Mary Tom Rossett's Obituary
Mary Tom Gaskin Rossett passed away August 27, 2015. She was a cherished wife, fabulous mother, gifted nurse, inspiring teacher, brilliant crossword puzzle solver, skilled bridge player, avid reader, charming feminist, world-class pie baker, and loyal friend. She loved a good political argument and cared deeply about fairness and equal rights. She was also a lot of fun.Mrs. Rossett was born in Haycoda, Alabama on September 12, 1917, and raised in Douglas, Georgia. She graduated from Douglas High School at warp speed and entered the University of Georgia at age 15. After completing two years there, she entered the Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in Memphis, and after graduation was a nurse for a neurosurgeon. In Memphis, she met Edwin H. Rossett who she happily married in 1939 and stayed happy for the entire 70 years of their marriage. (He died in December of 2009.)After her children were born, Mrs. Rossett decided that teaching would work better with family life than nursing so she finished her B.A. at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) and added a Masters degree in education for good measure. For the next twenty years she shared the joy she had found in reading with second graders at Graceland Elementary School and, through some magic all her own, made even the most book-adverse child believe that reading was fun. The last five years of her teaching career were spent at the Memphis Reading Center, sharing with other primary school teachers the best methods for teaching reading.After retiring, Mrs. Rossett and her husband travelled extensively and enjoyed every minute of it. She was a member of the Collierville United Methodist Church, the Collierville Contemporary Club, and the Kirby Pines Library Board.Mrs. Rossett leaves her daughter, Louise McNamee and son-in-law, Peter McHugh; another daughter, Ruth “Peggy” Kalmanowitz; her grandson Ari Rosenberg and his wife, Jen, and her great grandson, Bernard Edwin Rosenberg. Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
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