After a serious illness of about three months Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Coon passed away at her late home in Ashaway, R.I., Monday evening, July 21, 1930. She was born in Independence, N. Y., July 24, 1838, and was the youngest of nine children born to William B. and Mary Hiscox Green. She was the great-granddaughter [great-great-granddaughter] of Thomas Hiscox, who for many years was an elder in the First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Hopkinton, R.I., the pastor of this church the last of his life, and for fifty years one of the foremost ministers in Rhode Island.
She availed herself of such educational advantages as were at hand and for many years taught school in her native town. June 9, 1858, she was married to Franklin Hill of Ithaca, N.Y., and to them was born one son, Frank Hill. Her husband died April 25, 1861, and later she married Professor Henry C. Coon of Alfred University. As the wife of one of the leading men in the college and church, she moved with queenly dignity and had that rare gift of winning the respect of both the high and the lowly. Professor Coon died May 9, 1898.
About ten years before Mr. Coon's death Miss Cecelia F. Randolph came to live in their home, and a friendship grew up between the two women which continued to the end. It was Miss Randolph's privilege, together with Mrs. Coon's son and his wife, to tenderly and faithfully minister to her in her last illness.
In early life Mrs. Coon made a public profession of faith in Christ as her Savior and at the age of fourteen was baptized by Elder Thomas E. Babcock and became a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Independence. When she moved to Alfred, N.Y., she transferred her membership to the church of like faith in that village. In 1912, Mrs. Coon, together with Miss Randolph, moved to Ashaway and in a few months, February 22, 1013, she became a member of the First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Hopkinton, and of this she remained a member till called to join the church triumphant.
Her membership in the three churches covered a period of over seventy-eight years, and to them she gave love and devoted service. For their success she worked and prayed with marked earnestness. She was solicitous for those who knew not Christ, especially among her friends and neighbors, and was ever planning ways by which they might be led to yield themselves to him.
Every worthy cause appealed to her and she gave her best to their advancement. For many years she had been a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and at the time of her death was a member of the society located in Ashaway and Potter Hill, R.I.
Mrs. Coon is survived by her only son, Mr. Frank Hill, cashier of the Ashaway National Bank, four grandchildren: Mrs. Evelyn R. Robinson, Mrs. Mary H. Crandall, Frank M. Hill, and Miss Helen L. Hill; and seven great-grandchildren.
Funeral services conducted by Rev. William L. Burdick, a former pastor, assisted by Rev. Clayton A. Burdick, were held in the church in Ashaway, July 24, her ninety-second birthday, and the mortal remains were taken to Alfred, her old home, where on July 26, a burial service was conducted by President Boothe C. Davis, also a former pastor. Interment took place in Alfred Rural Cemetery.
William L. Burdick
