Mary Ellen (Carr) Cotton, age 69, of Palm Coast, Florida, formerly of Des Moines, Iowa, passed away peacefully December 14, 2024, following an eleven-month battle with cancer.
Lohman Funeral Home of Palm Coast, Florida has been entrusted to finalize the arrangements. A private family memorial service and burial will take place in Des Moines, Iowa at a later date.
Mary Ellen (Mary) was born December 22, 1954 in Des Moines to Bill and Virginia (Geddes) Carr. She graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1973 and from Cornell College in 1977 with a degree in psychology. She married Allen Cotton July 23, 1977 in at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. They made their home initially in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and later moved to Illinois, and then to Birmingham, Alabama and finally, Prattville, Alabama. There they eventually divorced.
Mary worked at a number of insurance companies throughout her adult life. Her first love was astronomy. She was an accomplished pianist, played the violin and excelled at needlework. She also loved to read and word puzzles. In her later years, she lived in Gardner, Kansas and drove a school bus. Eventually she moved to Florida to be near her granddaughters. There she joined Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Palm Coast. Mary was devoted to her family and to her beloved dogs. She also loved to travel and visited nearly all of the fifty U.S. states, plus England and Scotland.
Mary is survived by her daughter, Christine (Jeff) Foster of Palm Coast, Florida; son Wendell Cotton of Olathe, Kansas; granddaughters Amilia and Cassie Foster; sister Jennifer Carr (Jim) Burtwistle of rural Ewing, Nebraska; niece, Laura (Ryan) Jensen of Wahoo, Nebraska; and nephew, Will (Hannah) Burtwistle of rural Ewing, Nebraska. She was preceded in death by her parents, and brother William G. Carr in 1981.