Abigail Joy (Bates) Corson died on September 9, 2013, of complications of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Abby was born on November 6, 1937, in St. Paul to Hazelle Alice and Carlos Glazier Bates. She was a member of the National Honor Society at Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville and graduated from Carleton College with a BA in Philosophy. In 1961 she married James P. Corson and they lived in the Highland Park area of St. Paul before settling in Bloomington. She spent many years as a homemaker, working in her gardens and actively participating in local and state politics. In the late 1970s, she returned briefly to school at the U of M and then began a new career as a computer programmer. She and Jim divorced in 1984 and she moved to Minneapolis where she worked for 3M, and then in 1993 she left Minnesota in search of warmer weather. She headed for Silver City, New Mexico, where she spent her time gardening, hiking with her dogs, and hunting for rocks and artifacts. She loved to take long road trips in her old pick-up truck, usually destined for the mountains, coastlines or Mexico, camping when she could, and often traveling with her good friend Charlene Johnson. Her last job was working for the Forest Service, as did her beloved father. In 2005, her memory failing, she moved to the Columbia River Gorge to be nearer to family and to “enjoy the vista.”
She is survived by her daughters Mary Jensen (Todd) of Hood River, Oregon and Kathryn Corson (Robert Huff) of Husum, Washington, and her son William Corson (Ana) of Phoenix, Arizona and grandchildren Mollie Jensen, Evelyn and Rowen Huff, and William and Isabel Corson. She was preceded in death by her infant son in 1970.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity Abby supported in earnest.