Mary Catherine (Martin) French (1917-2011)

FRENCH, MARTIN, BRABBIT

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 8/5/2012 at 20:57:02

From Adams & Soderstrum Funeral Home obituary, Story County, Iowa:

Mary Catherine Martin French

BORN: May 13, 1917
DIED: March 18, 2011
LOCATION: Ames, Iowa

Mary Catherine Martin French was born May 13, 1917, in Fort Dodge, to John Oswald Martin and Alice Brabbit Martin. She was the oldest of six children: Mary Catherine, Charles, Leo, Paul, Al and Alice.

She lived in Fort Dodge as a child, and after completing her junior year in high school, her family moved to Dubuque. Mary Catherine graduated from Dubuque High and then the University of Dubuque, where she majored in home economics and history and was president of Lambda Tau Delta social sorority her senior year.

Following graduation in 1939 from the U of D, she was one of the lucky few to find a teaching job in Monmouth. She was asked to coach the girls basketball team and did, even though she had never played.

She married her high school friend, Dexter French, in 1940 and moved to Ames, where he was finishing his doctorate degree in biochemistry at Iowa State. They then moved to Boston for two years, Chicago for two years and, in 1947, returned to Ames, where she lived the rest of her life.

Mary Catherine and Dexter French had seven children: Alfred Dexter, 1943; David Lawrence, 1945; Walter Alan, 1948; Barbara Louise, 1949; Jean Elizabeth, 1951; Nancy Kay, 1956; and Carol Ann, 1957.

Mary Catherine was busy during the 1940s, 50s and 60s raising her children and supporting Dexter’s career by being a hostess for parties and other social events. She showed her strength by doing major construction work on their new house on Ross Road in 1956, and her flexibility by moving with the kids to London and Paris in 1962-63.
When the children were younger, she made many of their clothes and was a fine seamstress. Her cooking was admired by all, and we remember the yummy dinner rolls she made. Pies were another specialty, and she did many practical cooking things like canning fruits and vegetables, making pickles, and shopping for bargains. The family never went hungry, although there were times groceries were bought on credit.

Although building their Ross Road house was a necessity project, it introduced Mary Catherine to woodworking, and over the next 20 years, she expanded her skills and tools and became a fine woodworker. She and Dexter made furniture and Grandfather clocks (given as gifts to some of her children and grandchildren). When large projects became too much for her to handle alone, she began making crafts and ornaments, and she had a large variety of wood in the basement she loved to work with.

She “adopted” some of the foreign students who worked with Dexter or others in the biochemistry department and became deeply involved in the education and “liberation” of some of the wives of these students. She later was thrilled to travel to Japan and visit on their territory and in their homes.

Mary Catherine was a strong supporter of the Democratic Party and its candidates and of “women’s issues.”

After Dexter died in 1981, she had the freedom to travel, and joined the Friendship Force, a group that coordinated visits to the homes of folks in other countries and hosting reciprocal visits in Ames. She also connected with a distant relative in the Czech Republic and traveled there at least once. Mary Catherine also took several cruise ship tours.

She always had wanted to be a grandparent and was delighted to take the opportunity to show her grandkids the world. She took Mark (Dave’s son, adopted from Korea) on a trip to Korea when he was 16, and also took Misti (Dave’s daughter) to England. She attended the grandkids’ weddings by driving alone long distances, and always welcomed them into her home.

In her last several years, she lived in the Green Hills Health Center and enjoyed going outside to see the birds and flowers, singing familiar songs and tasting chocolate candy and ice cream treats. She smiled at familiar faces and photos.

Her remains are in the Iowa State University cemetery next to her husband and two daughters.

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