Mary Jill Klay

Mary Jill Klay

April 9, 1935 – September 25, 2025

Mary Jill Klay passed peacefully on September 25th in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, with her daughter by her side. She was born April 9, 1935 in Perth, Australia to John and Amanda Burford. Their family, including her younger brother John, followed their father as he managed numerous banks in the small gold mining towns of the outback. The family finally settled in Adelaide, South Australia. She continued her education at Sydney University where she studied Virology, and Piano at the Sydney Conservatory. There, she met her husband, Robert Frank Klay from a ranch near Shonkin, Montana, who was in an adjoining lab on a Fulbright scholarship. They were married in St. Matthew’s Anglican church in Adelaide, and left by boat for the states, traveling through the Panama Canal to Florida.

Robert continued his studies, living in St. Paul, Minnesota and Pullman, Washington, before the family settled in Quincy, Illinois. There she raised three children and was an active member of the community and St. John’s Episcopal Church. Robert Klay was baptized at the church alongside his youngest son on June 14th, 1966. She enjoyed music and the arts, history, literature, the natural world, and traveling, always encouraging her children to do the same. The family went to St. Louis and Chicago for concerts and museums, a tour of every landmark in Washington D.C., and every road trip had to be extended for the stops at roadside markers. She spent several years selling real estate in Quincy.

Mary Jill had a large circle of friends and acquaintances. She had the gift of gab and loved all parties, picnics, and gatherings. She was well known for her Australian baked goods at parties, clubs, and church functions. She continued to play the piano, learned to play the pipe organ, was a voracious reader of murder mysteries, and a night owl.

After Robert passed from a long battle with cancer in 1990, Mary Jill enjoyed spending time at the Klay family ranch in Montana, and traveling to visit her family in the US, India, Thailand, and Australia. She eventually moved to Sequim, Washington with her partner, Murray Hayes. There, she became a certified master gardener, toured Lewis and Clark sites, learn to fly fish, and was always up for something new. She will be remembered for her zest for life, her joy in good discourse, highly opinionated views, adventurism, love for all things Australian, and her weak tea with ginger snap cookies.

Mary Jill is survived by her children, Lisa Tritz (Brad), Jonathan Klay (Fredrika), and Robert Brett Klay (Keith Humphrey); and grandchildren Nicholas, Claire, Owen, Carl, Ellida, Matanya, and Robert. She will be laid to rest next to her late husband, Robert. The internment will be at the Fort Benton Riverside Cemetery on July 5 at 2 p.m.