| Death |
- Mary Lou (Thacker) Robb Broadwater June 18, 1932 November 1, 2023
Mary Lou was born on June 18, 1932, in Chauncey, Illinois, the seventh child of William and Lena Thacker, and was raised in a large farming family. She graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1950, where she received scholastic achievements. She was awarded a scholarship to attend nursing school at the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing in Vincennes, where she graduated on December 6, 1954. Soon after passing the Indiana state board exam, she became a Registered Nurse and began working at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Indiana.
Her friend and nursing classmate Mildred Robb introduced Mary Lou to her brother Paul when he was on a home visit from the US Marine Corps. After Paul was honorably discharged from his duties with the Marines, the two were married on March 27, 1955, when Mary Lou Thacker was 23, and Paul Bryant Robb was 24. The couple first lived on a farm near Hazleton, Indiana, and their first child Ann Elaine was born in January 1956. Their second child, Dan Duane was born in July 1957, and their daughter Susan Carol was born in April 1959, in Vincennes, Indiana. The family moved to farmland in Illinois on the Buffalo Trail containing John McCawley's historic old stagecoach house on the West bank of the Little Wabash River near Clay City. In June 1960, their youngest son, Steven Paul, was born in Flora, Illinois.
In 1961, Mary Lou received her Registered Nurses license for Illinois and worked at the Flora Hospital until 1966, when she was hired to be the Clay City School District school nurse for the Elementary, Junior High, and High Schools. She was also the school nurse at Louisville half-time from 1966 to 1971, and for many years served on the Board of Directors for the Clay County Health Department.
In 1970, the family bought a farm South of Clay City. Paul designed and helped build a house on the land; but on April 23, 1973, at age 42, Paul died of a stroke before moving into the new house. In 1975, Mary Lou completed her Bachelor's Degree in Education through Eastern Illinois University and began teaching Health Education classes at the school.
After enjoying a dedicated career in nursing, in 1993 Mary Lou retired and began quilting. In 1994 she became a grandmother to Avery and Paul, and to Scott in 1996. She custom-made 69 beautiful quilts, many of which won contests, and gave them to her loved ones and grandchildren. She was also an excellent cook and loved to make meals for family and friends. The Clay City Christian Church located next door to the funeral home is Mary Lou's charity of choice where she actively worshiped for 58 years.
In 1980, Mary Lou, age 48, married Ray Broadwater from Flora, Illinois, and became a stepmother to Ray's stepdaughters, Dianne and Gail, and step-grandmother to their children. Ray Broadwater died in 2016. In 2018, Mary Lou sold the house in Clay City and moved to Jasper, Indiana to live at Brookside and Good Samaritan Northwood until she died peacefully in her sleep.
Mary Lou was preceded in death by her parents (Willie and Lena Thacker), husbands (Paul Robb, and Ray Broadwater), brothers (Melvin, Mervin, Kenneth, and Junior Thacker), and sisters (Lenore Vaughn, and Edith Mugrage).
Interment will follow the service at Clay City Cemetery.
Memorials can be made to the Clay City Christian Church.
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1932 - 
[1] 
English
