Mary Todd

Here is how Win Todd began his annual love note to his wife Mary Lou on their fiftieth wedding anniversary in April, 1996. He was seventy-eight years old, she seventy-three: SWIFTLY-FLY-THE-YEARS- PRODUCTIONS Presents THE FABLED FIFTY 1946-1996 A Story of Sizzling Passion, Joy and Unrivaled Cuisine! The note bears witness to a romance and partnership then in its fiftieth year and destined to continue unabated until Win's passing twenty-four years later at the age of 102. At their wedding in April, 1946, Mary Lou Stephenson was twenty-three years old. It followed a whirlwind one-month courtship. Mary Lou's claim that she could never imagine that Win, a sought-after bachelor, had chosen to marry her are belied by wedding pictures that show him looking with love and pride at the beautiful young woman who had accepted his proposal. She was born in Kalamazoo in 1923. Following graduation from State High School, she attended Northwestern University until her mother's illness required her to return home and take on the role of caregiver. In 1946, seven months following VJ Day and the end of the war, she met Win who was returning to his hometown after spending the war years in Virginia manufacturing gunpowder for the Hercules Smokeless Powder Company. At a time when their generation had helped save the world, in a community they knew and loved, Mary Lou looked forward with confidence to the coming years; years that would see them make room in their romance for three children, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren all of whom survive her. Blessed with family, friends and a happy marriage they delighted in both the extraordinary and the everyday, their hopes no more than what their lives became; "lives that would starve a psychiatrist" as Win once commented. After all, during their Presbyterian wedding, they had vowed "to live together as the heirs of the grace of life." Inevitably, this love of the ordinary became the extraordinary as she applied her keen intellect and high standards to everything she undertook; parenting, grandparenting, friendship and the culinary arts. She considered food preparation a sacred obligation, not to be undertaken lightly. Her skills were widely acknowledged, including by chefs at venues such as Gull Lake Country Club, Ocean Reef Club and Key Largo Anglers Club who sought her opinion on ideas and with whom she was quickly on a first name basis. She loved food in all its forms, whether from a starred Michelin restaurant or a McDonalds cheeseburger. For children and grandchildren, her homes in Kalamazoo, Key Largo and Gull Lake were places of refuge and sanctuary; places where the unavoidable disruptions and disappointments of life were smoothed over with love and your favorite dessert. They were often magical as well; easter egg hunts, scavenger hunts whose cleverness bordered on the diabolical, childhood illnesses rewarded by a steady stream of gifts and distractions, birthday candles that suddenly erupted into minor fireworks, all of which delighted her as much if not more than their intended beneficiaries. Following Win's passing in December 2020 it seemed inevitable that Mary Lou would soon join him and resume their partnership, which she did eight months later, passing peacefully in the early hours of July 29, 2021. While her family is comforted by her long, happy life her loss is felt keenly; a recognition that her gift for supporting and embodying what is best in all of us is no longer among us. The family requests that donations be made to a charity of your choice in memory of Mary Lou Todd. Please visit Mary's personalized online guestbook at https://www.langelands.com