Nona Ruth McCord

Nona Ruth McCord, age 92, of Stalwart, Michigan, entered Heaven on April 30, 2019, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Nona was born June 7, 1926, in Pickford, Michigan, to William Benfield Hewer and Sue Maud (Crawford) Hewer. Nona grew up on the family farm in Pickford. She attended Pleasant Park Elementary School, two miles east of Pickford, often called “Frog Pond Elementary”. She went on to attend Pickford Public Schools and was in high school during World War II, graduating with the class of 1946. Following high school, Nona worked waitressing in Sault Ste. Marie. She married Gerald Thomas McCord on November 18, 1950, and together they made their home in Stalwart, where they raised their family and were married for 56 years before Gerald passed away in 2007. When their kids were big enough to go to school, Nona worked at Kincheloe Air Force Base in housekeeping and then worked for the Les Cheneaux Club in Cedarville, helping with summer households for 29 years. She retired when she was 75. Nona belonged to the VFW Ladies Auxiliary in Hessel, and the Stalwart Community Presbyterian Church, where she was active with the annual Stalwart Fair Dinner and pasty and pie making. She loved music, cooking and baking, playing cards, cribbage, Yahtzee, and 31 with her friends and family. She had a wonderful sense of humor and rarely met a person that didn’t quickly become a friend and was recently described best as “the youngest, older lady I ever knew”. Nona is survived by her daughter, Janeen S. (Joe) VanLuven of Pickford; sons, Alan (Jan) Finkbeiner of Caro, Michigan, and Vernon Bryce “Pete” (Leslie) Hewer of Sault Ste. Marie; grandchildren, Pamela S. (Shayne) VanLuven-Miley, Heather A. (fiancé Bill Carter) VanLuven, Andy Finkbeiner, and Natalie (Marvin) Byler; great-grandchildren, Paul (Soraya) Lamer, Ann R. VanLuven, Jacob D. Rus, Calvin T. (girlfriend Jordyn Kaplan) Dyke, Marie L. Dyke, and Emma; and one great great-grandchild, Addison. Also surviving is her sister and best friend Lois C. Tassier of Cedarville, Michigan; sister-in-law, Elsie Hewer of Buckley, Michigan; many nieces and nephews; and special friends and neighbors, whom she loved as family, Kim and Dana Lofdahl and Al and (the late) Peggy Simpson. Nona was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Gerald; sons, Michael McCord and Gregory McCord; brothers, William (Cleo) Hewer and Vernon Francis Hewer; and brother-in-law, Everett Tassier. Services will be held at R. Galer Funeral Home, beginning with visitation on Friday, May 3, from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. and also on Saturday, May 4, from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. Funeral service will be on Saturday, May 4, beginning at 11:00 A.M. Memorials may be directed to the Stalwart Community Church Catastrophic Fund, 8089 E. M-48, Stalwart, MI 49736 or Pennington Home in Pickford, c/o SHSS, 1501 W. 6th Ave., Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783. Interment will be in Fairview Cemetery in Pickford Township, Michigan, at a later date.

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Nona Ruth McCord

June 7, 1926 - April 30, 2019