Palestine High School Alumni Association

Palestine High School Alumni Association, Palestine, Texas

Rose Mary McDonald Nass 1940

01 / 07 / 1923  –  07 / 11 / 2009

Rose Mary McDonald Nass died at Sterling House of Palestine, TX on July 11, 2009 following a long illness. She was born January 7, 1923 in Houston, TX to the late Dr. Bethune F. McDonald of Neches, TX and Josephine Hug McDonald of New Orleans, LA. Rose Mary Nass was the great-granddaughter of Murdoch McDonald who donated land for a train station and a town site for what became the town of Neches. She attended elementary school in Neches and Sacred Heart Academy in Palestine, and graduated from Palestine High School in 1940. Her aunt was Johnnie Belle Ballard, who was a well known teacher at Palestine High School and Neches for many years.

Rose Mary attended the Gradwohl School of Laboratory Technique, in St. Louis, MO and was licensed as an x-ray and laboratory technician. While in St. Louis, she met her future husband at a USO dance and was united in marriage to Arnold James Nass on April 28, 1942. Before settling in Dallas in 1947, Rose Mary lived in Houston, Neches, Palestine, and San Antonio. After raising her family in Dallas, she was employed at Sanger-Harris department store (now Macy’s) and was the accessories department manager at Lord & Taylor for ten years. In Dallas, Rose Mary was a longtime member of Christ the King Catholic Church where she was a member of the Altar Society and the Mother’s Club of Christ the King School. She was also a Meals on Wheels volunteer driver. Before her illness precluded further travel, Rose Mary & Arnold traveled extensively in Great Britain and Europe, and to some of the principal cities in Russia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia.

Rose Mary is survived by her husband, Arnold, as well as her six children and spouses: daughter Carla Brown and husband Jim; daughter Mary Lynn Jaster and husband Tom; daughter Arnette Goodwin; daughter Shawn Clark and husband Buddy; daughter JoEllen Kitchens and husband Lynn; and son, Arnold McDonald Nass and wife Rebecca. In addition, she is survived by 9 grandchildren: Christopher Jaster, Jennifer Griffin, Rosemary Miller, Adriene Wade, sean Goodwin, A. J. Nass, II, Ben Clark, John Clark and Madeline Brown. She is further survived by 9 great-grandchildren and by nephews, John Ballard McDonald, Raleigh McDonald and Randall McDonald; nieces, Daryl Sorrells and Nancilea Redding and cousins, Brice McDonald, Robert McDonald and Johnnie Belle Faucett.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two brothers, John B. McDonald and Malcolm E. McDonald, both of Palestine. After living in Dallas and Plano for more than sixty years, she said, “I want to go home,” and she returned to Palestine on December 29, 2008. Arrangements through Bailey & Foster Funeral Home.

A Funeral Mass will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palestine on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 10:00 am. Burial at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.
Obituary published in “The Dallas Morning News” July 11, 2009