Mary Margaret (Lodwig) Blackwood

Mary Margaret Lodwig Blackwood, 66, of Murphysboro, passed away at 9:35 a.m. Friday, March 18, 2011, at the Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Illinois. Mary was born to Leslie and Thelma Louise (Seals) Lodwig at their home in Pinhook-Mills Prairie, Illinois. She attended grades 1 thru 8 at West Salem, Illinois, high school at Edwards County High School, and then, she attended the Colbert's Beauty Academy in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. She graduated from John A. Logan with an Associate's Degree in Political Science. While working as a beautician, she attended SIU-C, where she received her Master's Degree in Special Education. Mary taught Special Education in Marion, Illinois for thirty years until her retirement. She continued to manage Blackwood Rentals until her death. Mrs. Blackwood was a member of the First Baptist Church in Murphysboro. She was a SIU Alumni and a member of the West Salem School Alumni Association, and she was a member of the Jackson County Democratic Women's Organization. Mary created many new recipes of her own fudge, which received several awards and ribbons at the DuQuoin State Fair. She made fudge for various Democrat Fund raisers, and she was always making cookies for various church functions. She loved to collect cookbooks and other usual items at the local yard sales. To all of the Lodwig family, she alone was irenic and was cherished by all. But her greatest joy was living her life through her granddaughter Shelby and her "band of angels" friends, and attending Shelby's ball games of volleyball and softball. On June 9, 1976, she married Howard Thomas Blackwood, and he preceded her in death on December 21, 2003. Mary is survived by her daughter Kimberly Moore-Hunziker, granddaughter Shelby Ann Margaret Hunziker; step daughter Tina Blackwood Sanders, step son Tom Blackwood; and three step grandchildren; four sisters Linda (Amos) Chenoweth, Janis (Jim) Spath, Nancy (Phillip) Roth, and Barbara Edmondson; two brothers Edwin (Ros) Lodwig and Stephen (Ligia) Lodwig; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and one brother Charles Leslie Lodwig. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday, March 21, 2011, at Pettett Funeral Home in Murphysboro, where memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church in Murphysboro, Illinois. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, 2011, at Ingram Funeral Home in West Salem, Illinois with Rev. Linda Chenoweth officiating, and burial at Moravian Cemetery in West Salem. Friends may call at Ingram Funeral Home from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday. Memorials may be made to the West Salem School Alumni Association Educational Scholarship Fund % Darrrell Troyer, 301 S. Broadway, Box 202, West Salem, IL 62476.

Mary Margaret (Lodwig) Blackwood

December 16, 1944 - March 18, 2011