JoEtta Jean Yeary Macera

JoEtta Jean Yeary Macera, born October 12, 1956, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, passed away suddenly and far too soon on August 13, 2026, in Sharpsburg, Kentucky. She was 69 years old. Though born in Kentucky, her mother consistently assured everyone that JoEtta was conceived in New Jersey, which she maintained explained the particular way her daughter thought. Apparently, only a New Jersey-conceived child could think quite like JoEtta. And what a mind it was. JoEtta was, perhaps more than anything, a Renaissance woman. She was extraordinarily intelligent, endlessly curious, fiercely capable, and nearly impossible to fit into a single description. A jack of all trades and, according to her, master of none, she jokingly preferred the title “Number One Flunky” regardless of whatever considerably more respectable title an employer might have given her. She was a computer geek before being a computer geek was commonplace. A proud graduate of Bell County High School’s Class of 1974, she went on to earn her undergraduate degree from Lincoln Memorial University in 1977, majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics (before double majors were allowed for women) — working and paying her own way through private college, one example among many of JoEtta simply figuring out how to do what needed to be done. She continued her education at Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky, and later earned a Doctorate in Naturopathic & Herbal Medicine from Trinity School of Natural Health. Her thirst for knowledge and commitment to excellence were evident throughout her life. Technology and academics, however, represented only part of what she could do. JoEtta was a remarkably talented seamstress. If she could see a piece of clothing, chances were good she could figure out how to recreate it. She was an accomplished artisan in needlework, crochet and knitting, and there were very few crafts she couldn’t do once she put her mind and hands to them. She loved puzzles, and the only thing better than a puzzle was a puzzle hidden inside another puzzle. Harper’s General Store, a solid prism her father found for the family, the West Rose Window and countless others provided exactly the sort of challenge her mind enjoyed. Give JoEtta something complicated to figure out and she was in her element. JoEtta proudly called herself a hillbilly, much to the consternation of an aunt who insisted she was a mountain woman and wished she would stop using the word hillbilly. JoEtta, however, was JoEtta. And that hillbilly heat could certainly make itself known when she was mad. JoEtta had an extraordinary command of words. She could lift someone with them, and she could just as effectively take someone apart with them, sometimes so thoroughly that the recipient might still find themselves thanking her when she was finished. For years, JoEtta said she would someday retire to a lighthouse in Alaska. She never made it there. When she was around 35, her brother Billy Ray gave her a skeleton key with an Alaska keychain and told her, “Here’s your key to the lighthouse.” She still has it in a boat that was painted with a lighthouse that kept all her keys. JoEtta had briefly been a cheerleader in school, although she would tell you it lasted “about two minutes.” In the years that followed, however, she became something much more enduring: an often-silent cheerleader for the people she loved. And she loved her family fiercely. As the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter in her family line, JoEtta embraced the role of anchor with grace and strength — a gifted storyteller and the keeper of family history and traditions, she was able to recount tales with vivid detail and humor that left everyone laughing, even when she insisted she was being serious. Her grandchildren held an especially important place in her universe, sometimes quite literally. Her youngest daughter’s children made up what became her Universal Cabinet, complete with Madam President of the Universe, Madam Secretary of the Universe and Master Speaker of the Universe. She thought the sun rose and set on her grandbabies. JoEtta also came from a long line of formidable women, including her great-grandmother, Sarah Carla Ann Weaver McKiddy, affectionately known as Mom Weaver, who helped raise her and lived to be 100. Every year on Mom Weaver’s birthday, Mom Weaver would call JoEtta and remind her how old JoEtta would now have to live to be in order to outlive her by twenty years. JoEtta’s response remained confident: “I know. I’ve got you.” When Mom Weaver reached 100, that number became 120. JoEtta lost that bet. Mom Weaver died in 1999, and JoEtta carried her with her for another 27 years. But as JoEtta’s daughter Teresa reminded the family after her death, her mother still owes them 51 years. JoEtta was preceded in death by her mother, Velma Jean Weaver Yeary; her father, Joe Don Yeary, and her sister Joan Jones. She is survived by her husband, Michael Macera; her daughters, Amanda, Marlene, and Tess; her sisters, Jewell, Donna Marie, and Tonya; and her grandchildren, Richard, Kelsey, Natalee, Sebastian, Avery, Raven, Austin, Alexander, Nicholas, and Angel. Family, however, was never limited to blood or paperwork for JoEtta. Over the years, she collected people and made them hers. Among the sons and daughters she gathered into her family were Annette, Darin, Dee Dee, Marjean, Dave, and Staci. Staci preceded JoEtta in death, but remained no less a part of the family JoEtta had built. She is also survived by nieces, nephews, extended family, friends who became family, and others fortunate enough to have been claimed as one of JoEtta’s own. There are people whose importance cannot be measured simply by the number of years they were given. JoEtta was one of them. She was brilliant and complicated, creative and stubborn, funny and formidable. She could make things, fix things, learn things, teach things and figure things out. She leaves behind things she created with her own hands, knowledge passed from one generation to another, unfinished projects, countless stories, people who are stronger because she loved them, and an Alaskan lighthouse that will forever be missing its keeper. For her family, her sudden absence leaves a space that cannot simply be filled. A private service will be held at a later date, with details to be announced as arrangements are finalized. Those wishing to receive information may contact the family at CelebrateJoEtta@gmail.com. In lieu of flowers, the family gratefully welcomes contributions toward her final arrangements. Information about contributing will be available through the family at the contact above. JoEtta wore many titles during her life: Daughter. Sister. Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Student. Computer geek. Seamstress. Artisan. Problem-solver. Mountain woman. Hillbilly. Number One Flunky. And to one daughter who struggled to find words large enough for what her mother had become to her, especially later in life: She was my anchor. She was my world.

JoEtta Jean Yeary Macera

October 12, 1956 - August 13, 2026

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JoEtta Jean Yeary Macera

October 12, 1956 - August 13, 2026

What We Do

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