Mary Lou Tarrant

She believed in  Angels and is now part of that Heavenly Host.  With her family by her side, Mary Lou Tarrant passed away at Meadow Brook on Wednesday, Dec.1  after a 12 year battle with Alzheimers.   Born in Detroit on Jan. 26, 1935, she grew up in Wayne, Mich. where her family owned and operated a lumber, coal and redi-mix concrete business.  She was a graduate of Wayne Memorial High School and then went on to  Michigan State University where she met John, her husband to be and the love of her life.  They married on Sept. 3, 1955 while both were students at Michigan State.

Mary Lou was a teacher of  elementary children with special needs for the Wayne-Westland Schools for 21 years and moved to Bellaire  33 years ago when she and her husband purchased  a newspaper publishing company that included The Antrim County News and The Leader and Kalkaskian.  She was an early member of the Bellaire Garden Club, a Bellaire Chamber of Commerce volunteer, a Hospice volunteer, attended the Bellaire Methodist Church and served several years as a member of the Antrim County Board of Canvassers.    She was a fantastic cook, enjoyed doing needlepoint and jigsaw puzzles, loved to travel and enjoyed spending time at the family cottage on Lake Huron.   But her family will remember her most  as a devoted wife, a loving mother  and a very doting grandmother.  She will be greatly missed.

Mary Lou is survived by her husband of 66 years, John; daughters Patricia (Jeffrey) Hallberg and Jacqueline Tarrant, both of Bellaire;  two granddaughters, Whitney Hallberg of So. Bend, Ind. and Kristen (Darrek) Meadows of Brooklyn, Mich.,  a great-granddaughter, Violet Meadows, a sister-in-law, Glenna Hawley of Northville and several nieces  and nephews.   She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas and Lillian Hawley; two  brothers, Thomas and Jamieson Hawley and her sister, Margaret Lasater.

Services honoring her memory will be held  Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 2:00 p.m. with a visitation hour at 1:00 p.m.   at the Bellaire chapel of Mortensen Funeral Homes, Pastor David Ramage officiating.   Interment will be in Lakeview Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to the Alzheimers Association of Northwest Michigan or to the Meadow Brook Foundation..  The family also wishes to express its gratitude to the  staff of Meadow Brook’s Orchard Hill House for the loving care  provided  during Mary Lou’s short stay there.

Arrangements are in the care of the Bellaire Chapel of Mortensen Funeral Homes.  Please sign her online guestbook at www.mortensenfuneralhomes.com