Mary Lou Secor

Mary Lou Secor, 85, died Sunday, November 20, 2011 at the Humboldt Care Center North.

Memorial services will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday November 22, 2011 at the Bruce-Graham Funeral Home.  Visitation will be held from 4 until time of service on Tuesday at the funeral home.

Mary Lou Secor was born July 18, 1926 on a farm near Baxter, Iowa.  She attended rural schools and graduated from Melbourne High School.  In 1946 she moved to Fort Dodge with her family while attending Iowa Teacher's College (now UNI) in Cedar Falls.  She then taught school in Rockwell City.

While teaching was satisfactory, Mary Lou sensed a strong call for children needing care and help.  She went to work at an orphanage in Dubuque where she saw the urgency for children who needed foster care.  For the next forty plus years she dedicated her life to foster care for the children of Webster County.  She purchased and outfitted a home in Badger, Iowa to provide this foster care.  Mary Lou cared for over 135 children who were in her charge for anywhere from a few days to a few years.  Many, as adults, stayed in contact and she was very proud of their various accomplishments.

Once Mary Lou retired she pursued hobbies of baking and gardening.  She became a Master Gardener, specializing in promoting and planting of trees in the area, especially Badger.

Though she did not have any biological children, her many years of mothering provided assistance whenever needed in the family or community.  She was always available to help with new babies, babysitting and weddings, even to bake and decorate the cakes.

Mary Lou is survived by a brother Alan (Dorothy) Secor and several nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her parents Perry and Anna (Gray) Secor, four brothers: Lauren, Robert, William and Gerald and a sister, Virginia Secor Clark.

Fort Dodge Area Funeral & Cremation Service, Bruce Funeral Home