Visitation will be from 6-8 PM, Monday, December 11, 2023, at Mount Moriah, Newcomer and Freeman Funeral Home at 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131. Mass of the Christian Burial will be at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 11822 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131 at 10 am, Tuesday, December 12, 2023, with a Celebration of Life reception following at St. Thomas More.
Mary Alice was born on April 16, 1939, in Sweet Springs, MO, the youngest of seven siblings, to the late Frances Amelia Weis and Robert Lee Barr, Sr. She graduated from Mercy Academy. She went on to attain a degree in chemistry from St. Mary’s College in Leavenworth, KS. In 1962, she married the love of her life, James Nicholson, and as newlyweds, they moved to Ann Arbor, MI for Mary Alice’s position with Park Davis.
Jim and Mary Alice later moved to Kansas City, MO where they raised their three daughters. With her daughters in school, Mary Alice returned to school to obtain her Master’s and then Doctorate in Psychology from UMKC. She worked for Catholic Charities for several years before opening her private practice on the Country Club Plaza. Mary Alice was a dedicated St. Thomas More Catholic Church member, where she played the organ and sang in the choir. After retiring from her private practice, she volunteered as a premarital counselor for the church. In her free time, Mary Alice loved to play her baby grand piano that her husband Jim gifted her.
Along with her parents, Mary Alice was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 55 years, James J. Nicholson, five of her six siblings, Robert Jr, David, John, and Bill Barr, and her sister Anna Margaret Samson. Surviving her is brother Kenneth Barr of Overland Park, KS; her daughters, Kathleen (Edward Ochoa) Nicholson of San Diego, CA, Clare (Kevin Loseke) Nicholson of Lee’s Summit, MO, and Christine (James Lienemann) Nicholson of Lenexa, KS. She also leaves six grandchildren, Megan and Justin Ochoa, Kyle (Heather) and Sean Loseke, Alexander and Caitlyn Lienemann, and two great-grandsons, Keaton and Carson Loseke.
Mary Alice was extremely devoted to her family, friends, patients, and her faith. She will be greatly missed. The family suggests donations to Catholic Charities of Kansas City or St. Thomas More Catholic Church.
