Mary Nelle Bassett Rogers

1939 - 2024

Mary Nelle Bassett Rogers, 85, lead author of Deux Mondes, the widely-used college French text, and warm, witty and passionate wife, mother, friend and teacher. A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. on March 22, 2025 in the social hall at Village Shalom in Overland Park, KS.

Mary Nelle's passion for the French language and culture began in night school in Nashville shortly after marrying the love of her life, Ben Rogers, whom she met at the University of Tennessee in 1957 and married June 5th, 1958 after a year of intense intellectual conversations, weekend trips exploring the woods and streams of the Smoky Mountains in a borrowed MG convertible and fraternity dances.

Despite her early marriage and their parents' doubts, a commitment to education was the bedrock of their marriage and Mary Nelle and Ben took turns working to put each other through school. She earned a B.A. in French from Vanderbilt University in 1961, after which they moved to Bloomington, IN where she taught school while Ben was in graduate school. They returned to Nashville, and she obtained a M.A.T. in French from Vanderbilt in 1964. Following, she taught high school in Monrovia IN while Ben finished his graduate studies at Indiana University.

1966 saw a move to Wichita, Kansas, where Mary Nelle taught French and foreign language teacher training and Ben taught philosophy at Wichita State University. They raised their children, Semie and Lewis, with a lot of love a few blocks from campus, in the Fairmount neighborhood, in a 1920s house which they lovingly restored.

The choice of living in Fairmount, an integrated neighborhood, stemmed from a commitment to racial justice instilled in her by her mother, who taught Mary Nelle to see all people as people. Growing up, Mary Nelle had Black friends, which was unheard of for a White girl in Clarksville, TN. In Nashville, she participated in drugstore sit-ins. At Wichita State, she was the faculty sponsor of Students for a Democratic Society. She served as president of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association and her children remember being pulled door-to-door on their little red wagon, delivering newsletters and meeting their neighbors.

Her passion for French led her to become a founding member of the Alliance Française of Wichita. That led to involvement in Wichita's Sister Cities program, where she translated for delegations from Wichita's sister city of Orléans, France and represented Wichita as a delegate to Orléans three times.

Mary Nelle and Ben taught their children to appreciate other cultures, to love reading and to walk quietly in the woods, identifying plants, animals and, especially, birds. Beginning in 1981, the family built a cabin in the Cross-Timbers area in southeast Kansas, a land of hills and trees that reminded them a little of home. Mary Nelle served up countless pots of chili and pans of brownies to the many friends who came to help. Initial plans called for the cabin to be raised over Thanksgiving weekend. Turkey dinner was served, with great merriment, on the following 4th of July.

In the mid-1980s, Mary Nelle met Tracy Terrell, a leading foreign language educator and author. They were united by the natural approach, a teaching methodology focused on learning other languages the same way one learns a native tongue, by listening, then speaking, then learning grammar. Mary (as she became known professionally) joined Tracy's team of authors, first working on Dos Mundos!, a college Spanish text, then Bravo!, a high school Spanish text. Work began on a 2nd edition of Deux Mondes, a French college text, and following Terrell's death, Mary became the lead author of a book now in its 8th edition that has helped hundreds of thousands learn French.

In 1990 Mary moved to Friends University. She wrote edition after edition of Deux Mondes and traveled across the U.S. giving demonstrations of how to use the natural approach method to get students excited about learning foreign languages.

Mary Nelle and Ben took many trips, including sabbatical years in England and Australia with their children. Other trips included a summer in France, further travels in Australia, time in Costa Rica and Canada, and birding adventures with members of the Audubon society. In later years, they fell in love with New Mexico, visiting often with their best friends Debby and David Soles.

The Rogers moved Overland Park, KS in 2010, where they were loved by their grandchildren, whom they loved back. They also lived briefly in Taos, NM.

Born October 13th, 1939 to Dexter D. Bassett and Lovena Headrick Bassett, Mary Nelle was raised in Brooklyn until WWII led the family to Clarksville, TN. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Ben, and daughter Semie (Tom Pond) of Overland Park, KS, son Lewis of Anchorage, AK, sister Pat (Kim) Kasdorf of Chapel Hill, NC, and grandchildren Alex Padgett, and Nate, Ben, Lindsay, and Max Pond. She was preceded in death by her parents and grandson Rowan Padgett.