10/16/2023
Mary Lou (Cunningham) Rabska
1925 - 2023
Mary Lou (Cunningham) Rabska was born on January 18, 1925, to Florence and Tom Cunningham in Springfield, Missouri and passed away September 6, 2023, at the age of 98, with Tami by her side.
Mary Lou grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, spending summers until she was sixteen at her Grandmother Cunninghams dairy farm near Bentonville, Arkansas. She remembers those as fun and educational times, learning to strip the cows after the milking machines were removed, gathering eggs in an old wicker basket, cutting up chickens, making butter and shooting Cottonmouth moccasin snakes with her 22 rifle.
She graduated from Hale Cook Elementary School, Southwest High School, Kansas City Junior College and earned her B.A. Degree in psychology and her M.E. Degree in Education at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. She worked for the Kansas City Recreation Department all through college to help defray expenses.
After graduation, Mary Lou taught briefly in Columbia, Missouri, then moved to Kansas City and taught at West Junior High School. Asked by her interviewer, a former teacher of hers at Hale Cook, if she could handle a challenge, she quickly said yes and started teaching at West Junior near the rough area of the stock yards in Kansas City. It was both a challenge and extremely rewarding. Here she met her soon-to-be dear friend and roommate Jo Thrasher.
On a joint summer vacation in 1955, Mary Lou and Jo drove to Colorado. Their final destination was Glenwood Springs where she met Reiny Rabska, just out of the service and prospecting for uranium at his parents homestead out of Meeker, Colorado.
Mary Lou and Reiny were married at the Santa Maria Presbyterian Church on March 24, 1956. After a brief honeymoon to San Francisco she flew back to Kansas City to finish teaching the spring semester. Reiny then flew back to Kansas City and helped her load her car Little Lulu with her belongings and her dog, Pepper. They drove back to Santa Maria set up housekeeping and Mary Lou started teaching at Santa Maria Joint Union High School.
In July of 1958, Tami was born and in January of 1960, Megan was born. Mary Lou did home-teaching while the children were very small and then took a teaching position at Allan Hancock Junior College which she loved for 23 years until retiring in 1983.
Mary Lou was a Camp Fire Girl leader, Sunday School teacher, board member of Planned Parenthood for 20 years and served on the Womens Board of Santa Maria Country Club for 5 years.
She and Reiny travelled extensively both in the United States and abroad. She was an avid reader, golfer, cook, bridge player, crafter and seamstress. Her home was very special to her and she loved to entertain friends and family.
She leaves her daughter, Tami Rabska, of Santa Maria; two grandchildren, Nathan Williams of Santa Maria and Cori (Alan) Bell of Peoria, AZ; and three great grandsons Everett Bell, Waylon Bell and Jack Williams. Mary Lou was preceeded in death by her husband of 55 years, Reinhart J. Rabska, in January 2011 and daughter, Megan J. LaFlamme in September 2011.
A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, October 27, 2023, 10:30am, at St. Andrew United Methodist Church, 3945 S Bradley Rd, Santa Maria, CA. A Celebration of Life for Mary Lou will immediately follow the service at the Santa Maria Country Club.
