Mary Aron, née Lilly, passed away 23 April. Born 23 June 1940, third of
13 kids, as 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.
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 KS 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 +
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 9 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 unadulterated 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.
Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M., Monday, May 1, 2023, at First
Christian Church of Abilene with Pastor Jason Kohler. Burial will
follow at the Abilene City Cemetery. Friends may come by Danner Funeral
Home on Sunday from 9AM until 5PM 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.