Mary Rose Devine

Mary R. Devine of the Kansas City Metro area passed away peacefully in her sleep Saturday, June 17, 2023. She was born December, 1923. She attended Major Hudson Elementary School and Rosedale High School in Kansas City, Kansas graduating in 1942. She is preceded in death by her father Charles J. Dewey, Sr., her mother Rose C. (Schraml) Dewey, her brother Charles J. Dewey, Jr., her husband Gene T. Devine and daughter Patricia A Devine. She leaves two other daughters, Rozanne Devine and Kathleen Devine Dolan (m. Patrick Dolan) and two grandchildren Kyle D. Dolan (m. Katie Dolan) and Clare D. Dolan.

In the early 1940’s she worked at the Sunshine Bisquit Company. During early WWII she worked on the Home Front testing crystals for radios that were used in aircraft during the war. She was a talented seamstress, designing and making her own clothes, eventually designing and making her own wedding dress and veil, then eventually her children’s clothes including two of the daughter’s wedding dresses and bridesmaid’s dresses.

She was a model for the KC based Patricia Stevens modeling agency and worked as a Fitters model in the Garment District, in downtown KCMO. She worked for a local drug store in KCKS including being a “soda jerk.” While there she met Gene Devine in October of 1946 (he was a former WWII Navy gunner) and they were married in June 1947 at St. Cyril’s Catholic Church. They bought a home and immediately started a family, eventually having three girls. Mary worked downtown KCMO at the Macy’s Department Store and then at the KCMO Jone’s Department Store. Eventually, she was involved in social work and worked with young families and older people, as well. She founded the Senior Citizens Handcraft shop in the 1960’s inside a no longer used Fire Station and she started a monthly get together for the Seniors to meet for a “covered dish luncheon”. In 1972, she and her husband, Gene, moved to Leawood, KS. She was involved in women’s ministry at Cure of Ars Catholic Church. One year after her husband’s death, she joined the sales staff at the Jones Department Store at Metcalf South Mall, where she worked for the next 15 years. During that time, she moved to Overland Park, Kansas. There she attended Holy Cross Catholic Church. During Retirement she traveled to many countries and had many friends. A lot from her childhood and high school days.

Mom never met a stranger. She talked to everyone. She loved bowling, learned to play Bridge and loved to entertain in her home. Our high school and college friends remembered her fondly and conveyed to us, how much our mom meant to them. She lived a long, adventurous life, while she could until her health started to decline. She will be remembered by us as a loving, funny, generous mother and grandmother. She loved sitting on the screened in porch, drinking coffee, and in the afternoons would ask “Is it wine time yet?.”

Service at Resurrection Cemetery, inside the Prince of Peace Mausoleum, at 2:00PM, Monday, June 26th. 8300 Quivira Rd. Lenexa, KS. Dessert reception immediately following at Pagah’s Restaurant Reception, 87th