Mary Annette Goolsbey

Mary Annette Goolsbey of Georgetown, Texas died from Alzheimer’s on Mar 19, 2025. She was 85.

Mary Novotny was born at home on Feb 25, 1940 in the small farming community of Lidgerwood, North Dakota to Evangeline Novotny (Jereski) and Albert Novotny. Mary was the fifth of six children that included four older siblings Robert, Joan, Grace, and Ruth, and a younger brother David. Her father ran the town creamery and her mother managed the daily baking and chores for the household. At age seven she survived a bout of appendicitis that nearly killed her. While in high school Mary learned to play the piano thanks to lessons paid for her by her older sisters and played french horn in the high school band.

After graduation, Mary moved to Fargo to work as a bank teller. While there she fell in love with Michael ('Mike') Goolsbey who was attending North Dakota State University and studying Electrical Engineering. Mike and Mary actually grew up as next door neighbors and classmates in Lidgerwood but it was only after reconnecting in Fargo that they decided to make a lifetime together. Mike and Mary were married in 1963 and they moved to Rochester, Minnesota after Mike accepted a job with IBM there. On Feb 14, 1966 their only child Keith Goolsbey was born in Baltimore, Maryland while they were on temporary assignment with IBM.

Mary was a loving wife and mom and an organized homemaker. She enjoyed music, especially piano music, folk music, country music and Elvis Presley. She raised and trained a beloved Shetland sheepdog named Billy Sunday. She also loved to go out dancing and played cards with the same monthly card group for about 40 years. She enjoyed attending country music concerts and going to short track dirt races with Mike and Keith. Mary later went to community college to get an associate’s degree and begin a second career as a secretary at IBM once her son was a teenager. After Mike and Mary had both retired from IBM, they moved to Sun City in Georgetown, Texas to be closer to her son and his family. Mary was a doting grandmother and helped watch all four of her grandchildren when they were little. Mike and Mary enjoyed several cross country road trips with Keith before retirement and many corvette cruises during retirement. They enjoyed an active life together in Sun City with their N13 neighbors and their close friends from IBM Richard and Joyce Dorr.

Mary dearly loved cardinals. She always respected them for their beauty and their loyalty to their mates. She and Mike were birds of a feather who lived 80+ years together as neighbors, spouses, parents, and grandparents. Mary had a great sense of humor, cracking jokes with strangers all the way to the bitter end even as Alzheimer’s cruelly robbed her of her memory of all those who loved her.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents Evangeline and Albert, her brother Robert, her sisters Joan Benson, Ruth Eastman and Grace Clark, and her loving husband Mike. She is survived by her brother David, her son Keith and daughter-in-law Elaine Goolsbey, and her four grandchildren Michael, Emma, Anna, and Daniel Goolsbey.