Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.
Mary Anne Paulin Macnab, 61, passed Friday morning May 2. She is now officially cancer–free and living without pain.
Mary Anne was born February 28, 1953 in Ontario, Oregon and the family moved to Idaho when she was 6. She attended school there, graduating from Caldwell High in 1971. She later would earn a degree from Columbia Gorge Community College in June of 2008.
She moved back to Oregon in 1980 to be closer to the beach and worked as a secretary in the State 4H Office. Later as a stay-at-home mom, she kept busy with many creative interests outside the house. Gardening, painting, quilting, ukulele lessons and reading were passions for her. She volunteered for many groups serving two years as 4H Leader for a Clown Club, assisting with church youth events, was a director for the Sherman County Historical Society, and helped bring the new display building to life. She also joined two garden clubs and served on two church councils as well as Women’s Aglow and the Red Hats. Many of her art works were displayed at a gallery in Moro, which she also worked to keep open. Mary Anne co-superintended the Open Class Pavilion at the Sherman County Fair after several years of managing the Kid’s Corner. She and her husband were Grand Marshals for the 2013 Cherry Festival in The Dalles and were named as Grand Marshals for the 2014 Sherman County Fair.
She and Sandy (Alexander) Macnab were married December 19, 1981, and it was on their 32nd anniversary that they received word of her diagnosis. They lived in Sherman County most of their married lives, moving to Dufur in late 2009.
She is survived by her husband, Sandy, her daughter of the heart, Jennifer (Drew) Brost of Portland, and sons Scott (Jenna) also of Portland and David (coffee) of The Dalles. She is also survived by her 12 siblings Theresa (Skip) Nakashima, Tom (Pam) Paulin, Rita Alexander, Joe (Gwen) Paulin, Mike (Linda) Paulin, Trudy (Jack) Burris, Connie (Dan) Erskine, Nadine (Randy) Barbee, Toni (Mike) Bunt, Jennifer (Don) Jepson, Gary (Tanis) Paulin, Pat (Sheryl) Paulin. On the Macnab, side she is survived by Jane (Jim) Dow, Mary Macnab, Tom (Georgia) Macnab, Kate McLain, Mark Macnab, Joe (Barbara) Macnab and Margaret Macnab. She has two granddaughters, Anna and Avery Brost plus numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Mary Anne loved hosting large groups for the holidays. She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Jane and her dad, Charles Paulin who also passed away on May 2, but seventeen years earlier.
A rosary will be offered at 10 am on Friday May 9, to be followed by the memorial mass at 11 am at St. Peter Catholic Church in The Dalles. A light lunch reception will follow at the Church Parish Hall.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to St Mary’s Academy, 1112 Cherry Heights Rd, The Dalles, 97058 or the Sherman Station Endowment Fund, c/o OSU Foundation, 850 SW 35th, Corvallis, Ore 97333.
