Mary L Thomason's Obituary
Tap link to view Graveside service: Mary L. Thomason, 91, of Ames died Tuesday, December 14th at Mary Greeley Medical Center. Mary was born in March of 1930 in Eagle Grove, Iowa and moved to Ames in 1935 with her family. Mary graduated from Ames High School in 1948. She attended some classes at Iowa State University and entered a nursing program in Chicago for six months. Mary then moved to California, continuing her education at UCLA where she graduated with a BA in Psychology in 1954. After living in New York City for a while, she returned to California and worked for the state as a Psychometrist until she retired in 1985. Following her retirement, Mary relocated back to Ames and found a lovely neighborhood to live in. Mary loved to sew, crochet, spend time with family and friends, and bake lots of goodies. She was quite the artist and loved to paint. Mary enjoyed being outdoors and planting a garden, even though she had to share it with the bunnies. You would see her beautiful flowers as soon as you pulled into the driveway. Between the wide variety of flowers in her yard and her numerous houseplants, Mary had quite a green thumb! Throughout the years Mary had several cats, all with different personalities, which she loved to spoil. She also loved to visit her brother's German shepherds and her neighbors and their pets. Mary was a good listener and always so positive. She greatly valued being a strong, independent woman. Mary was a wonderful aunt, sister and friend. Mary is survived by her brother, Daryl (Maxine) Thomason of Ames; nieces, Ellen (Howard) Gillman of Irvine, CA; Lorraine (Doyle) Uitermark, of Ames; Mary-Ellen (James) Bartels, of Bennington, NE; great-nieces, Tara Nelson, Rachel Ruskin, Arielle Gillman, Amy Ruskin, and Michaela Bartels; nephews, David (Julia) Ruskin, of Annandale, VA; Laverne Thomason, of Des Moines; great-nephews, Danny (Becca) Gillman and Justin Bartels; great-great nephew, Tyler Nyhus-Nelson. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister, Dorothy Ruskin, and great-nephew, Amos Nelson. Visitation will be from 1:00 - 2:30 Thursday, December 23rd at Grandon Funeral Home in Ames, with a graveside service following at Walnut Grove Cemetery located five miles southeast of Ames. Memorial gifts will be donated by the family to Story County Animal Shelter in Nevada and YSS in Ames. Donations can be mailed to Grandon Funeral and Cremation Care 414 Lincoln Way, Ames Iowa, 50010. Online condolences may be directed to: www.grandonfuneralandcremationcare.com
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