Red River County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....Crain, Mary Lester (Shannon) 2005

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Ann Allen Geoghegan http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00008.html#0001878 January 2, 2008, 1:21 pm

Post-Crescent
April 17, 2005

Crain, Mary Lester (Shannon)

Mary Lester (Shannon) Crain, age 80, died on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 in 
Appleton. Mary Armistead Lester was born May 12, 1924 in Shreveport, 
Louisiana, the middle child of Ruth Ava Armistead and Ed Farrington Lester, 
and grew up on the west bank of the Red River, across from Coushatta, 
Louisiana. After graduating from Coushatta High School, she continued her 
study of music (piano) at Louisiana State Normal College in Natchitoches for 
two years and then at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. She was a member 
of Alpha Sigma Alpha and Phi Beta. 

In 1945 she married Edwin R. Shannon and moved to Appleton, Wisconsin. Her 
three children were born to that marriage: Michael Robert Shannon, Scott 
Lester Shannon and Rachel Mary Shannon. In 1975 she moved to Shreveport, La. 
and was subsequently married to Dr. A. Penn Crain. After his death in 1982 she 
returned to Appleton to be near her adult children, and to continue her 
community activities among new and old friends. She served on the United Fund 
Board and was a founding board member of Friends of Hearthstone. Mary was an 
accomplished pianist and an active member of Piano Group and Wednesday 
Musicale. She served two terms on the Fox Valley Symphony Board. Mary was an 
ordained elder in the Memorial Presbyterian Church.

She is survived by children Michael Robert Shannon (Jody Marks), Duluth, 
Minnesota; Rachel Mary Shannon (Stephen Weis), Appleton; sister Ava Louise 
Nelson (James D. Nelson, deceased), Rockwall, Texas; brother Ed F. Lester, Jr. 
(Betty), Coushatta, Louisiana; brother-in-law W. D. Adkins, Allen, Texas, and 
many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Dr. Roy T. Lester and 
his wife Roberta, husband Penn Crain, sister Ruth Lester Adkins, and son Scott 
Lester Shannon.

A memorial service of thanksgiving for Mary's life will be led by the Reverend 
Charles Valenti-Hein at Memorial Presbyterian Church, 803 E. College Ave., 
Appleton at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 22, 2005. Visitation in the church parlor 
will begin at 12:00 noon and a reception there will follow the service.

Memorials in Mary's name may be directed to Memorial Presbyterian Church, Fox 
Valley Symphony or charity of choice.


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