 YAGER Mary L. Mary L. Tidwell Yager died on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, from advanced dementia at Parkcliffe Community where she had lived for over four years. A child of the Depression, she was born in Bon Aqua, Tennessee on August 23, 1923, to Edward (Ted) and Margaret Gladys (Yates) Tidwell. After her mother’s death five years later, she was separated from her two older brothers and each were raised by different relatives. Mary’s formative years were spent living on her beloved paternal grandfather’s farm in the hills of central Tennessee with him and her devoted step-grandmother. The memories of this time were among the last she clung to in her final years. It was here that she developed her love of the land and natural world that she passed on to her family. Upon her step-grandmother’s death, she was sent to Toledo at age 17 to live with her paternal aunt, uncle and cousins. Mary graduated from DeVilbiss High School and joined the “Rosie the Riveter” generation by working in the engineering department of Surface Combustion Company during World War II. She continued at the company after the war, making life-long friends and also meeting her former husband, C. J. Yager when he worked there as well. In the 1960’s, Mary returned to college at BGSU in education, but her early teaching years demonstrated that her empathy for her low-income students made a career change necessary. She worked in the library at the former McAuley High School, then spent over 20 years at the Lion Store, Southwyck, retiring when in her early seventies. Mary’s home in Crandenbrook, Perrysburg provided her the joys of family, dear neighbors and a quarter-acre to garden. Her interests were simple ones: any outdoor adventure that involved the seasons, gardening, birds, rock-hunting, reading, singing in the church choir and sewing. She was an original practitioner of a sustainable life, growing her own vegetables, composting, reusing and recycling her entire life. Her tomboy past surfaced in stories she told her daughter and granddaughters that always involved being barefoot, outside and with her dog by her side. Only Grammy could believe that tree-climbing is a life skill. Survivors are Anne Yager (Frank Beans) and their three daughters, Caroline, Laura and Elizabeth Beans of Perrysburg; her brother, John Howard Tidwell (Winnie) Potter of Prescott, Arizona and Libby, Montana, and many nieces and nephews. Her brother, Edward Tidwell and father are deceased. Profuse thanks to the many nurses, caregivers and staff at Parkcliffe who are not named here for fear of forgetting someone, but all contributed to Mary’s care. Also thanks to Hospice of Northwest Ohio for help with her final days, and Dr. Stephen Bazeley who always had jokes and moral support for both Mary and Anne. Family and friends may gather Friday, June 5, 2009, from 5-7 p.m. in the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant Street, Maumee where a Memorial Service will be held at 7:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial contributions to the charity of the donor’s choice. www.walkerfuneralhomes.com |
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