Mary Ann (Rohan) Garrity

The fierce and fabulous Mary Ann “M.A.” (Rohan) Garrity of Prairie du Chien and Wayzata, MN, left the building on Thursday, December 4, 2025, at the age of 92. She’ll be watching the Pack with better seats now, next to the love of her life, Dr. Mike Garrity of Prairie du Chien. They talked non-stop, kissed in elevators, and relished canceling out each other’s votes each election.

“Matriarch,” “icon,” “legend,” “force of life” ...these are the words pouring in to describe M.A. She was singularly smart, beautiful, and funny, yet connected instantly to every person she met. Born May 19, 1933, in Milwaukee to Emmett and Renee (Conners) Rohan, she was the oldest of four children. Her younger brothers Barry and Mike preceded her in death.

An accomplished debater at Marquette University who went on to attend Marquette Law School, she withdrew to “follow a fellow who followed a dream”—a charming Irishman newbie doc who wanted to foster excellence in rural healthcare. She dreamt of being a published humorist, though soon four small hecklers muted her Erma Bombeck aspirations. She soothed her frustrated desires in letters to friends, chronicling decades of her life with her beloved Smith Corona Electra. She had great respect for words and didn’t use them lightly. Her memory unmatched, M.A. regularly invoked quotes from Shakespeare and show tunes, somehow making them sound like ordinary speech. At age 82, her bylines for the Boscobel Dial and Courier Press became a collection, Now and Then: Occasional Musings of a Disgruntled Senior (available on Amazon). From the essay “Felony Barbie”: “For years, my daughters clamored to no avail for Barbie. I figured I didn’t need a mini doll with maxi mammeries and a better wardrobe than mine, standing around asking if I wanted to be a fashion model. The Barbie I was waiting for was Berkely Barbie, the activist, designed to blow up the Mattel factory.”

Kids raised, she earned a master’s in counseling from University of Wisconsin, Platteville and began a career as a grade school counselor that brought her more joy than she could have imagined. She talked to the littlest via hand puppet, Duso the Dolphin, and listened whole-heartedly to the middle schoolers in support groups. Following many of them into their adult lives with cards of encouragement, she felt great thrill in hearing back. Every soul was her equal.

Her ability to recognize the unique humanity in others allowed deep, life-long friendships. As her friend, Terri Lins, put it, “With Mary Ann, you always knew she was exactly who she presented herself to be.” Her grandchildren gave her renewed purpose, (Molly (Andy) Sroka, Danny (Alexis Ardovitch) and Nick Edwards, Caitlyn, Connor, Ceira and Cameron Garrity, Rohan Garrity Brown, and great-granddaughter, Lucy Sroka, Piper and Reese Hugdahl, and Bella Brown), as well as more reason to shop with razor focus: Even after her stroke, you could find her in leopard print, maneuvering her wheelchair through the aisles of TJ Maxx in her round-the-calendar Christmas and birthday preparations. An utterly no-nonsense person, she never missed an entry into Publisher’s Clearing House and kept the Christmas tree up all yearlong.

She will be missed something fierce by her brother, Sean (Terese) Rohan of Kaukauna; her children, Maureen (Mike) Edwards of Trevor, Tom (Gina) Garrity of Faribault, MN, Ann (Derek Hugdahl) Garrity of Wayzata, MN, and Bridget (Kurt) Garrity Brown of La Crosse; her beloved retriever, Rylee, and a loyal army of nieces, nephews, and friends.

While we won’t cross paths with her likeness, we can take solace in knowing hers was too large a spirit to be contained in only one realm, and she’ll be plenty available with MA-style wisdom and good cheer.

The family extends special thanks to her caregivers over the recent years, especially Mary Edwards and M.A.’s daughter, Ann, who worked exhaustively to ensure M.A,’s health and strongest wishes were protected until the day she died.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Operation Santa in Prairie du Chien. If you buy her book on Amazon ($9.99), 100 percent of her royalites will go to Operation Santa.

A Memorial Mass of Resurrection will be Saturday, January 10, 2025 at 11:00 A.M. at St. John’s Church of the Holy Family Parish, Fr. Brandon Guenther officiating, with inurnment at a later date in the Calvary Cemetery, both in Prairie du Chien. A Celebration of Mary Ann’s Life will be held following the Mass at the Prairie du Chien Country Club from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.

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