Mary Wallace

Obituary written and submitted by family: Mary Wallace, 73, of Henderson, Nevada passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 20th, 2017, at her daughter's house in Temecula, California following a short, but spirited, battle with Cancer. She was born Mary Katherine Smith on December 10th, 1943 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Paul and Arlene Smith. She graduated from Omaha Central High School, where she was already developing a serious interest in politics. Mary campaigned for President Nixon, and still has hand written notes from him thanking her and congratulating her on graduating. She also participated in the band and the pep squad. Mary wed Joseph Edward Wallace on November 30th, 1963 in Omaha, Nebraska. The first two of their 3 children, were born in Omaha and then they moved to California, in the spring of 1968. She was very versatile and performed many different jobs including quality control at Western Electric, contracts at McDonnell Douglas, supervisor of manufacturing at Anadex, Teradyne, and Flextronics, purchasing at Walt Disney Studios, funeral sales with Pierce Brothers and managing her daughter's acting career. She also was the president of the Sunset Pony Baseball League. Mary was always very passionate about animals, and could never turn an animal in need away. Her animals were considered family members instead of pets, especially certain ones like her beloved cat, Pongo. In 1996, after much begging, she bought her daughter, Casey, a pug named Porky. No one anticipated that this single act would spark such a passion for the breed and the dog show world in general. Showing and caring for her pugs became her life's focus. She made hundreds of dear friends, human and animal alike, and never turned down a request for help, even if it was a Make-A-Wish request (at 10 o'clock at night) for a young boy dying of cancer, whose final wish was to own a pug. Her most anticipated week of the year was always attending, and occasionally showing, at the Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show. Besides the animals, Mary was a lifelong, hardcore Nebraska Football fan. She was a "Cornhusker" through and through, and she raised her children to have the same passion for it as she did. Later in life, thanks to her sister, Debbie, she discovered a love for Nascar, and especially Jeff Gordon. Besides her husband, Joe, Mary leaves behind her children : (daughter) Jody Anne Mathews of Henderson, NV, (son and daughter-in-law) Joseph Edward and Rebecca Wallace, Jr. (Joey & Becky) of Henderson, NV and (daughter and son-in-law) Brynne Casey Allyne and Drew Booram (Casey & Drew) of Temecula, CA. She is also survived by her 5 beloved grandchildren, Devin Jillian Mathews (D.J.), Michaela Arelene Linton (Mikie), Taylor McGregor Wallace, Addison Hailey Booram, and Asher Landon Booram, as well as a dear great-grandaughter, Adrianna Neveah Hoch. She is also survived by her cherished sister, Deborah K. Malone (Debbie) as well as her wonderful nieces and nephews : Bill, Kristy, Ed and Laurie. Mary was preceded in death by her father, Paul Frederick Smith and mother, Roenna Arlene Smith as well as her dear sister, Karma Ann Maly and cherished nephews, Michael P. and David Maly. Funeral services will be on Thursday, May 4th at the Murrieta Valley Funeral Home on Washington Ave. with viewing begining at 2:00 pm, service at 3:00 pm directly followed by a reception at the funeral home. Her burial will be Friday, May 5th at 3:00 pm at Forest Lawn Cemetery - Hollywood Hills on Forest Lawn Dr. Flowers are welcome. If donations are prefered, mom requested they be to Take The Lead at www.TakeTheLead.org.