Mary Joan McDonald Rulla was born on May 22, 1933, to William and Martha Egger McDonald in Hooper, Nebraska. She graduated from Fremont High School in 1950, and attended college in Lincoln, Nebraska, graduating in 1954. She played clarinet in band, an experience which gave her a lifelong appreciation of music and collaboration. Mary married Lorin Rulla in Nebraska. They moved to Texas to pursue his career in geology, eventually settling in Midland, and having two children, Jim and Bill. Mary proudly taught mathematics at Trinity School of Midland for 25 years. Whenever she envisioned her name appearing in the newspaper for some imagined ignominy, she would describe herself as "former Trinity math teacher Mary Rulla." Mary volunteered at Sibley nature center, and was a frequent patron of Midland's Petroleum museum. She loved learning about geology and astronomy, and after her retirement, regularly took courses at Midland College. She loved to travel, and visited Europe practically every summer while she was teaching, focussing on Germany (she was fluent in German), but also France, Poland, Russia, England, Scotland, as well as Québec and Australia. She loved puzzles of all kinds, played the piano, and was famously an avid reader, having a dizzying collection of books on travel, languages, history, cooking, mathematics, science, literature, and many other subjects. Mary is preceded in death by her brother and artist William McDonald, whom she loved dearly, and whose works decorate her house. Mary leaves behind her two sons and their families: Jim Rulla and wife Carol, and Mary's grandchildren Emily and Benjamin, who live in Oregon; and William Rulla and wife Helen, who live in Australia. She also leaves behind her extensive network of friends and neighbours, gathered from her youth in Nebraska, from living in Midland, teaching at Trinity, attending seminars, church, coffee, and book groups, and from her travels -- some of her dearest were encountered randomly in exotic foreign locations, only to become lifelong friends. Family and friends are invited to a memorial service at Trinity's All Saints Chapel at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 12th.

Published by Midland Reporter-Telegram on Jul. 8, 2023.