Obituary

On Friday morning, January 2, 2026, Mary (Boesen) McAuliffe, was peacefully transformed from mortal life into eternal life, and became an angel. Mary was born Mary Lorraine Boesen on January 14, 1934, to Elizabeth (Betty) Weiland Boesen and Theodore (Ted) Boesen, who were the founders of Boesen the Florist, in Des Moines.

For the first five years of her life, Mary lived with her parents, six sisters and brothers, and her beloved “Auntie”, Elizabeth Kartheiser, in a small apartment over the flower shop on Beaver. The youngest of her seven siblings, Betty, was born near the time that they moved to the Boesen family home at 3409 Beaver in 1939.

Mary graduated from Holy Trinity Grade School and St. Joseph’s Academy and entered The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, 1951, and was known as Sister Mary Theodore. She made her first vows on March 19, 1954. Her perpetual vows were made on July 16, 1959. In her time in the congregation, she taught elementary school in Boulder, CO; Lincoln, NE; and Chicago, IL; she was sent to study at Clarke College and the University of Minnesota and taught at the University of Texas-Houston. Mary earned her Master of Arts with a major in Curriculum and Instruction in 1964, and a Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Education and a minor in Educational Psychology, in 1968, both from the University of Minnesota.

She withdrew from the congregation on July 16, 1969, and married Bob McAuliffe on April 30, 1970 in Edina, Minnesota. Bob had received an official dispensation from his obligations of the priesthood, in which he served as Fr. Dennis Mary McAuliffe as a Dominican. With Bob, for twelve years she co-directed Five Thousand One, an outpatient addiction treatment center for addicts and their families in Golden Valley, MN. She delivered education, training and consultation services nationally in the chemical dependency profession. Bob and Mary co-authored The Essentials of Chemical Dependency in 1975. In 2007, Mary published the second edition of their book, adding to the manuscript their perspective on the spiritual aspects of recovery, which were omitted from the first edition to allow for wider secular use of this incredible book. In so doing she fulfilled a dying wish of her beloved husband. Their inspired definition of chemical dependency is “essentially a committed pathological or sick love relationship of a person to a mood-altering chemical, a psychoactive drug, in expectation of a rewarding experience”.

Mary is survived by 45 nieces and nephews who cherish her memory. She has now joyously rejoined her husband, Bob, her parents, her sisters Margaret Evanko and Betty Dixon and her brothers, Ted, Dick, Bill, Jim and John Boesen and her nephews Michael and Eric “Buzz” Evanko, Paul Dixon, Ed Boesen, and Matt Boesen.


Mary’s family would like to acknowledge and express heartfelt gratitude to all the caregivers and staff at Calvin Community who provided not only exceptional care, but genuine love to “Sister Mary” for the arduous final years of her earthly journey.

Memorials may be directed St Raphael’s Catholic Church in Crystal, Minnesota, Calvin Community, or The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 15, 2025, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Des Moines. A visitation be held at 9:30 a.m. prior to the service. The Rosary will be prayed at 9:00 a.m. prior to the visitation. Mary will be interred beside her husband, Robert, in St. Thomas Cemetery in Ann Arbor, Michigan at a later date.

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