Mary Jane McCamy Dearmin died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Christmas morning, December 25, 2025. She was 83 years old. Her daughter, Stacia Dearmin, and son, Steven Dearmin, survive, as do her daughter-in-law Dina Vacca Dearmin; four grandchildren -- Isaiah Pressman (Allison), Janna Pressman, Erik Dearmin and Lauren McMillan; and one great-granddaughter, Talia Rose Pressman. She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Robert Dearmin, her parents and siblings, and her daughter Camy Dearmin.

The youngest of three children born to William and Mary McCamy, Mary Jane arrived on December 2, 1942, in Knoxville, Tennessee. For the rest of her life, Mary Jane treasured memories of her early years among the wildflowers of the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee. A lively, sociable girl, Mary Jane grew under the watchful eye of a mother who valued the social graces and kindness and transmitted those qualities to her early.

Her father was an electrician and as Mary Jane reached her teens, his work led the family to Baltimore, Maryland. She later described feeling like a fish out of water upon entering school in Baltimore as her distinctly southern drawl drew attention and set her apart. She nonetheless found new friends, pursued her deep love of music at the Peabody Conservatory and graduated from Eastern High School in 1960. Despite this encounter with what seemed like a whole new world, the sweet cadence of her childhood never left Mary Jane's speech.

Shortly after high school, life took an exciting turn when Mary Jane met her sweetheart, Bob. While visiting an aunt in Winter Haven, Florida, she heard a knock at the door. She offered to answer it, only to have her jaw drop at her first sight of a handsome black-haired, blue-eyed airman. As it turned out, Bob's father had alerted him that there was a pretty girl “up there at Miss Day's,” and Bob, ever the go-getter, went to investigate. Things took an unexpected turn when he asked her to accompany his buddy on a double date, but by the second date, it was Mary Jane and Bob, Bob and Mary Jane. They married on June 8, 1963, and enjoyed nearly six decades of love, growth, and nearly endless laughter.

Within two years, having made their home in Florida, they welcomed the first of their three children. Centering her life around home and family, Mary Jane employed her countless creative gifts and immensely artistic eye to create an environment both beautiful and welcoming. Above all, however, she sought to create a home permeated by love and peace. Friends of her children gravitated to their home, drawn by Mary Jane's affectionate nature and warm hospitality; there are those who remember her to this day for the wide variety of endearments she used when speaking to them – from “honey” to “sugar,” “sweetness” to “pumpkin pie,” “doll-baby” to “honeybunch” – and the way those endearments, used so naturally, made them feel welcome and loved.  In later years, her grandchildren – who came to call her Mimi – soaked up that affection and moments of fun and laughter with her.

Mary Jane most deeply expressed her desire for love and peace through her religious commitments. A deeply spiritual person, she participated wholeheartedly in several churches over the decades where she contributed her gifts as a musician, a teacher and a friend. A devoted student of the Bible, she led adult Sunday School classes and ultimately taught a Precepts class for women which met weekly for many years. Above all, her faith sustained her in the face of life's challenges and difficulties, empowering her to face them with grace and tenacity.

Mary Jane and Bob treasured fun and adventure and took full advantage of opportunities to get out and explore the world whenever they presented themselves. Although a somewhat glamorous woman, Mary Jane did not bat an eye when Bob asked her to join him aboard his Honda Goldwing for a trip to Canada and back. Stylish as she was, Mary Jane agreed on the condition that he make room for her curling iron in the tiny saddlebag. They survived a hot Georgia sun with a bag of ice melting between them, and for years, laughed about his motorcycling with the best-looking passenger around.

After Bob's retirement, Mary Jane and Bob circled back to the Smoky Mountains of her childhood, fulfilling a dream they shared of a small second home in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. There they spent numerous extended summers, hosted children and grandchildren, made treasured new friends, and indulged in life's simple pleasures.

As those who knew her well will no doubt attest, Mary Jane enriched the world with beauty and infused life with warmth and joy. Although we miss her deeply, her family rejoices to see her now at rest, trusting that when the time comes, she will welcome us once again with her characteristic endearments.

In lieu of flowers, her family would welcome contributions to Vitas Community Connection (https://vitascommunityconnection.org/) in celebration of the kindness and care Vitas Hospice provided in her final days here on earth.