Mary Agnes Pittman Rust died Monday, January 18, 2021 in New Braunfels, TX from complications of the Covid-19 virus. Born on January 19, 1959, Helen Bading Pittman and Kenneth Pittman raised Mary and her five siblings on the corner of Grandview Avenue and Canyon Drive in New Braunfels. She knew happiness in the church communities of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic and Cross Lutheran.
In her younger years, as an avid, award-winning tennis player, Mary met Dennis Rust in the summer of 1974 on the court. They married one another on August 9th of the next year and family life, work, travel, and blessings ebbed and flowed. They worked together with friends and family at Comal Drug.
Mary had many gifts and skills. Handwritten notes and cards were a delight to family, friends, and those in need. Mary’s cards arrived for holidays, birthdays, and many other occasions and she celebrated every milestone. Her ministry of sending cards and calling those not able to leave the home was significant. These were deep expressions of love. The cards were filled with words and stickers of encouragement, solace, and strength. Mary knew that words matter. Even through struggles, her way of being in the world offered insights into compassion.
Many people love Mary: her husband Dennis Keith Rust, her son Bryan Scott Rust, her daughter Dawn Marie Rust, and her son and daughter-in-law Andrew Philip Rust and Raquel Garcia Rust. Mary loved the people in the lives of her children. Mary’s family welcomed Laura Motz Tyler as another daughter. Mary said to anyone who would listen that she adored her grandchildren, the lights of Nana and Bommy’s life: Emma, Brianna, Clara, Cole, Keith, and Samuel. Mary’s siblings and their families cared for her: Catherine (Cathy) Stella, Margaret Pittman, Elizabeth (Bea) and Jon Ellis, and James (Jimmy) Pittman, and Greg and Sue Baese. Brother and sister (in law) Mike and Libby Rust, and their family cared for her. With unconditional love, her mother-in-law Gladys Bischoff Rust was a source of strength. A big group of cousins on all sides prayed for and rejoiced with Mary. Family friends showed affection throughout her life. She enjoyed visits with Joline Moore and Jimmy Pittman. Wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend were the roles in which Mary found joy.
Mary Agnes was baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ on January 25, 1959. She learned faith habits through the scriptures, the sacraments of the church, and the people she encountered. Mary was a bold Christian. She trusted in God yet did not push her faith on anyone. She knew for herself that she would again meet her parents, her grandmother Agnes Pittman Heyen and other grandparents, her sister Nancy Pittman Baese, her uncle Allen Pittman, her father-in-law Egon Rust, and the many beloved in the Pittman, Bading, Ebensberger, Heyen, Reiniger, Bischoff, and Rust families.
We are grateful for the nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, doctors, counselors, and physical therapists who assisted Mary and our family through her life. In these unprecedented times, we give profound thanks to the heroes at the New Braunfels Fire Department, Christus Santa Rosa Hospital, and Hope Hospice who offered Mary the care she needed at the end of her life, with her family close by.
To honor Mary, and in lieu of flowers, we suggest support of The Children’s Advocacy Center of Comal County (CACCC), the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) or Cross Lutheran Church. A Private family burial service is celebrated at Guadalupe Valley Memorial Park on Thursday, January 28, with The Rev. Mark Harris and The Rev. Don Fraker officiating. (This service will be live streamed for the public and can be found by following the link under the Rust Obituary at www.zoellerfuneralhome.com).
Mary’s children say what many already know: our mom’s life would have been vastly different without the love, faithfulness, and human will of Dennis Rust. Because mom and dad held hands from the first to the last day of their life together, our life as a family was transformed into grace upon grace. Grace that is a gift. Grace that comes from God. Amazing grace that Mary now fully experiences forever.
