Mary E. Mann
Born: January 30, 1935 in Sumner, Illinois
Died: March 21, 2024 in Centralia, Illinois Pen Name: None Connection to Illinois: Mann was born in Sumner. She lived in Chicago, Springfield, Tuscola, Champaign-Urbana (while her husband attended and graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine), and Centralia. She graduated from Bridgeport High School and wrote a book titled, ''Book Learning in Centralia, Illinois, A primer on Willow Grove School, 1866-1992'' that is in the Jefferson and Adams Reading Rooms of the Library of Congress. ''Me and Hobo Bill: Recollections of a National Hobo King'' is a story of a hobo who lived and died in Centralia. Biography: Mary E Mann was a nursing school graduate from Indiana University. She went on to Northwestern University for graduate studies in Chicago. Having met before the Korean War, and corresponded during his service, Mary married Dennis K Mann at the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Chicago. While supporting her husband through veterinary school at the University of Illinois, she started a family, ultimately raising four children. She followed Dennis while he pursued his academic studies at Tulane University and then back again to the University of Illinois. Along the way, photos of her bacterial mutation experiments wound up on the cover of a December 1968 issue of Science Magazine. She had many interests and led several community groups — University of Iowa Newcomers Club, Gourmet Club, Methodist Circle meetings, League of Women Voters, and later while in Centralia a member of the Willow Grove school board, a member of the Centralia First Presbyterian Church as well as becoming a local historian publishing a history of Willow Grove School, the Presbyterian Church and a history of Centralia’s “King of the Hobos”.
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Me & Hobo Bill: Recollections of a National Hobo King ISBN: 0972097007 OCLC: 51641898 Marimann Publications, Centralia, Ill. : ©2002. Icy fingers ran up and down my spine at the thought of being fired at by outlaws or railroad bulls. I wasn't afraid of getting cold because I was headed south. I felt ashamed of myself for leaving home without telling Mom goodbye. I knew Mom would be walking the floor, feeling hopeless, wringing her hands in agony, crying like all moms do when they are worried sick about one of their children. But that was the price I paid for my freedom. |