Mary Louise Closson

Mary Cobb Closson passed away peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, at Lake Chelan Community Hospital after a long, courageous struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Born in Cleveland Ohio, on Dec. 3, 1938, to John L. and Elizabeth Cutler Cobb, she was the oldest of 5 siblings. Early years were spent on the family's Willoughby, Ohio, farm where the children enjoyed countless hours roaming the nearby woods & fields, riding horseback with the neighbors, raising baby chicks, picking tomatoes off the vine, cherries & apples in the orchard, and exploring the attic full of antiques on rainy afternoons. Hot & muggy summers would find them a their family friend's cabin near Lake Erie for swimming, barbecuing, and beauty contests. At one of these contests, Mary was proclaimed, “Miss Broken Bottles” and received a big collie dog statue as her prize, much to the envy of her sisters. In the summer of 1951 all seven of the Cobb family piled into their Hudson and made the 10-day road trip to Manson, to live in a new home built on Willow Point. Mary attended Manson Jr. & Sr. High, graduating in 1957. Following graduation she went to San Diego and attended business college. Invited to a Methodist young adult party by a girl friend, she arrived on the back of a Vespa scooter, and there she met sailor Wilbur Closson. Wilbur & Mary were married Nov. 27, 1960, and honeymooned in the back of a borrowed camper. This would be the first of many travel and camping adventures for the two of them and their family which grew to include Helen, Wayne & Scott, all born in San Diego. Wilbur served 20 years in the Navy, mostly stationed out of San Diego, with the exception of two years in Seattle serving on the icebreaker, Burton Island. Mary was always very involved in family, music and church activities. She especially enjoyed serving as Cub Scout leader and trainer with her husband. They camped, they traveled, they sang in the church choir. In 1992, after he retired from his Civil Service position, Wilbur and Mary moved to Manson and built their dream home on Willow Point. Senior Meals, Scouting Kiwanis, Lake Chelan United Methodist Church, Habitat yard sales, LCCHospital, Chelan Valley Players, Bach Festival and Columbia Chorale were some of the organizations that benefited from the generous volunteering spirit of Mary & Wilbur. And they still took time to attend his ship reunions, head off to Canada, travel by train in the Mexican Grand Canyon, & visit Virginia and Florida for their son Scott's navy graduation. After Wilbur's passing in 2003, Mary traveled by herself to ship reunions on the east coast, and with her children and special friend, Evie Preston, to Holland, Hawaii & Alaska. Mary was a shy. quiet, loving and sensitive person, who admitted to being helped out of her shyness by outgoing Wilbur. She will be greatly missed by her children: Helen of Manson, Wayne of Chelan, and Scott of Irvine CA, and her four siblings: Hannah (&Elbert) Hubbard of Manson, Sally (& Leon) Serafim of Santa Cruz CA, Frank (& Jill) Cobb of Spokane, and Margaret Harrison of Astoria, her brother-in-law David Closson of El Cajon CA, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Wilbur, her parents, and her brother-in-law, Brian Harrison. There will be a private burial at Fraternal Cemetery. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Lake Chelan United Methodist Church or to Lake Chelan Bach Fest (Cora Hartley Endowment Fund).

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Mary Louise Closson

December 3, 1938 - September 5, 2015