Mary Tate Rose

Mary became Mrs. James Rose in 1981, nearly twenty-seven years ago. As her husband, I continue to marvel at her devotion to family, her professional education achievements, and of her leadership and service to the needs of children, her profession, and the community.

Mary’s professional education career spans teaching, administration in Oregon public schools, research and program development, and university teaching in Oregon and Colorado and international educational consulting. While her professional accomplishments have been remarkable, it has detracted neither from her nurturing and loving support for our three children nor from her leadership and service to her professional associations, church, and community.

I know my wife as Mary, but when she graduated from Grant High School in 1946 and enrolled at Oregon State in business administration she was known as Marybelle Tate and later in her teaching and administrative careers she was Marybelle Marshall. 

Marriage and relocation to Portland interrupted her college career at Oregon State, but she quickly resumed college studies while working full-time. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Lewis and Clark in 1951.

While at Oregon State, Mary began a lifetime affiliation with Delta Delta Delta Sorority and in later years served as President of the Alumni chapter. As district president, she supervised sorority chapters at the University of Puget Sound, University of Oregon, and Oregon State University.

Mary’s classroom teaching career began in the Portland Public Schools in 1951 and she soon became involved in the district’s curriculum development projects. She was a member of the project team that developed the Portland spelling program. Later, she and her students introduced the innovative program to the community in a series of community television programs.

The arrival of children, Diane and John, interrupted Mary’s teaching career in the mid-1950s, but she found time to serve as President of Portland City Panhellenic and became an active member and volunteer worker in the Portland Assistance League. She later completed a Master’s Degree in Education at Portland State University.

In 1960, Mary resumed her teaching career at the McKay School in the Beaverton School District. In the next few years she accepted district assignments as a junior high counselor and became a curriculum vice principal at Meadow Park and Whitford junior high schools. In 1978 she was appointed principal of Whitford Junior High School, and broke the “glass ceiling” as the first woman secondary school principal in the Beaverton School District.

Mary was awarded a sabbatical leave from Beaverton in 1981 for study in a joint University of Oregon–Portland State University doctoral program in educational administration. She completed the program in 1984. Her doctoral dissertation received the NCPEA’s ( National Council of Professors of Educational Administration) Edgar Morphet award for outstanding doctoral research in the field of educational administration.

As part of a unique partnership program between the Beaverton school district and Portland State University, Mary was a visiting professor of school administration between 1983 and 1985. In 1985, she retired from Beaverton to join the faculty in the School of Education at the University of Colorado-Boulder teaching school administration and supervision. In 1986 she accepted a Senior Research Associate position at the NW Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland to develop, validate, and disseminate an innovative program to improve teacher supervision and evaluation practices. Her work at NWREL took her to all parts of the U.S. and to the territory of Guam, conducting workshops and consulting with schools.

In 1994 the U.S. Agency for International Development invited Mary to join a team of experts to evaluate and make recommendations for USAID supported school development projects in two provinces of Pakistan, the NW Frontier, and Baluchistan. The team’s work was instrumental in expanding learning opportunities for girls and making more meaningful instructional materials available to teachers.

Mary has always been a dynamic and supportive partner. While accompanying me in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Laos, she adopted a preschool and provided materials and monetary support for two years. She was also an active member of the Laos’ Women’s International Group and played a lead role in providing teaching materials and supplies to the poor schools in Vientiane.

Mary’s professional career and work have covered all levels of education: local, state, national, and international. While fashioning this career, she was the primary caregiver for aging parents, a loving and supportive mother to her children, and a willing community leader and volunteer. Mary has remained active in retirement. For many years she volunteered at the Salvation Army dispensing food and clothing to the poor. She now serves as an Elder at our St. Andrews Presbyterian Church overseeing the Children’s Ministry program, a fitting conclusion to a lifetime of giving of herself to help others become all that they can be.

Written by her husband