In Loving Memory of
Mary Ann McNulty
May 12, 1939 – February 12, 2022
Virtual Celebration of Life
Saturday, March 19, 2022 3:00 PM PDT
Mary Ann McNulty, former resident of Gig Harbor, WA and Moraga, CA, passed away on February 12, 2022 at the age of 82. She is survived by her seven children and nine grandchildren and her dear sister Pattie Gallwas.
Mary Ann was born on May 12, 1939 in Dallas, TX and moved to Spokane, WA in 1943. Graduating from the University of Washington she was always fond of her sorority sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta. The daughter of a beloved, old-school doctor, she found her way into the wheat fields of Walla Walla, WA in her marriage to Terry Augustus Lonneker. There she provided support to the ranch hands and started raising her three children Danny, Doug and Sally. After getting tired of the fine dust in her hair and the 4:00am wake-up calls, she loaded up her kids in a blue Lincoln station wagon and followed her sister and best friend Pattie Gallwas to Moraga, CA.
California in the 70’s was a cultural and innovative boomtown and the Bay Area would prove to be the place where her dreams came true. Now a single and divorced mother of three, she went to work selling real estate and providing for her children. Being cute, and always well dressed, and with a sharp sense of humor, the Luck of the Irish would soon find his romantic endearment.
Bob McNulty married Mary Ann in 1979. And it would be fair to say, that’s when the party started. Bob’s four children Rob, Steve, Kathy and Kevin living with their now Mayor of Moraga mother Sue McNulty, and the Lonneker kids with a new and welcomed father figure, Mary Ann hit her stride.
With all 7 kids being in their teens and thus unruly, unmanageable, and beginning their own paths of exploration and self-discovery, Mary Ann found a new passion in raising and training black and yellow labs. She trained them to sit on the couch, ride in the car, and to never miss a meal, and they trained her to vacuum daily. Her SUV was named the LabCab and all the kids became welcomed guests.
Mary Ann was a special person. She was a proper lady, an excellent wife, a good mom, and a great friend. When you met her, you very much liked and loved her. Perhaps her most endearing quality was her witty sense of humor and infectious laughter. She was Texas tough and happily married to her equally tough loving Irishman for 40 years.
Mary Ann’s legacy leaves us full with colorful memories, love and laughter. She made her mark and she will be missed. She died in the good care of her family and peacefully.
God’s hands.
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Our Theta pledge class was full of fun, lively girls, none more so than Bushie. It’s been 80 years, but I can hear her voic.e.. and laugh as though it was yesterday. She’ will be with all of us Nuggets the rest of our lives We’re lucky to have such great memories.
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To the sorority sisters! This is Douglas…”Bushies” middle son. Thank you for your nice comments! She lived her whole life with stories from her time with you at UW. We share heartfelt memories. Peace and love
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It is a perfect photo of Mary Ann, smiing at her piano, with that marvelous head of hair…(sigh!). It was taken in their Bellevue home, in the music room. The door was always shut, probably to keep which ever dog was around from tickling the keys, If that happened, however, Mary probably would have hugged the pet, saying “that’s next week’s lesson, overlooking a broken ivory or two!
As you know, I have been a part of her life since Theta days at the University ofWashington. Oh, those days went all too quickly. We were maid and matron in each other’s weddings. And, while living in Yakima for a short time, I spent lot of it in Walla Walla (actually Clyde, WA) where Danny, Doug and Sally were born. We used to fold the loads of diapers for her kidlets and take lots of walks with strollers.
When she met Bob and fell in love, she told me that their wedding, with all seven kids and Doug and Lil Bush in attendance was the “funnest day of her life!” Who ever said it in the obit, “Yes, the party began right there!”
I would love to go on with the memories of our great times, they did not end last month. And ow, while we can’t talk and share together , all are vividly etched in the photos, cards and keepsakes in my mind.
I’ll end with an Eskimo Proverb:
“Perhaps they are not stars above, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”
Is there any doubt that Bobbo, our darling Bushie and a dog or two are beginning the next chapter in their
“funnest” times.
I miss you dear friend. I’m comforted knowing you are safe, calm and happy.
Suzi Williamson Albrecht
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So sad to hear about the passing of one of our Theta “nuggets”.
Bushie had a full fun life – She had a great personality ! – a fun friend
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For those of us in the Theta house who knew and loved “Bushie” , the news of her death was hard to read. . However, reading how she spent her post-college life made me happy. Just as she did in her younger years, she lived life to the fullest and brought joy to everyone around her.
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Yes, Bushie was was so much fun. We could always count on her to liven things up. She had the most unusual sense of humor and way of talking. She was also very bright. I remember taking a class with her when she hardly studied, but good a very good grade anyway on the final!! I always wondered what she was thinking when she moved to that farm. Luckily she found dear Bob later on. We knew him too and he was a favorite in the Theta house. What a great couple!! She had a second chance at happiness. So fortunate. I am sure her extended family is missing her very much.
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Attended the UW together, in the same class, and was fraternity brother to her husband Robert McNulty.
We meet in the Moraga area, I lived in Lafayette and later in Seattle and Gig Harbor.
We were friends but more at a distance. Both families had Labs.
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Sorry but we are in Arizona at Christopher’s soccer games.
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Oh, the memories! Mary (then not called Mary Ann) and I pledged Theta in 1957. We believed then and always that we had the BEST class ever. We called ourselves “the nuggets”. We quickly gave each other nicknames and ever since then she has been “Bushie” to me. I rarely called her by another name. And, I became “Deskie” to her. (my last name was Deskins.). Last time we talked she still called me Deskie.
Some of my favorite recurring episodes with Bushie occurred because I was a “townie”, i.e., I lived in Seattle; the Theta house was crammed, and I, very regretfully, had to live at home.
Frequently, Bushie would call and say, “Deskie, wouldn’t you love a Tom and Jerry milkshake” in her lovingly manipulative way. And I would be on my way in the family car to pick her up and go to Burgermaster for a shake and usually hot cinnamon pie ala mode.
I loved Bushie. We were in each other’s weddings. Later, after they met, Dick and I had many fun times with her and Bob. They were a fabulous match and I’m so grateful they had 40 years together.
Thank you so much to their blended children for wrapping their last years with loving circumstances. What a wonderfully descriptive obit that captures Bushie so well.
Pati Deskins Otley
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I remember Mary fondly. We were roommates in the Theta house at one point. We smoked in our room. A major no no! Caught three times by the standard chairman, Sally Pebbles, who eventually became my sister in law. She would knock on the door. We would throw ash tray out the window, landing on the Figi basketball court. Were you smoking.? Oh no. Room full of smoke. Three fines that quarter. Loved Mary for her love of life and laughter.
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She was a dear friend and so much fun. She loved her family and friends….having nicknames for some of us. She will be missed.