Mary Kay Nabholz

Mary Catherine Nabholz passed away June 5th, 2026, at the Seven Sisters Living Center in Hot Springs, SD. Mary K. was born to Charles Owens and Anna Marie Allen on May 1st, 1931, in Hinton, W. Va. Married Roland Paul Nabholz on February 17th, 1956, and to this union a son, Roland Paul Nabholz Jr., was born. Paul married Debbie and to this union Jon and Laura were born. Mary K. very much enjoyed reading to her grandchildren.

Mary was the eldest of nine siblings and worked as a telephone operator when she met and married Roland. After Paul’s birth in Greenville, SC, the family was transferred to Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, NM, where Mary lived for sixty years. She was a cub scout pack leader, ironed shirts for wealthy ranchers to help pay the bills, and ferried Paul to swimming, chess, karate lessons, and Boy Scouts. Later, Mary undertook reading, crafts, gardening, and volunteering.

She helped at the food bank and assembled an immense collection of shoes from filling in at a local Pay Less shoe store. She kept hundreds of varieties of African violets blooming for thirty years. When Roland declined becoming the Westminster Presbyterian Church bookkeeper, Mary took the job and held it for decades. Mary served for forty years as a pink lady in the Clovis hospital auxiliary.

When dementia forced a move to Pine Hills in 2019 and later Seven Sisters, quiet Mary lost her filter. She was happy to instruct the nurses and aides in the performance of their duties. However, despite claims from health care workers, Mary was not a black belt in karate. Forty prior years of walking two miles a day had kept her fit. Mary, surprisingly, was well loved for keeping everyone on their toes, whether from pulling fire alarms, an unexpected roundhouse kick, scalding quip, stealing a worker’s safety vest to sneak undetected out of the building, or imitating a walrus with a mouthful of asparagus spears.

Mary looked forward to a Christian reunion with Jesus, Roland, family members passed, and those that will join her. She wished to be buried alongside her Mom and Dad in Wayside, W. Va. Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home in Hot Springs, S.D.