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<h1 color="#00141E"
class="Box-sc-ucqo0b-0 HeadingBase___StyledBox-sc-1jlt23t-0 cTwbCP cNDfOi">Jean
Mangum Obituary</h1>
<h3 data-component="AttributeHeaderText" color="#404F57"
width="40%,100%"
class="Box-sc-ucqo0b-0 HeadingBase___StyledBox-sc-1jlt23t-0 bimrBJ cNDfOi sc-kDDrLX jKLVjP">BORN
01/19/1928, DIED 01/07/2025</h3>
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Mrs. Jean Marie Thomas Mangum died peacefully on January 7th, 2025
at Riverside Senior Living in Decatur, Alabama at the age of 96. She
was born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 19th, 1928. After
contracting polio at age 9, she spent two years at Kernan's
Children's Hospital in Baltimore, before eventually being able to
walk again. She resumed her studies and took an accelerated program
in high school that allowed her to enter the University of Maryland
with one year of college credit. Jean majored in chemistry and in
Qualitative Chemistry class met her future husband, Grafton F.
Mangum, Jr. (Bert). They were married in 1949. After graduating with
a degree in Chemistry she worked for a short time at Johns Hopkins
Hospital as a research assistant. <br>
<br>
In 1952, Jean, Bert and two children moved to Huntsville, Alabama
where Bert, also a chemist, accepted a position in the defense
industry with Thiokol Chemical Corporation. In Huntsville, Jean
worked at home as their family grew to 6 children. As the children
grew older, she took an active role in leading local Girl Scout
troops, membership in the PTA, and began substitute teaching. She
was a committed member of Trinity Methodist Church serving as a
Sunday School teacher, participating in Meals on Wheels and even in
her later years contacting other home-bound members to check on
them. For her own creative development, she returned to an earlier
hobby of ceramics and expanded into painting porcelain, especially
birds. Her hobby grew as she participated in craft shows and taught
others how to paint porcelain. Jean and Bert were founding members
of the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. They considered gardening a way
of communing with God and together they created a beautiful garden
at their home. <br>
<br>
Jean is preceded in death by her parents, Charles E. Thomas Sr. and
Edith C. Sohn Thomas; her husband; and eldest daughter, Christine
Elliott. She is survived by her brother, Charles E. Thomas Jr. and
wife Ann; her son-in-law Warren, her daughter Jacqueline, daughter
Barbara (husband Ed), daughter Patricia, son Grafton III (wife
Julie) and daughter Jeanette (husband Kent), 15 grandchildren:
Kristin, Lezlee, Jennifer, Jamila, Niki, LaLonnie, Jean, Matthew,
Lara, Liam, Stephanie, Samantha, Ben, Livia, and Eli plus 15 great
grandchildren. Jean was extremely proud of her children,
grandchildren, and great grandchildren and loved each of them very
much. <br>
<br>
The funeral will be held at Laughlin Service Funeral Home in
Huntsville on Tuesday, January 14th, 2025. Visitation is from
11-1PM, with a chapel service starting at 1PM. Burial at Maple Hill
Cemetery to follow. <br>
<br>
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the annual fund of
the Huntsville Botanical Garden in the name of Jean Mangum (<a
color="#247FC3" href="http://hsvbg.org" rel="sponsored"
class="Box-sc-ucqo0b-0 Link-sc-1u14kdb-0 HtmlContent___StyledLink-sc-ngx07-0 gduWLe jLFkis hRYGv moz-txt-link-freetext">http://hsvbg.org</a>).
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