Few people have touched as many lives in Akron, Ohio, as Marian Kea — a mother, grandmother, beloved educator, cherished friend and pillar of the community. Once in her orbit, you remained in her circle of influence for life.

For more than a half-century, Mrs. Kea encouraged and kept tabs on her former students, their children and their children’s children. But you didn’t have to be one of her students for her to care, to share inspiring words, to lend a helping hand, to nudge, to push. She did this for legions of people across all walks of life until her final years. And she’s still watching from heaven after making a peaceful transition on December 8, 2024, with her daughter, Karen, by her side.

Nicknamed Shug, she was the youngest of four children born to Rudolph Jackson and Arrice Shipp Jackson on Sept. 10, 1930, in Ellaville, Georgia. She excelled as a high school student and basketball player, helping to take her team to the state championship.

Marian Jackson dreamed of a world outside her tiny town, located just 15 miles from Plains, GA which was made famous by President Jimmy Carter. “Something’s out there,” she said, “and I want to find out what it is.”

Coming from an entrepreneurial family with ventures in farming and other enterprises, she left home in 1949 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business at Fort Valley State College. But then a professor noticed that this bright freshman was a human computer. Since young Marian could compute algebraic problems in her head within seconds, he suggested that she switch her major to mathematics.

In addition to becoming a guard on Fort Valley State’s basketball team, she joined the Alpha Beta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated on November 1, 1949. After graduation in 1953, she taught students of all ages for two and a half years in a one-room schoolhouse in Jeffersonville, Georgia, just as Brown v. Board of Education was making its way through the courts.

During this time, her line sister and lifelong friend, Nancy Rutledge, was dating fighter pilot-turned-matchmaker Bill Burroughs from Toledo, Ohio. Bill introduced the schoolteacher to another pilot, Second Lieutenant Andrew Millard Kea, who was stationed nearby at Moody Air Force Base in Lowndes County, Georgia. Lieutenant Kea was smitten as soon as he saw Marian Jackson. But that was just the beginning; he had so much more to learn about her. They danced into each other’s hearts on their first date at a Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity formal in 1954. After a whirlwind romance, they married the following year on April 19, 1955.

Starting a Family

At the beginning of the summer in June, Lieutenant Kea was shipped off to Anchorage, Alaska. Mrs. Kea joined him there in August. The couple lived in the four-winged Officers Trailer Court in Alaska, which was still a territory in those days. The following year, they were overjoyed to welcome their first child, Karen Elizabeth Kea, who was born on January 19, 1956.

In 1957, the family of three left Anchorage for McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington. In September, Lieutenant Kea was featured in an Ebony magazine article titled “Brothers Under the Skin: Jet Pilot, White Radio Observer Play, Live and Work Together.” The biggest highlight of the year came on October 4^th with the birth of son Howard Eric Kea, named for Mrs. Kea’s maternal uncle, Howard Shipp.

From 1960 to 1961, Lieutenant Kea was stationed on a remote island in the Pacific. During that 12-month period of the Cold War era, Mrs. Kea and their children lived with his parents in Akron. After his promotion to captain, the family reunited in 1963 at Yakota Air Force Base in Japan, where they lived for two and half years. Then the Keas moved to the Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.

On May 16, 1965, tragedy struck. Captain Kea was one of nearly three dozen people killed when 19 planes in a flight line exploded before takeoff from the Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon during the Vietnam War.  The 35-year-old fighter pilot was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on June 1, 1965.

Mrs. Kea described their marriage as “10 wonderful, but short years.” Newly widowed, she returned to Akron to live with her in-laws. “I had my moments when I cried, and I sure missed him,” she said in a 1997 Beacon Journal article on the Moving Wall, a local replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. “When I see his name, it is chilling,” said Mrs. Kea, who had traveled to Washington several times to visit the original memorial.

Left to raise a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old on her own, she felt it was in their best interest to keep moving forward. She eventually purchased a house on Akron’s West Side and lived there until Karen and Howard graduated from college. After they left the nest, she moved into Tower 80 on Portage Path in 1986.

Changing Lives

With her aptitude for numbers, Mrs. Kea had always dreamed of working in a bank. Her father-in-law, who had migrated to Akron in 1920 to work at Goodyear, landed a job at the Portage Country Club and introduced her to the president of First National Bank. The bank offered her a job, but she declined. Instead, she followed her heart and love for education. She applied to Akron Public Schools and embarked on a journey that would change countless lives forever.

Mrs. Kea loved teaching and working with students. Her favorite motivational quote was “If you have a plan, write it down, and then work the plan.” She practiced what she preached, helping students work their plans or come up with one if it didn’t exist. Blue collar, white collar, no collar — she encouraged all students to be their best no matter what they planned to do with their lives.

She came face to face with a football player who had earned a scholarship to attend an Ivy League university. “This is a great opportunity,” she told him as he stood pinned against a wall. “Don’t mess it up.”

If a student wasn’t living up to his or her potential, she’d let them know. Mrs. Kea called one girl who had been underperforming to her office and learned that she was experiencing challenges at home. “We’re going to do what we need to do for you to be successful,” she told her.

For students who were skipping classes, smoking in the bathroom or breaking other rules, Mrs. Kea’s no-nonsense approach eventually won them over — even if they were initially irritated and even if it took until adulthood for them to see things her way. Sooner or later, many of Mrs. Kea’s kids eventually came to appreciate her tough love, because they knew she cared.

An only child of a single mother, a woman now in her late sixties says she will never forget Mrs. Kea’s kindness when her mom was killed in an accident during her junior year in high school. Mrs. Kea took the student to buy an outfit for the funeral, purchasing a blue dress instead of black one.

These are just a few examples of Mrs. Kea’s effect all over town as a teacher, a counselor and an administrator.

The first stop on her educational journey in Akron was Thornton Junior High School in 1965.  She taught at Thornton for four years and was a school community coordinator for three years. She brought creativity into her classrooms, using “Red Light; Green Light” to teach math to her students for example. A lifelong learner, Mrs. Kea decided to expand her skills and influence by earning a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Kent State University in 1970.

In 1973, she transferred from Thornton to Buchtel High School where Karen was completing her senior year. After serving as the school community coordinator for two years, she was promoted to assistant principal — ironically with responsibility for Howard’s class until graduation. His classmates teased him, saying that he’d never be able to get away with anything. “Even though I know she had eyes everywhere,” Howard recalled, “I didn’t feel like I was under a microscope.”

After Buchtel, Mrs. Kea went across town as assistant principal at East High School for three years. When the principal left for North High School, he took her with him. Mrs. Kea served as assistant principal at North for four years, Kenmore for four years, and then Firestone, retiring on June 30, 1997.

Serving the Community

As an educator, Mrs. Kea has been described as the GOAT — Greatest of All Time, and the “best to ever do it.” She also enjoyed community-based projects. She shared her time, treasure and talent beyond school, volunteering for many organizations such as Crouse Caring Communities and working on several political campaigns.

Mrs. Kea served two terms as a board member for United Disability Services of Akron and on committees for the Akron Urban League, the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Center and Project GRAD Akron (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams).

On her 75^th anniversary as an AKA, she was recognized as a Diamond Member. Through her sorority, she worked on many educational initiatives such as Akron Kids Achieving as well as the AKA’s legacy project, Founders’ Day and various health promotions. She was also a founding member of the Links Chapter in Kent, OH and Silver Life Member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

One of Mrs. Kea’s favorite places was the historic Wesley Temple African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. She was a member of the Steward Board and Trustee Board; chaired the Women’s Day program twice; served as president of its Missionary Society; sang in the Chancel Choir; organized social events; and managed the kitchen and all banquet and feeding programs. She was the head cook for several years and even volunteered to be church custodian for three years.

In 2000, Wesley Temple honored her as the Woman of the Year “for her outstanding dedication and service to her church and community.” The WHOM Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Akron District, honored her with its Missionary of Courage Award in 2008.

In honor of her 90^th birthday, Mayor Daniel Horrigan issued a proclamation from the City of Akron declaring September 10, 2020, as Marian Kea Day. Mayor Horrigan commended Mrs. Kea “for her lifelong dedication to helping those whose lives she touched to reach their highest potential.”

The proclamation also noted that “Ms. Kea helped shape countless students into becoming productive citizens by opening their minds and their hearts by her loving example. By being a role model, Mrs. Kea brought out the best in those students who were under her care.”

Living Life to the

Besides continuing her community and church activities, Mrs. Kea made the most of retired life in other ways. To celebrate this new chapter in her life, she spent two weeks in Italy with friends. Her closest friends were Betty Borom, Gloria Rookard and Dr. Patricia Stewart; they referred to themselves as the “Golden Girls,” but long before the television series.

Two passions were cooking and entertaining. She relished the joy of cooking and having people over to eat and have fun. She had scads of cookbooks; many by her favorite author, Ina Garten, host of “Barefoot Contessa” on the Food Network.

Mrs. Kea’s mother taught her how to cook when she was 12 years old. She started with cornbread and developed a reputation for Southern cuisine that tapped into her Georgia roots, including candied yams, macaroni and cheese, liver and onions, fried chicken and pound cake. Her repertoire included other delectable dishes, ranging from shrimp creole and spaghetti from scratch to Swiss chocolate cake and German chocolate cake.  “She would throw great parties,” Karen said.  Family and friends looked forward to attending her gatherings, especially her annual New Year’s Day party, when she prepared good luck staples such as collard greens and chitlins.

With her sense of style and design, she was drawn to the arts and enjoyed entertaining in her tastefully appointed house and later apartment at Tower 80. As someone who loved people, she made her neighbors feel at home and lent a helping hand. “Mom was very well known and loved at Tower 80.  She was often the first person new tenants met when they moved in,” Karen said. “She was very involved in planning and participating in dinner and cocktail parties there, particularly the Wednesday Tea’s and Friday Happy Hours.  Mom was very generous in spirit. She would buy shoes or clothes for her friends’ children and grandchildren.”

She was also into fitness and worked out regularly, usually with a personal trainer. When she was 75 years old, she even climbed to the top of a rock wall.

Putting Family First

Mrs. Kea is survived by two children, three grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, friends and students. Besides her parents and husband, Mrs. Kea was preceded in death by her brother, James Jackson, and two sisters, Neppie Thompson and Christine Jackson Terry.

She was immensely proud of her children. Her husband would often tease her talking about their children going to college before they were even born. She instilled in them Kea family values, including love, faith, excellence, independence, etiquette, respect and community. She was a stickler about protocol and manners, especially being a military wife. From an early age, her children learned how to set the table and order from restaurant menus.

“She was fiercely protective of us,” Karen said. “You’ve heard of the Mama Bear,” Howard added. “She was the Mama Grizzly Bear.” Mrs. Kea didn’t play when it came to her children. Nevertheless, she wasn’t a helicopter mom. She stressed independence and gave them their space even at Buchtel.  Both Karen and her brother Howard are both Buchtel graduates. As children of a widow with growing responsibilities at work, they were latch-key kids, with Karen being in charge but under the watchful eyes of a supportive village. Mrs. Kea’s parenting style and emphasis on education paid off for her children and grandchildren.

Karen earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Vanderbilt University in 1978. Then she spent 10 years as a nurse at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. Karen continued her education at Meharry Medical School, becoming a family nurse practitioner. She is also a 1989 graduate of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She gained hands-on experience as an intern and a resident at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, maintaining an affiliation throughout her career as a physician specializing in internal medicine. Like her mother, Karen is also civic-minded having served on various civic and professional boards,  and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, The Links Inc. and The Girl Friends.

Howard is a behavioral and organizational development consultant and executive coach at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He graduated with a BS in engineering technology from the University of Akron in 1982. He worked for Goodyear Aerospace for one year. After attending a job fair in Rockville, Maryland, he landed a job in Virginia and decided to remain near the nation’s capital working for various companies in the defense industry. Howard received a master’s degree in engineering management from George Washington University in 1988. He earned his Ph.D. in leadership and change from Antioch University in 2008. Howard is also very active, he is a 6th degree black belt in the martial arts, Certified Rescue SCUBA Diver,  and avid Sailor.  He is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., member of the Seafarers Yacht Club and also a founding member of the Universal Sailing Club, the first East Coast African American Sailing Club.

He is the father of three children, including two from his first marriage. His son, Chase, 32, is married to Angie Dariah. Both are architects and graduates of Hampton University. They reside in Washington, DC. His daughter, Mallory, 30, attended Livingstone College and works as an assistant general manager for Blueridge Corporation, managing the Copper Canyon Grill Restaurant in Glenarden, Maryland.

In June 2006, Howard married Nicola Smith-Kea, PhD., senior project manager for hate crime initiatives in the Anne Arundel County Executive’s Office in Maryland. They have a son, Tyler, who is 14 years old and a rising eighth-grader at Chesapeake Montessori School, who loves the outdoors to include kayaking, sailing and fishing.

Mrs. Kea’s legacy lives on through her family, adopted sons and daughters, students and future trailblazers. Committed to education until the end, she donated her body for medical research and training at Karen’s alma mater, the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

“You meet a lot of people over the years who set the bar,” a former student living in California told Karen and Howard. “There are very few people I know who ARE the bar! Your mom was truly one of them.”