A devoted mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, philanthropist, volunteer and corporate executive, Mary Rose Brown's dedication to her family, friends and community was nothing short of amazing!

She devoted her life to lifting up others, championing causes that mattered, and creating a space where everyone felt heard and valued. Mary Rose truly transformed the lives of all who knew her, leaving an indelible mark that will have a positive impact on generations to come.

Thanks to her close-knit family and Catholic faith, Mary Rose grew up with a strong values system that guided her life. She had a deep faith and a strong work ethic, and frequently cited her favorite saying, "Work as if everything depends on you, and pray as if everything depends on God."

A self-proclaimed "Southside girl," Mary Rose attended St. Cecilia's Catholic school as a young girl, and then went to Lee High School where she discovered her love of writing and dance. She attended Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) and her dance talent secured her a coveted spot on the university's nationally acclaimed Strutters Dance Team, which was one of the highlights of her college years, as was her membership in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, where she served as Vice President, Philanthropy & Community Outreach, which was a precursor to her career in community relations.  A hardworking student, Mary Rose excelled in her studies and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Communications.  She went on to serve as a member of the University's Advisory Council for the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and in 2015 she was recognized as one of the University's Distinguished Alumni,

While Mary Rose would go on to achieve a successful career in which she reached the highest levels of corporate America, she always managed that career while fulfilling her favorite role, being a mother to her three amazing children – Taylor, Garrett and Kirsten.  She doted on them and despite a grueling work schedule, she always made time for their social and extracurricular activities and games, whether they were in town or somewhere across the state or country.

She took them to Disney World every year where they'd stay from the "Princess Breakfast" in the morning until the fireworks late at night.  Mary Rose was probably happiest when the family spent time at the beach or their lake house.  When it wasn't vacation time, she would have "sleepovers" in their living room where they'd spend all night playing games and binge-watching Star Trek and Disney movies.  And it wasn't unusual for her to take the kids to the office during busy times where they loved running around in their PJs, playing hide & seek with Mary Rose's employees, and getting treats from the vending machines. While she always strived to give the kids a fun and joyous life, she worked just as hard to instill the values of hard work, faith, gratitude, integrity, patriotism, community service and compassion for others, values that each of them has gone on to demonstrate in their lives.

While she was promoted many times up through the corporate ranks, her greatest joy in life was being "promoted" to grandmother to eight beautiful grandchildren, to whom she is known as "Gram Gram."  She was there for every birthday, baptism, first communion, holiday or special occasion, and each involved personalized gifts that Gram Gram carefully selected for each child.  And they all received matching PJs and church clothes for the holidays.  Even in her final months, despite her suffering, she found the strength and joy each evening to go and help feed her newborn twin grandbabies and put them to bed.

Mary Rose was loyal to her extended family and treated her friends like family as well, and she always went to great lengths to express her love for all of them.  She always had the perfect and most creative personalized gifts for everyone in her life.  During Christmas, her office always turned into "Santa's Workshop" with hundreds of gifts she bought for her family and friends each year.

While Mary Rose devoted herself to her family and friends, she also built a legendary career in the public relations & advertising industry and rose to the top ranks in the energy industry.

She started her career at The Atkins Agency where she was mentored by advertising legend "Chip" Atkins who became a father figure to her. She quickly rose up the career ladder ascending to the position of Vice President of Public Relations. Mary Rose was undoubtedly one of the best – if not, the best – public relations strategist in San Antonio history, and she led public relations efforts for the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, Valero Energy Corporation, Broadway Bank, and many of San Antonio's largest and most successful companies.  This was on top of leading campaigns many major community and civic initiatives from the Central Library to curbing gang violence to improved childcare and more.

An important turning point in her career came when she ran the "Citizens for the Dome" campaign to gain voter approval for the Alamodome. Working with then-Mayor Henry Cisneros and business legend Bill Greehey, she worked day and night to sell the merits of the project.  Prior to Mary Rose's involvement in the campaign, voter polling showed 60% were against the dome.  But thanks to the campaign Mary Rose organized and executed, the dome was approved by a margin of 55% to 45%.

She also worked closely with then-Mayor Nelson Wolff and his wife, Tracy, on many initiatives to improve the quality of life in San Antonio. And when Wolff was elected as County Judge she collaborated with him on a variety of community initiatives, including work to improve the mental health system, and he subsequently appointed her to the Center for Healthcare Services board, which serves as the region's mental health authority.

Recognizing what an incredible talent Mary Rose was, Greehey who was the founding CEO and President of Valero Energy tried to woo her to Valero for over a year. She finally agreed to come to work for him leading the company's Corporate Communications Department. During her ten-year tenure at Valero, she rose to the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and served as Greehey's closest advisor.  He credits her with helping him build the company from a refining company with a single refinery to become the largest independent refiner in North America, and helping create the caring and sharing corporate culture that made Valero a leading corporate citizen not just in San Antonio, but in communities across America and internationally, and one of the best companies to work for in corporate America.

He credits Mary Rose's efforts and commitment to employees as the reason Valero was consistently ranked among Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, and rose all the way to No. 3.  She was also responsible for helping the company attain a number of other prestigious honors, including being ranked No.1 among Forbes' listing of America's 400 Best Big Companies, recognized as one of America's Best-Managed Companies, and honored among the Most Admired Global Companies.

Under her leadership, Valero's volunteerism and giving flourished.  She helped lead the turnaround of the Valero Texas Open, which was about to leave San Antonio due to lackluster fundraising and attendance. Mary Rose and her team – along with the Valero and Texas Open employees – took that tournament from the bottom of the PGA TOUR rankings to the top in terms of charitable giving, raising a record-breaking $7 million in its final year under her leadership that was shared among children's charities in all the communities where Valero operated.

When Greehey recognized that Valero's pipelines & terminals business needed to become a completely independent company, he decided a new challenge was in order and focused his efforts on leading this effort.  He retired from Valero and became Chairman of what became NuStar Energy L.P.  Under the leadership of Greehey and then-President & CEO Curt Anastasio, Mary Rose helped stand up the company's Corporate Communications, Government Relations, Community Relations, Corporate Services and Aviation Departments, and later assumed leadership of the Human Resources and Corporate Procurement Departments.

Mary Rose quickly ascended to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, and shaped NuStar's special culture of putting employees first and giving back to its communities.

She led the team that created NuStar's compensation and benefits programs, which were rated the best in NuStar's industry, and saw to it that they remained so in the years to follow.  She and her team also created many innovative employee reward and appreciation programs.  And Mary Rose didn't just care for all NuStar employees, she cared for each of them – she never hesitated to drop what she was doing to help any employee who was having a problem or crisis, whether it was on a professional or personal level, and helped them to resolve whatever the issue might have been.

Under Mary Rose's leadership, NuStar was consistently recognized as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, one of People magazine's 50 Companies that Care, one of Forbes' Most Ethical Companies, and many other national and regional workplace honors.

Mary Rose and her team managed United Way campaigns that raised approximately $4 million annually for the communities where NuStar had operations. The corporate office was recognized for having the highest per capita contribution in the nation for a company its size. And they led countless other fundraising initiatives and volunteer projects that made San Antonio a great place to live and work. While NuStar had just 500 employees in San Antonio, the company was still seen as a corporate and community powerhouse along with much larger companies thanks to Mary Rose.

Mary Rose always gave credit to Greehey for being the biggest and most positive influence on her career, but Greehey considered her his most trusted advisor.  Not only did Greehey, Anastasio and long-time NuStar President & CEO Brad Barron value Mary Rose's tremendous intellect, strategic vision and strong leadership skills, all counted on her for her wise counsel and considered her a dear friend.  And because she treated her employees like family, mentored them and inspired them to do great work, Mary Rose had team members who worked for her 30+ years.

Outside her corporate leadership, Mary Rose was a dedicated volunteer and true servant leader in the community who was passionate about helping the less fortunate. There's not a nonprofit organization in San Antonio that Mary Rose hasn't supported in some way by donating her time, talents and treasure.  She served as a longtime advisor and then Secretary for the Haven for Hope Board of Directors, as Vice Chair of the board of The Center for Health Care Services, and as a board member of the Texas Business Hall of Fame, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County, the San Antonio Parks Foundation, and The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. She also worked tirelessly to make San Antonio's Tricentennial celebration a success and helped raise funding for a legacy gift for the city's World Heritage Site.

Mary Rose raised hundreds of millions of dollars for countless nonprofit organizations, as she had a unique ability to mobilize other community leaders behind a cause. She worked day and night to make these fundraising efforts successful and formed a group of like-minded women leaders who helped support local fundraising efforts, dubbed the "Skirt Mafia."

But Mary Rose's legacy in the community will largely be forged by the tremendous success of Haven for Hope, which was founded by Greehey in 2005, and has become a national model in the fight against homelessness. She worked by Greehey's side from the very beginning, helping to bring this massive project to fruition.  She helped lead the efforts to bring together the public and private sector to raise over $100 million to build the 32-acre campus, and since it opened 14 years ago, she was instrumental in its successful operation as it has moved thousands of men, women and children from homelessness to independent, happy and productive lives.

She continued to raise the millions of dollars it takes to run the operations each year from private and government sources.  And the largest gift that Haven for Hope received from the private sector was from the NuStar NuHope Golf Classic, which raised an astounding $44 million since its inception. But Mary Rose's commitment wasn't just to the Haven for Hope organization, she was equally committed to the individuals and families who were served by Haven for Hope. Many of them credited Mary Rose's love and compassion for transforming and saving their lives. To commemorate her selfless efforts to support Haven for Hope, the chapel that sits in the middle of the campus was recently named the Mary Rose Brown Chapel of Hope.

For her incredible personal and professional success, Mary Rose was honored with just about every local award in existence, including induction into the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame and the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame, and being recognized with the Executive Award for Large Business from the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.  She also has been honored with the Outstanding Texas PR Practitioner Award from the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA), the Women's Leadership Award from the San Antonio Business Journal, the Angel of the Shelter Award from the San Antonio Children's Shelter, the Corporate Friend of Youth Award from San Antonio Youth, the Mother of the Year Award from AVANCE, and the Trefoil Award from the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas.

Mary Rose is survived by her children who were her "everything," Taylor Brown and his wife, Margaret, Garrett Brown, and Kirsten Baker and her husband Bryan, as well as eight grandchildren. She is also survived by her beloved siblings Walter Calmbach, Joey Calmbach, and Lisa Stone and her husband, Mike, as well as her nieces and nephews, Lauren Stone, Troy Stone, Angela Stone and Tara Barisic and her husband, Danko, and many other family members that she held dear.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, September 3rd at 5:00pm with a Rosary to be recited at 6:15pm at St. Mary's Catholic Church (Downtown).  Memorial Mass will be offered on Wednesday, September 4th at 10:00am also at St. Mary's Catholic Church (Downtown).  Services will conclude at the church.