Emporian Mary Cookson loved The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, Ill., so much that she deemed herself pumpkin queen with the dedication of a forged metal Pumpkin Queen throne at The Great Pumpkin Patch.
According to Linda Cookson, one of her mother’s passions was travel. The two discovered the patch, which is family-owned, when on a field trip back east in 1995.
“They saw a sign that read ‘The Great Pumpkin Patch’ and decided to go,” Linda Cookson said. “After a pleasant visit during which she posed for a photo seated in a big rattan chair with a sign reading ‘Pumpkin Queen 1995’ she announced they were coming back next year.”
By the second year, the Cooksons met Pumpkin Patch owners Bruce and Mary Beth Condill.
“Firm friendships were formed and the Cooksons and Condills began visiting back and forth,” Linda Cookson said.
Mary Cookson’s visits continued until 2004, Condill said, when her health no longer allowed her to travel. When Bruce and Mary Beth Condill visited Mary Cookson, she said she didn’t even get to be the Pumpkin Queen that year and it was her turn (an honor she shared with her daughter).
“Mary, in our hearts and minds you will always be the one true Pumpkin Queen,” Bruce Condill told her.
After Mary Cookson’s death on Sept. 6, 2005, the family sat down to decide what to do with memorial money. They decided that part of it would go to Hand in Hand Hospice. In addition, the family wanted to honor her at The Great Pumpkin Patch.
On Oct. 1, a memorial to Mary Cookson was unveiled in The Great Pumpkin Patch. Those attending the celebration received memorial cards printed with the poem “Pennies From Heaven,” laminated with new pennies and chocolate pennies wrapped in copper foil.