Mary Roe McKenna Nagle

1933 - 2020

Mary Roe (Nugent) McKenna Nagle
Austin, TX
Mary Roe (Nugent) McKenna Nagle died on August 2, 2020, in Austin, Texas. Mary was born in Savannah, Georgia, March 16, 1933 to The Honorable Peter Roe Nugent and Marie Louise (Lynch) Nugent. She was the youngest of four children. Her parents, as well as her siblings, John Lynch Nugent, Thomas Nugent, and Ella Lynch (Nugent) Clancy, have all passed.
Mary had a full and adventurous life. She grew up in Savannah, and spent idyllic summers on Tybee Island. At age 14, she became a boarding student at Marymount Schools in Tarrytown, New York. She was a debutante in '52-'53, and graduated from Marymount College in 1954.
In 1958, she married her childhood sweetheart, architect Richard McKenna. They moved to Chicago, where Mary was a member of the Junior League, a docent at the Chicago Art Institute, and hosted a weekly TV interview program, whose guests included prominent business and political figures, including the governor of Illinois. Mary returned to New York with Richard in 1964, but the marriage ultimately failed.
Mary had a great fashion sense, as well as a love of color and fabrics. She turned this combination of talents and interests into a career. A chance encounter with a college friend in New York led to employment with the Scalamandré company, whose mill was then weaving fabrics to be used in the redecoration of the White House. She next worked with Gretchen Bellinger, and then with Jack Lenor Larsen. During her roughly two decades with Larsen Fabrics Mary rose to become the first female vice president of the company, and the first female member of the Board of Directors. Larsen sold his firm in 1997, and Mary became the national representative of Rodolph. Her work with fabrics took her around the world: to South America, Europe, India, and Japan.
In 2000, Mary met and married Texas lawyer David J. Nagle. They lived together first in Sonoma, California, then in Mary's hometown of Savannah, and, finally, in Austin, Texas. She is survived by her husband, David; her step-children, Stephen Nagle (Quincy Adams Erickson), of Austin; Jill Nagle O'Keefe (Brendan O'Keefe), of Sonoma; Barbara Nagle Craven (William "Bill" Craven) of Washington, D.C.; Tim Nagle (Meghan Ciganik Nagle) of Dallas, Texas; and Nick Nagle, of Austin; as well as eight step-grandchildren, and ten greatgrandchildren. No memorial or wake is planned at this time. The family wishes to thank the staff at the Village at the Triangle, in Austin, for their care for Mary for the last year and one half of her life. Remembrances and condolences may be posted at http://obituaries.neptunesociety.com/obituaries/9304298
Rather than sending flowers or other gifts, the family requests that those wishing to honor Mary make a donation in her name to Planned Parenthood, to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, or to the Alzheimer's Association.
Savannah Morning News
August 13, 2020, August 14, 2020
Please sign our Obituary Guestbook at
savannahnow.com/obituaries