Meet “The Poppy Lady”

Mary Ann Collom of Gilroy is giving out hundreds of Memorial Day Poppies again this month, to raise money for programs to aid veterans. The 90-year-old president of the local American Legion Auxiliary has honored veterans in this way for 58 years. The retired obstetrics nurse estimates she has handed out nearly 25,000 of the crepe-paper flowers. Her late husband, retired Navy pilot Lieutenant Commander Bud Collom, was a Pearl Harbor survivor and veteran of three wars.