Jayson Mapes

Jayson was born on August 24th, 1970, to parents Janice and Dennis Mapes, in Lansing Michigan. At age 5, the family moved to Negaunee, Michigan, where Jayson grew up surrounded by the natural, rugged beauty of the Upper Peninsula.

After graduating from Negaunee High School in 1989, he attended Northern Michigan University and began working at Marquette General Hospital, where he worked for over 15 years. Jayson married his first wife, his high-school sweetheart Laura Lee, in 1991, and they had three daughters together.

Jayson’s top earthly priority was the love of his three daughters, Raegan, Frankie and Tatum. Jayson instilled in his daughters a confidence and resourcefulness that comes from having a dad who loved unconditionally. He truly believed without hesitation that they could accomplish anything they set out to do, whether it be hunting a wild buck, or putting on a roof.

Jayson was an avid outdoorsman. He loved the wilderness of the Two Hearted River, where he cherished his time camping and fishing with friends and family. Whether it was steelhead fishing in the fall, ice-fishing in the winter, or long weekends camping in the summer, his soul was at peace on the Two Hearted.

Jayson also loved adventure, and fearlessly traveled to remote areas of the world, often sleeping under the starlit sky in hammocks. He also enjoyed planting and growing crops with his dad, children, and grandchildren on his dad’s farm near Ludington, MI.

Jayson was a talented craftsman. As a young man, Jayson, along with his brother and father, built his first family home, a log cabin in Negaunee, Michigan. He and his brother, Brandon, eventually went on to create their own construction company.

He moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee in 2013, where he lived near his children, grandchildren, and extended family. It is while living here that he became reacquainted with his future wife, Brenda Pleau, and they married on February 14, 2020.

While in Hendersonville, he worked for Tate Ornamental, where he managed construction teams working on such noteworthy projects as The Museum of the Bible, the Eisenhower Monument, along with many other sites across the United States and Puerto Rico. But his greatest attribute was that he was gentle and kind and always willing to help those in need.

He and Brenda lived in Franklin TN, where Jayson owned a successful business as a handyman and craftsman. He will be greatly missed by many people, and his life will live on as a role model to all who knew him.

Jayson is survived by his wife of three years, Brenda Mapes; his mother Janice Place; his father Dennis Mapes; his daughters, Raegan Venables (Nicholas Venables), Frankie Mapes, and Tatum Mapes (Nathan Barber); his seven grandchildren, Jaxson, Leander, Elliot, Daisy, Peyton, Isla, Colt, with one more on the way; his siblings, Carrie, Anna, and Brandon; and his many extended family members who love him dearly.

Family will be planning a Celebration of Life, to be held in the Marquette area during the summer of 2024, to honor and celebrate all the joy Jayson brought to so many of us fortunate enough to know and love him.