(Plain Press October 2025) Family and friends of Mary Rose Oakar gathered at Saint Patrick’s Church on Bridge Avenue on September 20^th to celebrate her life.

     Speakers offering words of remembrance at the funeral mass included Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Mary Rose Oakar’s former legislative director Scott Frey, Mary Rose Oakar’s niece Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ann Clare Oakar, and Jacqueline Caviness Tucker, who read a letter from her father, Rev. E. Theophilus Caviness.

     St. Patrick Parish Pastor Father Michael Gurmick summed up the comments of the speakers saying, Mary Rose respected the “dignity of all persons, served the common good, and did it with such graciousness and civility.”

     Mary Rose was a lifelong resident of the Near West Side and lifelong parishioner of St. Patrick’s Parish. She was born into a working-class family that lived on W. 30^th Street between Carroll and Bridge Avenues which remained her residence her entire life.

     Mary Rose, a Near West Side advocate for her neighbors, taught at Lourdes Academy (located where May Dugan Center is today), represented the neighborhood in Cleveland City Council served in Congress for 16 years, served as a State Representative and a member of the State of Ohio Board of Education. Mary Rose also served as President of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

     Her niece, Judge Ann Clare Oakar, said as a City Council member Mary Rose was trying to address getting the proper attention to a rundown house in the neighborhood. She was told there was nothing that could be done about it locally – it was federal. That resulted in Mary Rose deciding to run for Congress. She became the first woman Democrat from the State of Oho to be elected to serve in the Congress of the United States of America.

     Congresswoman Kaptur, who served with Mary Rose, said Congresswoman Oakar was a champion for federal workers, an advocate for women’s health and senior citizens. She noted the dollars Congresswoman Oakar secured for breast cancer research and her collaboration with Congressman Lou Stokes to bring dollars to the City of Cleveland. Oakar’s legislative director Scott Frey outlined the accomplishments during Oakar’s tenure in Congress.

     The letter from Rev. E. Theophilus Caviness spoke of their long friendship and joint advocacy efforts from Mary Rose’s early days as a neighborhood advocate through the many years that followed.

     Judge Ann Clare Oakar shared stories of Mary Rose as an aunt who regularly brought presents from her travels for her nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. An aunt that remembered birthdays and participated in family gatherings. She also remembered helping to pass out campaign literature as a child.