many friends throughout her life's journey. Not one person that she came across would have a bad word to say about her. Everyone just loved her! She helped many people with all sorts of things. Everyone loved to hear her stories of her life experiences. She would have people in tears from laughing so hard! She wrote many poems and short stories that she loved to share as well. Everyone also enjoyed when she had her chalkboard where she wrote her daily quotes.
Mary is survived by her two daughters, Lorrie Gow and Sheila Butts (Sciacqua), her three Sister's, Georgia Avery, Marlene Penning and Anna Dickerson and two Brothers, Joe Kelly and Clifford Halverson. Also, two Grandson’s, Logan and Riley, one Granddaughter, Lacey and one Great Grandson, Dominic. She is preceded in death by her love and best friend, Mark Parr and two Brother's Larry Halverson and Billy Prolow.
