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Mermon E. Cosby[1]

Female 1919 - 2010  (90 years)


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  • Name Mermon E. Cosby 
    Birth 26 Apr 1919  Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Death 8 Apr 2010 
    Notes 
    • We celebrate 90 years of life in MERMON  MOMMSEN, late of Peoria and Sun City, Arizona and previously of Downers Grove, Illinois.  Mrs. Mommsen died at home with family by her side on April 8, 2010. Her family is grateful for care from Hospice of the Valley.
       
      Mermon was proud of over 50 years service in P.E.O.; she was equally active in the League of Women Voters and other civic programs.  She was an active member of Union Hills Country Club.
       
      Gordon Hanson was her husband of 31 years until his death in 1974.  He had distinguished himself with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, being their first civilian inductee in their Hall of Fame.
       
      John C. Mommsen, President of Armour Meat Products Company married Mermon in 1980.  They lived in Sun City, AZ until his passing in 1994.
       
      Three sons survive: Gordon Hanson of Maywood, Illinois, Stephen Hanson of Warrenville, Illinois, Brian Hanson of Plainwell, Michigan.  She had another son, Claudio Ghiggi of Genoa, Italy through the AFS program. She also leaves six grandchildren: Shayna Hanson, Julia Craig, Hallie Hanson, Geoff Hanson, Hilary Hanson, and Brendan Hanson, and one great-grandchild, Henry Daniel Craig.
       
      Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mermon grew up in Woodward, Oklahoma as the oldest of four sisters, all of whom preceded her in death.
       
      Her passport bears witness to adventures in Russia, China, India, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Mexico and South America.  Equally favored were canoeing at family reunions on Huzzah Creek, Missouri and return visits to Woodward. 
       
      Mr. Fran Leigh of Newtown, PA has been her frequent companion, most notably in sailings on the Atlantic seaboard.
       
      Family and many friends visited Mermon's in her last days to offer her comfort - one of her favorites, Brian's dog "Boomer", being prominent among them.
       
      Services will be held at Faith Presbyterian Church, Sun City, AZ at 2 PM on Sunday, April 11.
       
      In lieu of flowers, Mermon requests that memorials be made to the P.E.O. Educational Loan Fund.
       
       
       
       
      Her autobiography written for a P.E.O. meeting 23 October 1985
       

      When asked to give this autobiography I wondered what I could tell that would be interesting to you. I feel that I have been so fortunate to have known the people I have known who have made such a difference in my life. To have loved and been loved. A wonderful family. Blessed with good health. So when this gets a little boring or too long just yawn a bit and I will stop.
       
      My mother was an Oklahoman and my father a Kentuckian. They met in Tulsa where my mother was attending Kendall College which later became Tulsa University. My father was in the automobile business.
       
      I was born in Tulsa. My parents moved to Florida when I was an infant. My three sisters were born there – Mary, Charlotte and Eugenia Ann.
       
      My father was an intelligent man and quite a business entrepreneur. He was also an alcoholic.
       
      Understanding that this was an impossible situation to rear children, my mother divorced my father. I was 9 and my sisters 7, 3 and 1 when we left Florida and went to live in my mother's hometown in western Oklahoma.
       
      What courage, strength and ambition my mother had. While she did receive some help and moral support from her family, she too complete care of us..
       
      She gave us love and security. We were always well dressed as my mother sewed and altered beautifully. Sunday school and church were an important part of our lives. We had piano and other lessons. She also made jelly and canned fruits and relishes for the winter. How she accomplished all of this I do not know.
       
      My mother was a wonderful role model for us. She had a keen sense of right and wrong, a tremendous interest in learning, travel and was quite creative. Doing for others gave her much pleasure. She instilled in us that we had a responsibility to others and society in general.
       
      Despite the fact that most of my school years were during the great Depression and the severe dust storms of the "Dust Bowl Days", we still had good times. We did a lot of roller skating, hiking, picnics in the summer and wiener roasts in the fall and spring. Piano duets and duos, we played in the band an when we were older went to dances.
       
      Tragically, my mother died the week I graduated from high school. Her illness was very brief. We were completely devastated.  
       
      However, my mother had prepared us for just such an eventuality. Many times she had said that she wanted us to stay together in our home in the event of her death. She had made arrangements so this would be possible.
       
      Fortunately, I had already secured a job as a secretary at the local Chamber of Commerce. This was a stroke of luck for me. This job turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for me to learn how to meet the public, arrange conferences, see how organizations and businesses operated and overcome some of my shyness.
       
      My sisters and I stayed together in our home until one by one they went off to school. Two of my sisters became nurses and the youngest is in the business world.
       
      During this time I had a great social life as I met all the young businessmen whomoved to Woodward. Then, met this handsome young man, Gordon Hanson who was doing graduate work at the University of Oklahoma. His degree from the University of Minnesota was in Game Management. However, he was deeply concerned with the environmental aspects of wildlife.
       
      But, it was wartime so he enlisted in the Navy. We were married after he received his commission at Columbia University and lived in Newport, Rhode Island for almost a year.
       
      Our first son, Harland Gordon Hanson, Jr. was born before Gordon was sent to the South Pacific where he served as the captain of a P.T. boat.
       
      After the war we had two more sons, Stephen and Brian. Gordon worked for the Corps of Engineers in St. Louis in an unpopular field called Environmental Resources. Fortunately, this has changed completely. We must protect our natural resources to protect man.
       
      The seven years in St. Louis were very busy years with our young family. We made many good friends and had many good times.
       
      One of my highlights was my initiation into Chapter II as a charter member. A school friend of my mother's was the Missouri organizer. She placed my name on the charter list. It was a thrilling experience to have someone conduct the initiatory service who was as dear to me as Winona Chilcott.
       
      Winona was someone I had known since early childhood and always a beautiful role model. I had wanted to be a P.E.O. as a young girl because Winona was a member. My boys adore her.
       
      In 1954 we moved to Downers Grove, Illinois. The activities of our three boys: school, Scouts, sports, operettas, etc. made these busy years. I was active in P.E.O., church, League of Women Voters and other community organizations.
       
      Just before my husband retired one of our sons started a new business manufacturing a novel stero headphone design. The entire family became quite involved in this exciting new venture.
       
      By this time our three sons were through school. Gordon and I were looking forward to the excitement of our son's new venture, doing a lot of traveling and pursuing other interests.
       
      Unhappily, this was not to be. A routine physical revealed that my husband had a malignancy that proved to be inoperable. He died ten months later – less than a year after his retirement. Very tragic.
       
      It was a very painful period for our family. We were grateful for the love and support of friends; P.E.O. sisters especially.
       
      After this tragic loss, I worked very hard with the new business. It was excellent therapy to have something I thought I had to do. The business was not successful but it helped me through a very difficult period. Later, I did some traveling and spent time in France for French study.
       
      It was during a two month stay in the south of France that a correspondence with a long time friend paved the way for a courtship and marriage to John Mommsen. He had lost his wife earlier that year.
       
      He wrote the most beautiful letters – daily. Telephoned possible. His letters revealed a person I had never seen during the years I had known him and his late wife.
       
      Gordon and I had been in a social group with John, or "J.C." as some people call him, and late wife, Fern.
       
      Our wedding day was a wonderful day with my three sons, John's two sons, their wives and children and close friends in attendance. What a happy day it was!! Our grandchildren loved it! Our granddaughters danced with their daddies and uncles. All loved the wedding cake. Everyone was happy for us.
       
      Our five years in sunny Arizona have been beautiful years. It was my good fortune to find this warm, loving and very considerate man.
       
      I have loved being a mother and adore being a grandmother.
       
      Epilogue
       
      Mom lived almost 25 years after giving this speech at her P.E.O. meeting. Other than losing J.C. to a stroke in 1994, those years were some of the best of her life. She and J.C. spent almost every August in Hawaii and she traveled extensively. On an elderhostel trip to Ireland in 1998, she met Fran Leigh. They had a delightful trans-continental relationship and many more trips together. Fran was with Mermon when she passed away.
       
      Mother delighted in reciting the words of her unwritten will: "Being of sound mind, I spent the money." And in the end she almost accomplished that through her generosity to family and favorite causes. Her family, friends and the world in general are richer for having her among us for almost 91 years - and not for what she spent but for the love, great experiences and richness of life she shared that we can cherish in our hearts and memories forever.
       
      What an amazing lady!
       
      We will miss her.
    Person ID I30536  Mindrum
    Last Modified 5 Jul 2022 

    Family 1 Harland Gordon Hanson   d. 1974 
    Marriage Abt 1943 
    Children 
     1. Living
     2. Living
     3. Brian Hanson,   b. 23 Jan 1950, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Jul 2022, Bloomingdale, DuPage, Illinois Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)
    Family ID F20917  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 15 Oct 2010 

    Family 2 John C. Mommsen   d. 1994 
    Marriage 1980 
    Family ID F20918  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 15 Oct 2010 

  • Sources 
    1. [S9057] Brian Hanson obituary, https://everloved.com/life-of/brian-hanson/obituary/.