Mary E. (Collins) Cook

Mary E. (Collins) Cook, a Canton native, died at home with her family at the age of 95 on August 5, 2020. The daughter of Edward F. Collins and Ann T. (Gill) Collins of Independence Street in Canton, was predeceased by her brothers Patrick, John (“Ripper”) and Edward and her sister, Ann Piana, also of Canton.

Mary was a graduate of St. John the Evangelist School and Canton High School.  She went on to earn a degree in Journalism from Boston University, where she became the first female editor of the yearbook.  At B.U. she met her future husband, Dudley Cook, of Wellesley, MA.  They married in 1949 and lived in California, Japan, Virginia and Sharon, MA.  After Dudley’s retirement from the US Marine Corps, she lived in Embden and Waterboro, Maine, until Dudley’s death in 2000.  Mary then returned to Canton to be near family.

Mary is survived by her son Michael of Sydney, Australia; her son Shawn and his wife, Vicki, of Gillette, Wyoming; her daughter, Maria and her husband P. Michael, of Brookfield, Wisconsin; her son O’Bannon and wife, Charlotte of Georgetown, Texas; and her daughter, Margaret, and husband, Larry, of Canton, MA. She leaves behind fourteen grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren, her brother-in-law, Edward Piana, also of Canton and many cherished nieces and nephews.

Mary was an avid reader and lover of all things political.  She served in several town government positions in Maine as selectwoman, town assessor and a representative to state political conventions.  She worked as a freelance writer for magazines and newspapers while raising her family and in retirement.

A funeral mass will be held at St. John the Evangelist Parish on Friday, August 14, 2020 at 11:00 a.m.  A private family interment will be at Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellesley, MA.  In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Old Colony Hospice, 321 Manley Street, West Bridgewater, MA 02379 (www.oldcolonyhospice.org). Arrangements by the Pushard Family Funeral Home 210 Sherman St., Canton.

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