Mary Holyoke Emerson

Mary Holyoke (Cochran) Emerson Thursday, June 27, 2013 Piermont, N.H. — Mary Holyoke (Cochran) Emerson, 93, died on Friday, June 7, 2013, in Piermont, surrounded by her family, at the home of her daughter Mimi.

Born in 1919 in St. Paul, Minn., to Margaret Davis and Moncrieff M. Cochran, Mary (“Sitta”) moved to Massachusetts in 1936. She married David Emerson in 1940, beginning a lifetime of service and devotion to the family they created and to her community, extended family and friends. Early on, while raising their eight children and a menagerie of horses, dogs, and cats, she became a Certified Nurse Aide. Later, in Concord, Mass., where they lived for more than 30 years, she was an active American Red Cross volunteer. She also became a pilot and co-pilot for extended flights across the country with her husband. Wherever they made their home, she welcomed everyone, and newcomers soon became part of the family.

Mrs. Emerson’s husband died in 1998. She is survived by her brother, William Davis Cochran of Weston/Lexington, Mass.; seven of her eight children, Margaret Emerson Bancroft, of Medfield, Mass., Ellen Emerson; of Concord, Mass., Lauran Emerson, of White River Junction, Vt., Alexander Forbes Emerson, of Belfast, Maine, Daniel Cochran Emerson of Groton, Mass., Raymond Emerson, of Concord, Mass., and Amelia Emerson of Piermont; nine grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and 23 nieces and nephews. Her son, William died in 1968 in Vietnam.

Mrs. Emerson also leaves three daughters-in-law, Suzanne Robertson Emerson, Jennifer Pennoyer Emerson, and Suzanne Stofflet; three sons-in-law, William N. Bancroft, Bruce R. Kohler, and Hugh M. Dundee; and an exchange-student son from South Africa, Martin Burger.