FAIRFAX, Va. — Jean M. MacFarland, 87, formerly of Tenants Harbor, died Nov. 17, 2013, at a Fairfax, Va., health care facility after a brief illness.

Born in Washington, D.C., April 23, 1926, she was the daughter of Walter E. and Isabel Potterfield Myers. While growing up in Arlington she attended Swanson Junior High School and was a 1944 graduate of W&L High School.

During her first job with the Library of Congress, and while at the U.S. Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget), Jean attended night school at George Washington University. In one of her classes, she met Daniel MacFarland, a World War II veteran just back from the Phillipines. The couple were married May 29, 1948, in Arlington.

Jean and Dan lived in Arlington for two years before moving to Tunkhannock, Pa., a small town on the Susquehanna River near Dan's hometown of Waverly.

From 1950 to 1963, she devoted herself to raising her five children, gardening, part-time secretarial work and reading.

In 1963 the family returned to Vienna, Va., and Jean resumed her career at the Office of Management and Budget. In 1971, she changed agencies to become the executive secretary to the president of the newly-formed Government National Mortgage Association. She retired in 1987. She was an active member of the Arlington Unitarian Church.

While living in Virginia, Dan and Jean vacationed in Maine; and in August of 1988 realized their dream of living in Maine full-time by moving to Tenants Harbor.

For seven years, she served as clerk of the Ridge Baptist Church in Martinsville, and in 1988 began volunteering at Jackson Memorial Library in Tenants Harbor. She served more than 10 years as president of the library's board of directors. She also worked weekly at St. Bernard's soup kitchen.

Other than her parents, Jean was predeceased by her beloved husband, Dan, Jan. 12, 2007. She is survived by one brother, W. Edward Myers Jr. and his wife, Anne, of Frederick, Md.; three daughters, Karen Payne and her husband, Jim, of Rio Rancho, N.M., Kristin Bidstrup and her husband, Rick, of Arlington, Va., and Bonnie Lemenager of Alexandria, Va; as well as two sons, Tom MacFarland and his wife, Judy, of Mentor, Ohio, and Steven MacFarland and his wife, Mary, of Fairfax, Va.; her nine grandchildren, Kenny Herbst, Gwen MacFarland, Robin MacFarland, Brian Bidstrup, Anna Bidstrup, Cindy Ellis Schlomer, Katie Ellis, Beth Ellis Kirlin and Alex Carbone; as well as seven nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held in Tenants Harbor in the spring of 2014.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Storehouse West (storehousewestnm.org), a nonprofit food bank serving qualified residents of Sandoval County and Rio Rancho, N.M., 1030-F Veranda Dr. SE, Rio Rancho, NM 87124.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home in Rockland.