Mary Margaret Corthell

Mary Margaret Corthell, age 83, of Merlin, died Friday, February 8, 2013 at Three Rivers Medical Center.

A funeral service will be at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, February 16, 2013 at Hull & Hull Chapel with Pastor J.P. Comyford officiating. Private mausoleum entombment will be at Hawthorne Memorial Gardens. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors are in charge of arrangements.

Remembrances may be made to Grants Pass Lions Club Foundation, PO Box 6, Grants Pass, Oregon 97528.

Mary was born November 18, 1929 in Salem, Oregon to Clark & Mary (Huff) Will. A second generation Oregonian, her family was with the original settlers of the Aurora Colony and homesteaded the Stauffer-Will Farm in Hubbard, Oregon. She grew up in the Salem area and graduated from Salem High (North) in 1947. In 1951 she graduated from Willamette University with a teaching degree. She taught in Bay City, Oregon for one year before she married Dwight Corthell on June 21, 1952 in Salem. From 1952 to 1954 she taught at Weston High School and then moved to Union, Oregon where she taught at Union High School from 1954 to 1957. From 1957 to 1964 she taught at Glendale High in Glendale, Oregon. In September 1965 she moved to Grants Pass and started substitute teaching in Grants Pass schools. She later taught full-time at South Junior High for 25 years, retiring in June 1991. She taught Physical Education, Biology, Health, and Ancient History and coached at South and GPHS volleyball, gymnastics, and track.

Mary was a member of the Grants Pass Lions Club and was a past lady lioness president.

Her hobbies included bowling, hunting, fishing, and reading mostly romance and Oregon history. She loved watching sporting events and there was always a game on television unless it was the news or Jeopardy. She always had a cat near her and took great pleasure in telling childhood memories – growing up with her sister, her father, and her bunny “Dodo.”

She was preceded in death by her grandson, James Michael Corthell; a great-grandson, Brandon Allaen Corthell; her parents; her husband; and a son-in-law, Kent Hubbard.

Survivors include a daughter, Kathleen M. Corthell and a son, D. Michael Corthell both of Merlin, Oregon; a sister, Shirley Ruth Hall of Estacada, Oregon; two grandsons; two granddaughters; three great-granddaughters; one great-grandson; and two step-great-granddaughters.