Mary A. St.Pierre

St.Pierre, Mary A. Age 92. July 14, 2013. Formerly of Southgate. Beloved wife of the late Russell. Loving mother of Michael (Laurie), Norma (Peter) Keller, Stephen (Nevine), Russell, Jr. (Elaine) and Mary (Michael) Hughes. Dearest grandmother of 6 and great grandmother of 6. Dear sister of Sonny Dimaria. Dropped out of 8th grade at the age of 13 to run the business end of the family grocery store when her mother had a heart attack. In 1941 she began working at Willow Run where the B-24 Liberators were assembled. On August 11, 1943 she married Russell in Moorhead, Mn., who graduated from bombardier training to later be assigned to a crew on a B-24. After the war, Mary and Russell moved back to River Rouge Michigan until 1950 when they moved to their new home in Ecorse Township (later to become Southgate). While raising her family of 5 children, Mary worked throughout her younger years at numerous manufacturing jobs, finishing her working career at Southgate's Montgomery Wards customer service. When Russell retired, Mary began her volunteer career as a member of the Southgate Chapter of the VFW Women's Auxilliary 9283 where she served as President thru Chaplain. Mary served as a weekly volunteer at the Allen Park Veterans Hospital, and the John Dingell Veterans Hospital in Detroit. Over her 30 years service at both hospitals, she was recognized for her work and awarded numerous National and State titles as Volunteer of the Year. She loved to bake and is known for her famous secret recipe banana cake. She loved to bake with her grandchildren at her side teaching them to measure and mix the ingredients. She also taught each of her children to make her mothers Italian bread. Her other loves were Bingo, the casinos, and reading mystery novels. Her Kindle, given to her Mother's Day 2 years ago, currently holds 193 novels all of which she read and if asked could tell you the story line of any one of them.