Mary Hawker

Mary Frances Hawker (nee Louis) was born on December 6th 1941, and she passed away on April 24th 2022 after a battle with cancer. She was a loving wife to her husband Fred, and caring mother to her daughter Michelle, and son Eric. She was preceded in death by her parents John and Lloyde (Mickey) Louis, her sister Dulcie Shimkus, and brother-in-law Walter Hawker. She will be deeply missed by her sister Ann Kokaska brother-in-law Dan Kokaska, sister-in-law Joyce Hawker, daughter-in-law Jennifer Hawker (nee Smith), granddaughter Emily Hawker, niece Kristy Kallback-Rose, her husband David Rose, and their daughters Charlotte and Megan, cousin Randy Laborde and wife Andrea Laborde, nieces Laurie Trigg (nee Hawker) and husband Tom Trigg, Lisa (nee Hawker) and husband Randy Feldman, Linda Wilson (nee Hawker), and grand-nephews Scott, Ben, and Jake, and grand-nieces Becky and Abby. Mary grew up in Crown Point Indiana where she participated in many different sports, including her favorites, tennis and basketball. Early in her life Mary was involved in the Girl Scouts for 20 years, which helped to develop a lifelong curiosity and sense of wonder about nature and science, especially astronomy, birds, and earthquakes. Hiking with her father turned her into a bird enthusiast; she had backyard bird feeders and liked to watch nature shows. Mary made five canoeing and camping trips to the Boundary Waters Area in northern Minnesota, and several other camping trips with her family. She received a BA in Psychology from Purdue University where she met Fred. They were married on November 23rd, 1961. Mary was a primary school teacher in Kankakee, and later when living in Villa Park IL she served for over 10 years as a school board member for the Salt Creek school district 48. She was also active in the community in other ways such as a park district board member, PTA member, and soccer coach. Over the 20 years living in the Brandywine complex, Mary made lifelong friends over pie. She moved to Lindenhurst, IL in 1991, starting a career as a tax preparer at H&R Block, where for 15 years she helped people with the great mysteries of the tax code, and became an expert at difficult tax situations. In the last several years Mary was an avid sports watcher of tennis, college basketball, and the Cubs. No matter where Mary lived she was a friendly neighbor to all, with free babysitting or a chat with good advice. In lieu of flowers please donate to the Battered and Abused Women and Children Foundation in Gurnee (847)-244-4931, Toys for Tots https://www.toysfortots.org, or the American Institute of Cancer Research https://www.aicr.org. Memorial service details will be posted at a later date.

Mary Hawker

December 6, 1941 - April 24, 2022

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