Mary Lucena Hanna Cowgill, 92

Mary Lucena Hanna Cowgill passed away in her sleep on February 4, 2025, at age 92, in Acton. She was born November 20, 1932, in Newton, Kansas, the daughter of George David Hanna and Marian Axtell Hanna. She was descended from English settlers who landed at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640.

In the mid-19th century, her maternal ancestors moved to Newton, a small town in central Kansas that was a minor hub for the Santa Fe Railway. Lu’s maternal grandparents were both physicians, Dr. John Axtell and Dr. Lucena Chase Axtell. They opened Newton’s Axtell Clinic in 1887.

Dr. Lucena Axtell was a pioneering female physician, tending patients at the Axtell Clinic and Hospital, while also starting Kansas’s first nursing school. Although many family members were highly educated, Lu delighted in calling herself “a hayseed from the Midwest.” Her family home was a large barn that they converted into a comfortable home. Lu’s bedroom window looked out over golden wheat fields. 

Today’s culinary style of “farm-to-table” was a given at the Hanna household. Her family pickled and canned their own vegetables and fruits, drank fresh milk from their cows, churned butter and made ice-cream, sewed and knitted their own clothes, and entertained the extended family, many of whom lived on the same tract of land. Lu and her friends had their own horses, and her fondest memories were of times when they friends rode their horses in the countryside without adult supervision.

Above her love for riding was her love of reading. Her mother, Marian Hanna, had a literary bent and often quoted Shakespeare at the breakfast table. Lu read voraciously, even as a youngster. She joined her high school’s debate team, which earned first place in the state championships. (She commemorated that achievement by calling herself “the best arguer in Kansas.”)

In 1950, Lu entered Stanford University, where she double-majored in history (emphasizing the Far East) and education, graduating in 1954. During Lu’s time in the Bay Area, an aunt, who was a Stanford doctorate student, introduced her to the San Francisco Opera. Thus started Lu’s lifelong passion for classical music. Later at Stanford, she discovered another passion, one known as Brooks Cowgill. Within a few months, she wore his fraternity pin, and they married two years later, shortly after graduating.

Brooks stayed on at Stanford to pursue a master’s in business administration, while Lu taught kindergarten and was the family’s breadwinner. When Brooks graduated, they moved to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he fulfilled a two-year military obligation. While there, Brooks and Lu became close friends with several other young military couples. This group remained close for decades, vacationing together around the globe. Baby No. 1, David Brooks Cowgill, was born in Texas in April 1958.

After Fort Bliss, the family moved east, where Baby No. 2, Ann Marian Cowgill, was born. During their 50 years living in Winchester, they made innumerable friends. Lu loved hosting elegant dinner parties, featuring her renowned culinary skills. Meanwhile both she and Brooks were active members of the Stanford Club of Boston. The Boston area offered many academic opportunities. Tufts University awarded her a scholarship to earn a master’s in developmental psychology. Her groundbreaking graduate research showed that as early as kindergarten, teachers could evaluate boys on specific characteristics, enabling them to better predict later academic performance.

She then worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, maintaining a research portfolio on childhood cognitive and emotional development. She was a founder of the Massachusetts Association for Learning Disabilities, which helped pass the state’s 766 Law, “which guaranteed free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment for all school children regardless of disability.”

Her interests were broad, and during the 1980s she became keen on economics and investments. As a founder of The Waterfield Investors, she led a group of women focused on mastering personal and family finances and investing.

As supporters of the arts, she and Brooks attended many theater performances throughout the region. Continuing her lifelong literary passion, she was a 20-year volunteer for the Winchester Public Library and served on its board of directors. She also chaired the fundraising campaign to expand the library in the 1990s. She maintained a lifelong passion for classical music and avidly attended concerts throughout the region while being active in the Friends of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Always curious about history and genealogy, Lu was a lifelong reader of history, knew the details of her own family’s genealogy, and was a member of Colonial Dames. She had a lively interest in politics and in foreign affairs and was on the Boston Committee on Foreign Relations. She adored visiting gardens and museums of the world, while reuniting with friends around the globe. Gardening was one of her many interests, shared by her friends in the Winchester Garden Club.

In 2012, after living in Winchester for 50 years, she and Brooks sold their home and moved to Newbury Court. There, they felt blessed by the kindness and compassion of the residents and staff and made new friends with many fascinating residents. True to form, she volunteered on Newbury Court’s Food Committee and the Scholarship Committee.

In late 2023, on their 69th wedding anniversary, Brooks passed away at age 92. For the next 14 months, her greatest joys were visits from family and friends and the close friendships she developed at Newbury Court. She is survived by her son David Cowgill of San Antonio, Texas; her daughter Ann Cowgill and son-in-law Scott Norton of Chevy Chase, Maryland; and three grandsons Benjamin Norton, Daniel Norton, and Phillip Cowgill.

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Lu at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 4, at Duvall Chapel at Newbury Court, 80 Deaconess Road. Burial in Wildwood Cemetery, Winchester, will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory should be made to Winchester Public Library Endowment Fund, 80 Washington Street, Winchester, MA 01890 or Boston Symphony Orchestra Endowment Fund, 307 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.

Arrangements under the care of Acton Funeral Home, concordfuneral.com.