By Staff
Mary Ann Wood-Drish, 72, of Lowe Street in Dowagiac, died on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at Borgess Lee Memorial Hospital in Dowagiac.
A time of visitation will be held on Wednesday, May 21, at Mission Hills Memorial Chapel in Niles from noon to 2 p.m. with a funeral service at 2 p.m. to celebrate her life.
She will be interred at Mission Hills Memorial Gardens in the garden of Pine Haven.
She was born on Aug. 5, 1935, to the late Walter and Melba (Day) Fryman in Berrien Springs. She was one of four children growing up in the Fryman household.
Soon after graduating from high school she wed Floyd Wood at a ceremony in Berrien Springs on April 25, 1953. Together they had three children. After he died in 1966, she began dating Wayne Drish and they were married on Aug. 6, 1969 and had one daughter. Wayne also preceded her in death.
She was also preceded in death by her parents, husband Floyd Wood, husband Wayne Drish and grandson Michael Wood.
Surviving family includes her four children, John (Mary) Wood of Dowagiac, Sharon (Bruce "Tiny") Landrie of Union, Jack (Vickie) Wood of Dowagiac and Dawn (Darwin) Jackson of Plainfield, Ill.; five grandchildren, Brian Ottinger, Ashley, Adam, Amy and Katie Wood and siblings Jack (Barb) Fryman of Dowagiac, Jim (Julie) Fryman of Dowagiac and Betty Stover of Hollywood, Fla.
In her free time she had many hobbies; she enjoyed putting together jigsaw puzzles, reading books about the Amish culture, spending time with her family and painting ceramics. Her hobby of painting ceramics turned into a career during her long life, she spent much time painting and designing ceramic pieces. She didn't keep many of her ceramic pieces though; they were almost always given to family members as gifts to show her appreciation of them.
She loved her family more than anything in the world and they feel lucky to have been a part of hers for so many years. She often went to see her grandchildren play sports and went on vacations together as a family to places like Mackinaw Island, Dollywood and to visit her sister in Florida.
Condolences, photos and memories may be left for the family at www.BrownFuneralHomeNiles.com
Arrangements were by Brown Funeral Home &Cremation Services and Mission Hills Memorial Chapel, both of Niles.