Olive Hobbs

1922 - 2018

Olive Hobbs (Cory)

Olive Hobbs passed away on Sept. 20, 2018.

All are welcome to attend graveside services at 11 a.m., Monday, 9-24-2018 at The Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio. A celebration of life will be offered at 1 p.m. on Saturday, 10-6-2018 at the Kent Unitarian Universalist church.

Olive (Eddy Cory) Hobbs was born June 13, 1922 in Berkeley, Calif. Her father, Oliver Cory, was born in California near Mount Shasta, descended from families that crossed the Great Plains by wagon train in 1854. Her mother, Mary (McBride, Cole) Cory's ancestors came from Donegal, Ireland in the 1830's to Pennsylvania, and moved to California during the Gold Rush. They survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Olive's parents moved to Los Altos, now part of "Silicon Valley" in 1929. Her mother, Mary organized the land purchase and home building. Her father lost his civil engineer job in the Great Depression; their car was wrecked and only found odd jobs until he was hired with the State of California in San Diego. He was separated from Olive, older sister, May and younger brother, Will.

Olive attended San Jose State two years, then hired with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Salinas. They studied guayule, a native desert plant, as an alternative rubber source, since imported supplies were cut off by World War ll. Olive met Clinton Hobbs, a botanist from Indiana, who also worked on the project. They married in Salinas. When the project ended, they moved to Portage County, Ohio, where Clinton accepted a professorship at Kent State University. Clinton and Olive hadn't been to Kent before, but Olive's mother had been born in a house in Kent before moving as a child to California.

Olive raised four children, Howard, David, Jesse and Melissa. When her youngest entered kindergarten, she enrolled at Kent State to earn a BS, and a Master's degree in mathematics. She defended her Master's thesis in an era when the very professors on her committee discouraged her because she was a woman. She taught at Nordonia High School for two years, and at Hiram College for a year; she continued tutoring math into retirement years.

Olive was nurturing her whole life. She and Clinton provided foster care for at least four children. They took in an older man who had lived in a mental institution for forty years. She raised and trained purebred dogs-Gordon Setters and Norwich Terriers. She won Champion and TDX honors with some. She volunteered with Meals on Wheels for at least 25 years. For the U.S. Census she tallied four times, over 40 years. She became fearless, knocking on doors in tough neighborhoods in Cleveland. Being kind, she melted people's hearts.

She loved travel. When the children were young, the family went car camping, seeing sights and visiting relatives. Camping became a way of life. The children's knowledge and life experiences were greatly expanded from these trips. They all took up camping and traveling with their children. Olive visited every continent. Her most exotic destinations were Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands.

Olive knitted throughout her adult life. She knitted mittens, sweaters and caps for her children, ten grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as for charity. The children have fond memories of the delicious pies that she baked for the family. After their big appetites left home, she baked pies for church auctions, where they drew eager bids. After Clinton died in 2009, Olive moved to Laurel Lake, Hudson in 2010. She passed away on September 20, 2018.