Ann Manson Main

Ann Manson Main (Mrs. Robert Gordon Main Sr.), 89, of Malone, died May 18, 2017, at the residence of her son with whom she had made her home during the past decade. She was accompanied by her family and the caregivers who had been a loving part of her life over decades, years, and months. She had been in failing health for the last year after a years-long struggle with post-polio syndrome.

Born May 25, 1927, in Malone, she was the younger daughter of Archie McCoy Manson and Lucy Jarvis Manson. Her mother was an immigrant from Quebec. Upon his return from World War I, her father sold his overcoat for $3 in order to finance the purchase of a bicycle shop on Mill Street, which ultimately became Manson Brothers Garage on Pearl Street.

She grew up on “French Hill” in Malone, where she was surrounded by the love and support of her family and many other first-generation Americans of French-Canadian ancestry, to whom she remained connected throughout her life.

Living all of her life in Malone, she attended local public schools, first on Duane Street, then at Flanders Elementary School, and was graduated from Franklin Academy in 1944. She was the salutatorian of her class. The following year she was graduated from Marjorie Webster Junior College in Silver Springs, Maryland. During this period she was also employed in the office of United States Sen. Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin as secretary to his speech writer.

Upon her return to Malone, she was employed as a secretary in the offices of Frank J. Wagner, public accountant and auditor, and for Archie Hyde at the Hyde Drug Company, where she had previously worked during high school as one of the iconic soda fountain girls. As a young girl, she worked as an usher at the Franklin County Fair grandstand during afternoon horse racing and for the evening entertainment program, as well as a weed puller at Langdon Farms and as a sales clerk at Woolworth’s Department Store.

She was united in marriage with Robert G. Main Sr. on Aug. 27, 1950, in the priests’ parlor of the rectory at Notre Dame Church in Malone by the Rev. Edward A. Tetrault. From then on, she devoted herself to being a wife, mother and homemaker. Judge Main predeceased her on Feb. 2, 1998.

She was a lifelong communicant of Notre Dame Church and St. Andre Bessette parish.

She served her parish teaching religious education and was a volunteer director of religious education for several years. In the early 1960s, she founded the local St. Vincent de Paul store with Bea Nichols of St. John Bosco Church and Jean Partish of St. Joseph’s Church under the direction of the late Rev. Msgr. William J. Argy, then pastor of St. Joseph’s Church.

Following her husband’s death, she devoted herself to her family and to a number of charitable endeavors at her church, at the Alice Hyde Medical Center, the Academic Board of Trustees of Franklin Academy, and a number of other local charities. She delighted in helping others, and as a polio survivor, many of her efforts were directed to ease the mobility needs of the physically handicapped. Her philanthropy was recognized by the Franklin County Bar Association in 2015 with the presentation to her of the Liberty Bell Award.

She was a close follower of current events, was an avid reader and engaged in handwork which she delighted in sharing. She made many of her own clothes, and her self-designed and hand-knit baby caps and jewelry can be found locally and around the world, and were part of the inspiration for her daughter’s knitting books. She enjoyed traveling with her husband, children and friends, and visited destinations across her native land and around the world. But most particularly, she delighted in being a homemaker. In recent years, as her own mobility diminished, she enjoyed the stream of visitors who came to her in friendship for conversation, comfort and solace.

She was a member of the Notre Dame Altar and Rosary Society and the Alice Hyde Medical Center Auxiliary. In 2012, she was inducted into the Franklin Academy Academic Hall of Fame as salutatorian of the Class of 1944.

She is survived by a son, Robert G. Main Jr., and a daughter, Lucy Ann Main, both of Malone. She is also survived by two nephews and godsons, Charles Archie McKee and Andrew Manson McKee, and their families. The last of her generation of descendants of Alphonse Jarvis and Mary Bordeaux Jarvis, she is survived also by her Jarvis cousins of the next generation: Anne LaBaron Voss, James Dixon, Richard Dixon, Edward Dixon, Mary Alys Killian and John Joseph Dixon and their families. Likewise, she is survived by the three cherished friends who assisted her family in watching over her, caring for her and protecting her in the last years of her life: Daisy Raville, a friend of 50 years; Glenn Lamica, who helped her since he was 14 years old; and Eleanor Quigley, a companion for 15 years. The last years of her life were enhanced by the daily nursing care she received from Sherry LaFave, Kayla McCarthy and Ellen Miller, and by the skilled care of Gina Boyea, Crystal Villnave and Heather Gratton.

Besides her parents and her husband of 47 years, she was predeceased by a sister and brother-in-law, Helen Alys McKee and Charles F. McKee; a sister-in-law, Charlotte M. Main; and her only niece and goddaughter, Bess McKee Hanna.

The family will greet guests from 3 until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23, at the Bruso-Desnoyers Funeral Home in Malone. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 24, at Notre Dame Church in Malone with the Rev. Joseph W. Giroux, pastor, as principal celebrant. Burial will follow in the family plot at Morningside Cemetery in Malone.

Memorial donations may be made to the Academic Board of Trustees of Franklin Academy for inclusion in the scholarship fund established by Mrs. Main at the time of the death of her niece, Bess McKee Hanna, in 2015. Contributions may be forwarded to Steven A. Vanier, Esq., treasurer, 367 West Main St., Malone, NY 12953.

Arrangements are through the Bruso-Desnoyers Funeral Service Inc. in Malone. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.brusofuneralservice.com.