Mary Margaret (McNary) Chowning

Mary Margaret (McNary) Chowning, age 90, of Polo, MO, passed away at her home on July 13, 2021. She and her family lived all over northwest Missouri, before moving to Caldwell County in 1948.

Mary was born on Sept. 14, 1930, in Lone Star to Otis (Hap) and Effie (Meyers) Hazzard. She graduated from the Mirabile High School in 1948. She was a homemaker, farmer's wife, and she worked for 35 years at the Mirabile Store in Mirabile. She also worked hanging wallpaper and painting with Helen Karr, and was employed at the Mirabile School as a custodian and helper.  

She greatly enjoyed cooking, canning, cleaning her home and raising chickens. She was a noted historian and had a remarkable ability to remember important dates.  

On Nov. 17, 1950, she married John E. McNary in Hamilton. He passed away in 2006.  Mary then married Ellis Chowning on Nov. 14, 2009, in Polo at his home.  

She was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband; brothers, Billy and Roy Hazzard; and sisters, Ruby Allen, Reba Killin, Patricia Dunlap and Barbara Catron.

Survivors include her husband, Ellis Chowning, of the home; daughter, Virginia (Ed) Pautz of Mirabile; two grandsons, Brandon (Amber) Locker and Jamie Locker; three great-grandchildren; three stepchildren, James Chowning, Rita (Ron) Sullivan, and Ellis Chowning, Jr.; six step-grandchildren; and three sisters, Ruth Patee, Margie Catron, and Joan (Charles) Jennings.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 17, at the Mirabile Community Church. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Friends may call at Bram Funeral Home in Hamilton, on Friday, July 16, from noon until 5:00 p.m. Interment will be at the Mirabile Cemetery in Mirabile. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Mirabile Cemetery or the donor's choice. Arrangements have been entrusted to Bram Funeral Home in Hamilton.