Mary was born in Springfield, Missouri to Archie Marion Ramey and Thelma (Ball) Ramey. Her only brother, William Price Ramey, predeceased her in November of 2012.
Mary attended school in Springfield and shortly after graduating met the love of her life, George James Fredericks of Woodhaven, New York while he was training for the U.S. Army at nearby Fort Leonard Wood. They married and celebrated their marriage in November for 64 years.
Immediately after marriage, they settled in Springfield where they lived until moving to West Des Moines Iowa in 1959. They lived and worked and raised their 5 sons together in West Des Moines for 43 joyful years until 2002 when they retired to Forsyth, Missouri.
In the mid-1960s, after her youngest children had moved into junior high school, and like many women of her age, Mary joined the workforce. Leveraging the force of her outgoing personality, she at first took a turn at market research, doing both door-to-door consumer surveys and telephone polling; she then moved to retail where she became the very popular and well-liked head of the cosmetics and beauty department of the West Des Moines Drug Town store (now a division of HyVee). She retired from that position in the late 1980s. Mary was an active and enthusiastic gardener, a supportive Little League Baseball mother, a lifelong baseball fan and a lover of golden-era western movies.
As a mother, she thrived while wrangling a household full of growing boys and their friends all the while encouraging her sons to live life to the fullest, always saying to “don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do!”
Her eldest son, George Jr. died in 1998. Mary’s husband, George, died shortly after the couple’s move to Ocala, Florida in 2007.
Mary is survived by four sons; David (Robyn) Lawrence of Beverly Hills, Florida, Douglas (Maria) Marion of Rowland Heights, California, John (Carol) William of Des Moines, Iowa and Joseph (Kelly) Anthony of Greenland, New Hampshire. Her legacy is carried forward by her 9 grandchildren: Michele, Michael, Monica, Mitchell, Melissa, Frances, Matthew, David, Nathan, 23 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be 11 am on Thursday, August 13 at McLaren's Resthaven Chapel, 801 19th Street, West Des Moines. We respectfully ask those attending to please wear a mask and practice social distancing.
In lieu of Flowers please donate to the International Foundation for CDKL5.
