Mary Aron, née Lilly, passed away 23 April. Born June 23, 1940, third of 13 kids, Aron was an older sibling. Growing up she developed the personality traits she's been recognized for throughout her life- compassion, caring, generosity and being an absolute assassin while competing at family board games.Â
The adventure's next phase started after marrying her high school sweetheart Bill. The life of a military family is never boring, and Mary had her two children Shai and Kenny while moving around the world for almost twenty years. "Home is where your mom is," was our philosophy and she made a home of wherever we lived whether it was quarters in Fort Eustis, an apartment in Stuttgart with high-speed police chases, or eventually to a restored farmhouse in Chapman, Kansas, where we graduated high school while dad deployed to Korea. There were many more stops in between but we always had "home", each other, and our eyes on the next adventure.
The later Chapman phase added kid-in-law's John Trotter (Shai) and Becky Wells (Kenny), and grandkids with Nicole, Jessica, and Jason Beck coming into the family, then not long after Keith and Kenton Aron and Chris and David Garrison. One well-earned retirement later brought the last move to Abilene and added Tommy and Lewis Trotter. After some grands were married (Jessica to Joe Ehrlich, Chris to Kamella, and David to Heather) they started cranking out the great-grands, with the last count around nine of them – Kayleigh, Sean, Piper, Tye, Kenslie, Kimberly, Ellie, Fisher, and Nora. Somehow the lax discipline which Mom showed the grandkids became even laxer with the greats, which none of us considered possible. She maintained a "tub of unlimited sweets" where the little ones knew they could grab a snack cake whenever they wanted; where was this when we kids were growing up?
Although she pretended to give equal consideration to KU with her "house divided" propaganda she repeatedly confided in me that was just for show and KSU was the unadultered recipient of her loyalty. I had to break this news gently to our first Emporia student, Lewis.
Mary's heart was forever broken three years ago, almost to the day when Bill passed away. She personally placed flowers on his grave up to the week she passed. The next phase of the adventure begins.Â
Funeral services will be 11 a.m., Monday, May 1 at First Christian Church of Abilene with Pastor Jason Kohler. Burial will follow at the Abilene City Cemetery. Friends may come be Danner Funeral Home on Sunday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. to sign the register book. The family suggests memorials be given to the First Christian Church of Abilene. Memorial may be dropped off at the funeral home or mailed to Danner Funeral Home, 501 N. Buckeye, Abilene, Kansas 67410. Online condolences may be sent to www.dannerfuneralhome.net.
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