Obituary for Niger RPCV Mary Ann Hobson



She spent two years in the Peace Corps, teaching English in Niger, West Africa, followed by two years teaching English to immigrant children in Australia. Back in the United States, she taught advanced placement English at Fontana (Calif.) High School and received a master's degree in writing from California State University in San Bernardino.

Obituary for Niger RPCV Mary Ann Hobson

Mary Ann Hobson's passions were art, literature, music

Peace Corps veteran taught at UC

BY REBECCA GOODMAN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

DOWNTOWN - Mary Ann Hobson's reading of John Keats' "On the Sea" could make her listeners hear the waves crashing on the shore.

A teacher of English, she "was used to standing up and selling a piece of literature to her students," said her husband, Ray Cooklis, Enquirer assistant editorial page editor. "She could be very theatrical."

Ms. Hobson, a former adjunct English instructor at the University of Cincinnati, died Friday of complications of brain cancer at Christ Hospital. The downtown resident was 56.

"She was just a wonderful companion and a very complex and thoughtful person who loved life and loved creativity and loved living in the city," her husband said. "She could be very intense. She just loved talking about art and music and reading."

Since giving birth to her son, Nicholas, in 1989, she was devoted to providing him a well-rounded and complete education.

Born June 4, 1950, in Pittsburgh, Ms. Hobson was the daughter of Raymond J. Hobson, an aerospace engineer who was the chief scientist on the B-2 bomber. She graduated from Pacific High School in San Bernardino, Calif., in 1968 and received a bachelor's degree from the University of California-Riverside in 1972.

She spent two years in the Peace Corps, teaching English in Niger, West Africa, followed by two years teaching English to immigrant children in Australia. Back in the United States, she taught advanced placement English at Fontana (Calif.) High School and received a master's degree in writing from California State University in San Bernardino.

Ms. Hobson studied voice and sang in musicals in Southern California. One of her husband's favorite memories was of her singing in church.

"She had a very nice voice - operatic," he said. "She'd turn heads because her voice kind of stood out. When she was singing next to me, I would just quit and let her take over."

Mr. Cooklis met Ms. Hobson when they were living in the same apartment complex in San Bernardino, where he was a music and theater critic. He practiced playing the piano in the complex's recreation room. She stood on the balcony overlooking the room and listened. He eventually asked her to accompany him to a piano recital by Andre Watts.

Fluent in French, Ms. Hobson spent 1983 studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. She and Mr. Cooklis moved to Cincinnati in 1984 so he could become the paper's classical music critic. She taught English at UC until Nicholas was born.

She also studied art at UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning and at Raymond Walters College with Frank Herrmann, Suzanne Fischer and the Rev. Robert Hasselhoff. One of her canvases was included in the SOS Art 2005 exhibition at the Mockbee.

Ms. Hobson was an accomplished ice skater and until her illness swam several miles a week at the downtown YWCA.

In addition to her husband and son, survivors include her mother, Elizabeth Hobson of Rimforest, Calif.; two sisters, Patricia Hobson of Rimforest, and Kathy Waayenberg of Caledonia, Mich.; and two brothers, Tom Hobson of Cameron, Mont., and Ray Hobson of Palm Springs, Calif.

A memorial service is 10 a.m. Friday at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, followed by a reception in the cathedral undercroft that will include a display of Ms. Hobson's paintings.

Memorials are suggested to Lavatus Powell Urban Students Program, c/o Sister Janet Linz, Purcell Marian High School, 2935 Hackberry St., Cincinnati, OH 45206.

When this story was posted in July 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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