Obituary of Ann M. Main

~ANN MANSON MAIN
Ann Manson Main (Mrs. Robert Gordon Main, Sr.), aged 89, of Malone, died
May 18, 2017, at the residence of her son with whom she had made her home during the past
decade. She was accompanied by her family and the care givers who had been a loving part of
her life over decades, years, and months. She had been in failing health for the last year after a
years long struggle with post-polio syndrome.
Born May 25, 1927, in Malone, she was the younger daughter of Archie McCoy Manson
and Lucy Jarvis Manson. Her mother was an immigrant from Quebec. Upon his return from
World War I, her father sold his overcoat for three dollars in order to finance the purchase of a
bicycle shop on Mill Street which ultimately became Manson Brothers Garage on Pearl Street.
She grew up on “French Hill” in Malone where she was surrounded by the love and support of
her family and many other first generation Americans of French Canadian ancestry to whom she
remained connected throughout her life.
Living all of her life in Malone, she attended local public schools, first on Duane Street,
then at Flanders Elementary School, and was graduated from Franklin Academy in 1944. She
was the salutatorian of her class. The following year she was graduated from Marjorie Webster
Junior College in Silver Springs, Maryland. During this period she was also employed in the
office of United States Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin as secretary to his speech writer.
Upon her return to Malone, she was employed as a secretary in the offices of Frank J.
Wagner, public accountant and auditor, and for Archie Hyde at the Hyde Drug Company where
she had previously worked, during high school, as one of the iconic soda fountain girls. As a
young girl she worked as an usher at the Franklin County Fair grandstand during afternoon horse
racing and for the evening entertainment program, as well as a weed puller at Langdon Farms and
as a sales clerk at Woolworth’s Department Store.
She was united in marriage with Robert G. Main, Sr., on August 27, 1950, in the priests’
parlor of the rectory at Notre Dame Church in Malone by Rev. Edward A. Tetrault. From then
on she devoted herself to being a wife, mother, and homemaker. Judge Main predeceased her on
February 2, 1998.
She was a life-long communicant of Notre Dame Church and St. André Bessette parish.
She served her parish teaching religious education and was a volunteer director of religious
education for several years. In the early 1960s, she founded the local St. Vincent de Paul store
with Bea Nichols of St. John Bosco Church and Jean Partish of St. Joseph’s Church under the
direction of the late Rev. Msgr. William J. Argy, then pastor of St. Joseph’s Church.
Following her husband’s death, she devoted herself to her family and to a number of
charitable endeavors at her church, at the Alice Hyde Medical Center, the Academic Board of
Trustees of Franklin Academy, and a number of other local charities. She delighted in helping
others, and, as a polio survivor, many of her efforts were directed to ease the mobility needs of
the physically handicapped. Her philanthropy was recognized by the Franklin County Bar
Association in 2015 with the presentation to her of the Liberty Bell Award.
She was a close follower of current events, was an avid reader, and engaged in handwork
which she delighted in sharing. She made many of her own clothes, and her self-designed and
hand knit baby caps and jewelry can be found locally and around the world and were part of the
inspiration for her daughter’s knitting books. She enjoyed traveling with her husband, children,
and friends, and visited destination across her native land and around the world. But, most
particularly, she delighted in being a homemaker. In recent years, as her own mobility
diminished, she enjoyed the stream of visitors who came to her in friendship for conversation,
comfort, and solace.
She was a member of the Notre Dame Altar and Rosary Society and the Alice Hyde
Medical Center Auxiliary. In 2012 she was inducted into the Franklin Academy Academic Hall
of Fame as salutatorian of the class of 1944.
She is survived by a son, Robert G. Main, Jr., and a daughter, Lucy Ann Main, both of
Malone. She is also survived by two nephews and godsons, Charles Archie McKee and Andrew
Manson McKee, and their families. The last of her generation of descendants of Alphonse Jarvis
and Mary Bordeaux Jarvis, she is survived also by her Jarvis cousins of the next generation,
Anne LaBaron Voss, James Dixon, Richard Dixon, Edward Dixon, Mary Alys Killian, and John
Joseph Dixon and their families. Likewise, she is survived by the three cherished friends who
assisted her family in watching over her, caring for her, and protecting her in the last years of her
life: Daisy Raville, a friend of fifty years; Glenn Lamica who helped her since he was fourteen
year old; and Eleanor Quigley, a companion for fifteen years. The last years of her life were
enhanced by the daily nursing care she received from Sherry LaFave, Kayla McCarthy, and Ellen
Miller and by the skilled care of Gina Boyea, Crystal Villnave, and Heather Gratton.
Besides her parents and her husband of forty-seven years, she was predeceased by a sister
and brother-in-law, Helen Alys McKee and Charles F. McKee; a sister-in-law, Charlotte M.
Main; and her only niece and goddaughter, Bess McKee Hanna.
The family will greet guests at the Bruso-Desnoyers Funeral Home on Tuesday, May 23,
from 3 until 6 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 24, 2017,
at 10 a.m. at Notre Dame Church in Malone with Rev. Joseph W. Giroux, pastor, as principal
celebrant. Burial will follow in the family plot at Morningside Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Academic Board of Trustees of Franklin
Academy for inclusion in the scholarship fund established by Mrs. Main at the time of the death
of her niece, Bess McKee Hanna, in 2015. Contributions may be forwarded to Steven A. Vanier,
Esq., Treasurer, 367 West Main Street, Malone, New York 12953.
Arrangements are through the Bruso-Desnoyers Funeral Service, Inc. in Malone.
Online condolences may be made to the family at www.brusofuneralservice.com.