Jean Werly

On Saturday, February 2, 2019 Flora ‘Jean’ Werly passed away peacefully at her

daughter’s home in Fresno.  This last November her family and many friends

celebrated her 99th Birthday, and a life well lived.  Jean was a great communicator

and storyteller.   At the age of 93 she realized her biggest personal accomplishment by

completing her book A Tent by the Creek.  She had a deep love for the the Sierras,

and felt most at home in nature, spending her golden years at the family ranch with

the love of her life, Clyde Werly.  Truly an example of the “Greatest Generation”, she

followed her heart in all matters, and had the bravery to dare go wherever it led.

 Born in Compton, CA, on Nov. 25 th, 1919, she grew up a “city girl”,  but a trip

to the Sierra Mountains in 1939 changed the trajectory of her life forever.  There,

surrounded by evergreen forests and the majesty of granitic peaks, she met the love

of her life, Jess ‘Clyde’ Werly.  By the next fall, they were married.   Her love for the

mountains was nearly as inevitable as her love for Clyde, and despite her suburban

upbringing, she took to it like a trout to a stream.  She was at home there, and

anyone who visited her and Clyde could see proof that “home is where your heart is”,

even if that home was a tiny Forest Service tent-cabin.

 She would live the majority of her life in the Sierra Mountains and foothills,

first at the Westfall Ranger Station (formerly called Miami Ranger Station), then

Mariposa, North Fork and Oakdale, ultimately retiring with Clyde to the Werly family

ranch in Bailey Flats near Raymond.  Clyde’s maternal grandparents Isabel & Fremont

Westfall had homesteaded in the area in 1895, and his parents settled a mile down

the road to the ranch where he grew up.  The postwar years brought many changes,

most welcome of which being the addition of their two daughters to the family.   It

was important to Jean that both of her girls were born in the very small hospital in

Yosemite.  Jean was always active in the girls lives, as a Brownie Scout and Girl Scout

leader, P.T.A. member and Room Mother.  She was always an active church member. 

She attended the Community Church in North Fork, The United Methodist Churches in

both Oakdale and Mariposa.   After Clyde’s death in 1994, Jean was able to stay on at

the ranch with help from family and friends but she managed to do a large share of

the work herself.  She fed cattle, delighted in her flower garden, and tended after

the orange orchard.  She sold the yearly crops to neighbors, friends and the local

health food store.   She laughed at the idea that some local folks referred to her as

the ‘Orange Lady.’   

 She is preceded in death by her parents Ralph and Pearl Brown and her half

brother Robert Carlisle Brown of Long Beach, and her husband Jess ‘Clyde’ Werly Jr.

of Raymond, CA.  Her survivors include her daughters Carolyn Werly Wilder of

Raymond, Virginia Werly Sharp of Fresno, her grandson Elijah Werly Klein of Fresno.  

Memorial services will be Saturday March 23rd at 11:00 at the Mariposa United

Methodist Church 4991 Sixth St., Mariposa, CA 95338. 

 In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the following: 

Mariposa Museum and History Center, Inc., PO Box 606, Mariposa, CA    

95338-0606. www.mariposamuseum.com

 Donations are tax deductible, as the Museum is a 501c3 non-profit.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jean Werly, please visit our floral store.