Time For Memory

AGE: 96

HUGHES, Maurice E.

Paw Paw

Paw Paw – Decatur Pioneering Farmer – Family Man –Community Servant Passes at near 97. Maurice Hughes, just 9 days short of his 97th birthday, gently left this life to meet our Lord on Tuesday morning, March 14, 2006. He was at home, surrounded by family and friends, at the 1939 family farm bordering Eagle Lake. His life spanned from horse & buggy times to the space age---and his memories of family and all these times were keen right to his last days. Maurice was born March 23, 1909, in Hartford, Michigan. His father and mother and his older sisters had come to farm here from Newark, Illinois, and he had many relatives there and a number in Chicago. After his graduation from Hartford High School in 1927, he went to work for Wisconsin Steel in Chicago. He loved the opportunities to visit museums, the Art Institute, and meet people from many cultures and walks of life. Nevertheless, when the steel industry began to suffer during the Depression, Maurice voluntarily gave up his job so that a man with a family could continue to work. Maurice then returned to his family farm in Hartford, and followed in the footsteps of his pioneering farmer father, farming for the rest of his life. He was an innovative and dedicated farmer, earning a Soil Conservation award and accompanying trip to The Good Year Company farms in Arizona in 1948, an article in Successful Farming in the 1970’s recognizing his pioneering use of no-till planting methods, and simply working very hard every day of his life as farm life requires in order to provide for his family. In 1934 he married his high school sweetheart, Theone Tyrrell. They were married for 65 years, until her death in December of 2000. Maurice was always a loving and loyal husband and father to their three children. Especially loving was his being a devoted caretaker to Theone in her final years, saying it was a “privilege” to have given her this care. This was just one of many examples of his willingness to lay down his own life for the sake of others. In addition to his wife Theone, he was preceded in death by his parents Ralph and Eugenia (Rood) Hughes, his brother Harold, his brother John, his sister Alice Hughes Wilkinson, his sister Mabel Hughes Culbert, and his sister Helen Hughes Trussell. Maurice leaves behind his three children, Tyrrell (Kathleen) Hughes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Marilyn (Maurice) Blackmon of Boulder, Colorado, and Sandra Hughes Milroy of Paw Paw. He is also survived by his 9 grandchildren: Sean (Michele) Hughes, Ann Hughes Osten, Shea (Mindy) Hughes, Alison Hughes (soon to be Wolf), and David (Maria) Hughes, Andrew (Erin) Blackmon, Rachel (Shamar) Blackmon-Hill, Daniel Milroy, and Amy Milroy. He also leaves behind his 10 great-grandchildren (soon to be 11). He had an amazing capacity to love & expect positive outcomes. He loved to learn, both ideas and people---and to share his knowledge & experiences with others, many of whom “adopted” him as their father & mentor – teacher. Maurice was a man who chose to live his life with courage, hope, and compassion. In the generous number of final years he was given, he was a patriarch who listened and remembered everyone’s stories and was the encourager to all---and did that literally up to the end. Even in the last month of his life, as his ability to move, find comfort, and retain personal dignity were being rapidly and severely reduced, he faced his circumstances with grace. He confided to his son once: “I could complain, but I choose not to.” When his daughter broke down in tears to see him finally confined to a hospital bed in his home, he reached out and squeezed her hand. “Oh, sweetie,” he said, “Let’s just be grateful things are as good as they are.” Everyone’s hands were squeezed & the children’s faces patted with love throughout these last weeks. What joy there has been for all! We miss him deeply. But we could not wish him back from the love and joy of being with the Lord. The Lord could not refuse to receive a man who lived a virtuous life simply because it was the right thing to do. Family will receive friends Friday evening 3/17/06, 6-8 p.m. with a prayer service at 6 p.m. at the Adams Funeral Home, Paw Paw. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday 3/18/06 at St Mary’s, Paw Paw with luncheon to follow in the parish hall. Interment will be Saturday afternoon at Maple Hill Cemetery, Hartford (next to his dear Theone). Memorials in lieu of flowers: Hospice of SW Michigan, 310 E Sherwood, Decatur 49045; Fund for Land Preservation-Maurice Hughes Memorial, or Van Buren County Farm Bureau, 38880 Red Arrow Hwy, Paw Paw 49079.