Ex-Freeport resident Mary Mohr, 101, dies

Mary C. Mohr never had much in the way of personal wealth. As a child growing up on a Valley Stream chicken farm, her workday started at 4 a.m. She studied by the light of kerosene lamps in a home heated by firewood. She sold apples and eggs on street corners during the Great Depression.

But her family recalls that Mohr always seemed to come up with enough money when one of her grandchildren needed cash for a utility bill or a house payment.

"She would get us out of a bind every single time," said JoAnn Lauro, 55, her granddaughter, of East Conesville, N.Y., about 40 miles southwest of Albany. "I don't know how she did it or where she got the money."

Mohr, who lived in Freeport for more than 50 years in a home her husband, a World War I veteran, built for her, died Sept. 9. in her granddaughter's Schoharie County home. She was 101.

One of her childhood dreams, family said, was to live on a chicken farm in the Catskill Mountains. About three years ago, she moved from her daughter's Glen Cove home to live with Lauro, who raises chickens and sells eggs."She never traveled much and always liked the peace and quiet of living on a farm," Lauro said.Lauro said her grandmother never forgot her hardscrabble early life. "What they raised on the farm is what they ate is what she always told us," Lauro said.

After living through the Depression she forever held a soft spot in her heart for the poor and underprivileged, family said. "She'd tell us to be thankful for what we have because so many had less," Lauro said.

During World War II, Mohr worked at Columbian Bronz Corp. in Freeport, making propellers for military aircraft.

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After her husband, William Mohr, a tinsmith, died in 1976, she moved to Florida, where she lived for about 20 years. She moved back to Glen Cove in the mid-1990s to live with her daughter, Lorraine Cacenski, before moving upstate.

Family said she was amazingly kindhearted. "I never saw her get angry," Lauro said. "She didn't have a mean bone in her body."

In addition to her daughter and granddaughter, Mohr's survivors include a sister, Frances Brown of Sayville, seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Her son, William Mohr Jr., died in 1979.

Her body was cremated. A graveside service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday in the Garden of Hope at Pinelawn Memorial Park.