Mary Roselyn Rouze

Mary Roselyn Rouze (West), passed away surrounded by her daughters on Saturday, December 6, 2025 in Seymour.

Services will be held on Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at the Church of Christ at 500 N. East Street in Seymour. A meal will be provided following the service at the 4H Building.

A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio under the direction of Archer Funeral Home.

Mary was born on July 7, 1931 in Black Hawk County, Iowa to Elery B. and Johanna Marie Niebuhr West. She graduated from Janesville High School in 1950 and attended Iowa State Teachers College but transferred to Iowa State College. During her time there, she joined the Delta Zeta Sorority. Mary graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics in 1954. She married Donald Rouze on September 19, 1954 in Ames, Iowa and Don joined the Air Force as an officer after completing college. A year later, they had their first daughter, Wendy there in Iowa. They then moved to Big Springs, Texas where Don went through flight school. This was the beginning of their many travels around the world as Don was reassigned from base to base. They lived in Minnesota, Georgia, South Dakota, where their second daughter, Jody was born, Colorado, Florida, Okinawa, Arizona, Japan, Texas and Washington, D.C. Don reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and while he was stationed at the Pentagon in D.C., he died from a heart attack on October 11, 1973.

Mary chose to move back to Texas where Wendy was in college and Jody would attend high school. She decided to go back to school and update her degree in dietetics at the University of Texas. At Texas Women’s University, she went on to receive her Masters degree. With her interests changing, she continued her schooling and earned a degree in Fashion Merchandising. From there, her business, The Total Person, took shape. She became an imaging consultant mostly for businesses. She loved to travel when she could. She went to Hong Kong with her husband when they were stationed in Japan, but later, she traveled to Mexico, London, Paris, Germany and Turkey. In her late seventies, she retired and closed her business to move closer to her daughters and has been in Seymour for the last eight years.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Donald West and Gerald West; sister, Ruth West and her husband, Donald Rouze.

She is survived by her 2 daughters, Wendy and Felipe Munoz and Jody and Kevin Smith; seven grandchildren, Donald and Marianna Munoz, Jessica and Thiago Pereira, David and Michelle Munoz, Clayton and Emily Smith, Spencer and Brittany Smith, Parker and Lindsey Smith and Elizabeth Smith and she was blessed with twelve great grandchildren.