Willie Mae Hough

Willie Mae Hough, daughter of the late Maria and Willie Benjamin, Slipped away on October 12, 2011, after a long series of illnesses and poor health. The family thanks her son, caretaker and advocate, John, for his tireless struggle to keep her with us that allowed her to celebrate her 85th birthday on October 6, 2011. We know how happy she must have been to finally reunite with her loving parents and her two deceased sister, Rosetta and Alberta and her three deceased brothers, Johnny, Robert and Thomas. As the oldest of the Benjamin children, she always talked of her siblings and having helped raised them. Willie Mae was born in the Rock Hill area of South Carolina and raised in the Cabarrus area of North Carolina. Born in an era and area where schooling opportunities were limited, she attended the public schools but did not graduate high school. Instead she went to work as a domestic worker and hotel maid until she married her longtime sweetheart, John Louis Hough, after he returned from his World War II occupation of Europe, moving then to New York City and finally settling in Baltimore, Maryland. Like so many women, she ended up raising her four boys as a single mother. There were many struggles in keeping her children together. To do so, she worked many different jobs. From Edgewood Arsenal in Edgewood, Maryland to the job she held longest and retired from as restaurant server at White Coffee Pot Restaurants in Baltimore. She was a devoted daughter, wife, granddaughter, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She was a good listener and advisor and always there to listen to loves ones vent. All of her doctors, hospital nurses, home health aides and nursing and rehab facilities staff always talked about how friendly and pleasant she was and how she was one of their favorite patients. She will be missed by family, friends and all who came into contact with her. She leaves to cherish her memory: four sons, John Jr., Kenneth and Raymond, all of Baltimore, Maryland and Leslie of Los Angeles, California; two sisters, Minister Eva B. Foggie and Ida Marie B. Foggie; one brother, George W. Benjamin; one brother-in-law, William H. Foggie, Jr.; sixteen grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; a long with a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other loving family members and friends. Having all boys, she felt a close and motherly connection to Lorraine Hughes, Debbie Conway, Jacqueline Anderson,, Iris Beasley and the late Anne Martin.

Tributes

Willie Mae Hough

October 6, 1926 - October 12, 2011