Mary Lou Mahood, 80 of Coldwater, passed away after a restful night sleep Sunday, 27 February 2022, at The Villa @ Winston Court Assisted Living in Marshall.
In following her wishes, cremation has taken place and a Girl Scout tea party will be held at Parkhurst Park at a later date. Her resting place will be with her Mother and Nana at Evergreen Cemetery in Bisbee, AZ. The family was cared for by Dutcher Funeral Home.
Mary Lou was born 18 August 1941, to Plenn Louis and Mary Estella (Holland) Cooley in Bisbee, AZ. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of New Mexico- Albuquerque and her Master of Education in Reading from the University of Guam. While working on her second Master’s degree, her thesis project took her to study early childhood education in England. Mary Lou was an athletic young lady and a member of the University of New Mexico – Albuquerque swim team. She was a life-long educator. Mary Lou taught most of her career at Edison School in Coldwater, and also taught clown classes. Her life-long passion was reading, to her reading was magical. She was always buying books for kids from local book shops; her favorite was Taylor’s Books and More.
Mary Lou was brave and daring when she got on a plane and took her two little kids to the island of Guam. It was there on Guam where she first became a Girl Scout Leader. Through the Girl Scouts, she could teach skills through ‘acts of doing.’ Mary Lou was integral in the development of the Young-Fives program in Coldwater, MI. She was an active member of the Coldwater United Methodist Church and a Big Sister for nearly two decades. Mary Lou was not a cook but she was an excellent seamstress, learning her love sewing from her Mother and her Nana. Lulu, as she was affectionally called, was always sewing. She was the “Needle Pulling Thread” for many. From her father she learned, “You earn what you get, you get what you earn.” Mary Lou was a worker.
Mary Lou is survived by her two children Diana Lynn Casey of Twin Lake, MI and Daniel Jerome Casey of Coldwater; and her two sisters Glenda (Cooley) Quint and Barbara (Cooley) Williams. She was preceded in death by her parents. She will be greatly missed by her dog, Jill, and her grand-dog Paloma.
Mary Lou was a life-long Girl Scout leader and would treasure support for local girls from Coldwater to have the opportunity to participate in a summer camp experience. In lieu of flowers donations can be directed to the Girl Scouts of Branch County through the Branch County Community Foundation www.brcofoundation.org. Please include Mary Lou Mahood’s name on your donation.
I’m a Speech Therapist and taught at Edison with Mary Lou. She was such a wonderful lady! On a regular basis we saw children who came from dreadful environments. We had a “in our perfect world plan”, that we could buy a huge house. We would take these children to this home; give them a nutritious dinner, a bath, read them stories and tuck them into bed. Last, but not least, we’d tell them how amazing they were and that we loved them. The credit for this goes mainly to Mary Lou and this shows what a huge heart she had. You’ll be missed Mary Lou