DRAKE ROWLEY/ PLEASANTINE (PLEASIE) CUSHMAN (nee Wilson)

August 27, 1921 – June 15, 2017
A devoted mother, daughter, sister, and wife, a respected, valued and hard-working community volunteer, a proud graduate of Mount Holyoke College (1943), Pleasie readily made friends wherever she went. Nothing was more important to her than her family, her friends and helping others.
Born in New York City, New York, in 1921, Pleasie died June 15, 2017 in Ann Arbor, Michigan shortly before her 96th birthday. She will be greatly mourned and missed by her five children: John H. Drake; Robert Grant Drake Jr., (Berit Drake); Pleasantine Drake; Penelope Drake Pestronk (Robert Pestronk), and Patience Drake-Rosenbaum (Frank Rosenbaum). As well she is survived by eleven grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren, brother (Earl Wilson, formerly of Franklin), two sisters-in-law, many cousins, nieces and nephews, as well as her many friends. She was proud of her extensive family and her rich family history, which included being a descendent of the Mayflower. She was predeceased by her parents, Earl and Margaret Wilson, who had moved to Franklin in 1952, her sister, Margaret Wilson Kershaw, by her two husbands, Robert Grant Drake and J. Robert Rowley.
Pleasie and Bob Drake moved to Franklin in 1971 to help her parents. Pleasie quickly became involved in the Franklin community, volunteering at the Franklin Nursing Home, as a literacy tutor and as a docent at the Grevemberg House. She was a member of the Fortnightly Club, the St. Mary’s Chapter of the La. Landmarks Society and the St. Mary’s Parish Tourism board. She also was a Ruling Elder of the Grace Presbyterian Church in Franklin. In 1994, she moved to MI to be closer to her children and grandchildren. She had such fond memories of her years living in Franklin and her many friends there.
Her ashes will be interred in St. Mary Cemetery, Ridgefield, Conn., next to her first husband, Robert Grant Drake. A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church on October 7th, 2017. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Alzheimer’s Society or the League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund www.lwvmi.org