Mary Lois Cannon Ash

Memorials are suggested for Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower St., Phoenix, Az. ASH, Mary Lois Cannon, was a minister's wife, teacher, and world traveler. She died in Phoenix, Az. on July 15, 2007. Mary Lois was born in Chattanooga, Tn. on Dec. 4, 1914. She was graduated from Western Women's College in Oxford, Ohio in 1937 and received a MAT degree from Webster University in 1969. As a minister's wife she served in churches in Ohio and Minnesota prior to moving to St. Charles, Mo. where her husband, Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Cannon was the senior minister at St. Charles Presbyterian Church from 1953 to 1975. She taught chemistry at Lindenwood College, science at Hardin Junior High School, was the science consultant for St. Charles Public Schools, served as science coordinator for the Magnet Program for the St. Louis Public Schools, and was an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. She was the Missouri Science Educator of the Year in 1979. Soon after her husband's death in 1982, Mary Lois moved to Green Valley, Az. She spent the next 20 years traveling every continent in the world including circumnavigating the globe twice and two trips to Antarctica when she was in her 80's. She became an accomplished photographer and won several awards for her pictures. In 1998 she was on a cruise traveling from Hawaii to Australia, when she was surprised to become reacquainted with Edwin Ash, M.D. to whom she had been engaged for three years during college. Mary Lois and Ed were married in Green Valley amid a flurry of national newspaper and magazine stories about their chance re-acquaintance. They made an appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell show following their wedding. They would have celebrated their 9th anniversary on August 1. Mary Lois was irrepressibly social and built a strong circle of friends wherever she lived or traveled. She was a pioneer throughout her life-from her work as a chemist in the 1930's to championing new methods of teaching science in elementary schools. At the same time, she dutifully fulfilled the traditional role of a minister's wife by singing in the choir, playing the piano, and hostessing church events. She is survived by her husband Dr. Edwin Ash, a son Thomas J. Cannon (Patricia) of Phoenix, Az., daughter Sarah M. Bingaman (David) of Elmhurst, Il., Dr. Ash's Son Dennis Ash (Laura) of Atlanta, Ga. and three grandsons, Joseph Cannon (Shonda) of Tennessee, Michael and Joseph Bingaman of Illinois. She was preceded in death by her first husband Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Cannon, her only brother Col. Lee J. Davis, and her grandson Timothy Cannon.