Luella “Lue” Esther Hobson
Luella “Lue” Esther Hobson went home Wednesday to be with most of her immediate family at the Riverview Manor in Three Rivers, Mich., where she had been a resident since late June.
She was surrounded by her local family and friends. She was exactly two weeks shy of her 101st birthday and because she lived that long she was a mother for 80 years and a grandmother for 60 years.
She was born Oct. 28, 1914, in Fenelton, the only child of Chester “Chet” and Zella (Harvey) Fennell.
She had said that Fenelton was named after her grandfather, but the spelling is different.
She moved to Michigan after meeting her future husband when he and her father worked in the oil fields of Pennsylvania. Glenn was transferred to Michigan to build oil refineries in several cities, the last being Kalamazoo.
In the late 1940s they bought a house on Shaver Road in Portage, Mich., which became Mozart when the subdivision was built in front of their property.
In June 1954, they purchased, named and ran the Marathon Market, which is now Migala Carpet on Shaver Road. They owned the store for about 10 years when Glenn had his first heart attack. After they sold the market, she went to work at Schafers Bakery in the Thrift Store, which was closed six months before she was eligible for retirement. So she went to work on the “bun line” until her retirement in 1982.
She and Glenn Wesley Hobson, originally from Erie, Kan., were married Nov. 11, 1932, in Mount Pleasant, Mich., while she was a senior in high school. He died Dec. 31, 1971, in Bronson Hospital after numerous heart attacks.
Luella lived at their house in Portage until she met a man from Grand Rapids, Mich., Lester Kirby. They were friends until he died almost 10 years later. Lester moved to Mattawan, Mich., so they could be closer. She inherited his house in Mattawan when he died so she moved there and a few years later she bought another property on North Point Drive and lived with her youngest daughter, Cyndi, until her death in July 2014.
She had been living alone with help from her granddaughters until she got sick in February 2015 and moved from a stay in Bronson Hospital to Bronson Commons in Mattawan.
She tried to live at home again with help but only lasted two days. That is when she moved to Riverview Manor.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Glenn; her son, Larry Evan Hobson in 2013 and his wife, the former Edna “Tudi” Passafume, in 2002, and Cyndi in 2014; and her great-grandson, Jeffery Lee Batten, Sheri's son, in 1979.
She is survived by her oldest daughter, Bonnie Jean (Robert) Morren of Frostproof, Fla.; and her grandchildren, Sheri Linn (Herbert) DeMeritt of Bronson, Mich., Sue Ann Hoeksema, of Frostproof, Fla., Teri Lee (Kim) Bishop of Elgin, Ill., Steven (Denise) Morren of Vicksburg, Mich., Larry Evan (Susan) Hobson of Hannibal, Mo., and Wesley Joseph Hobson of Hannibal, Mo.; and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Also surviving are her special friends, Richard and Claudia Spulick, Pat Dickenson and the Llhamon family, all of Mattawan, and the last love of her life, her 10-year-old cat, Boogie, who now lives with Sheri and Herbert.
HOBSON — Luella “Lue” Esther Hobson, who died Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, will be cremated and a memorial service will be during the 11 a.m. Sunday service at the Unity Missionary Baptist Church, 47391 CR 665, Paw Paw, Mich., about two miles north of Bronson Lakeview Hospital. The Rev. Archie Llhamon, pastor, will officiate.Memorials may be made to her veterinarian Kathy Crookes of Vought at Family Pet Health Center, Mattawan, or the Unity Missionary Baptist Church.Arrangements are by Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Memorial Chapel.Please see her personalized webpage at www.langelands.com to leave condolences and for obituary.
