Early Life
Rose Mary is a self-taught artist, born and raised in St. Louis Missouri. All through school she dreamed of being an artist, after graduating from high school in 1925, decided to pursue her dream by selling the American Automobile Association a comic strip called "Nellie". This comic strip continued for about 15 years.

During this time she also sold hand painted greeting cards in the stationery department at the Famous-Barr store in St. Louis. While she was working one day, a man from the Stanley Greeting Card Company saw her and offered her a job in Dayton, Ohio. She loved the freedom of this work and was able to meet other artists here. As time passed, she was promoted to the position of editor.

Time Out
World War II broke out, and in her spare time, Rose Mary offered her skills at making cards to the servicemen at the local USO. Here she met her husband, Thomas Goodson. She took time out to raise their seven children, sometimes freelancing her art. One day she accompanied one of her children on a field trip to the St. Louis arch, and was so fascinated by the project she put together a book on the reason for, and the making of the monument. Each page contained hand drawn illustrations. This book sold well for many years.

Back to Work
After her family was raised, she moved to South Dakota and took a job at Wall Drug. She met many tourists, who were always needing information, so she put together a paperback book, Guide to Attractions in South Dakota, containing tourist information. Again, this book overflowed with her many illustrations.

While working at Wall Drug, Rose Mary sold pen and ink note cards made by a local artist. She thought it would be fun to make note cards herself, so on her days off she visited many of the scenic places in the Black Hills and surrounding areas, making sketches of old buildings, barns, stoves and other historic items. Eventually, she had a series of about thirty different scenes. She also began a series of pen and ink prints. Both were very popular with the tourists and locals alike for many years.

During the winter months, the tourists stopped coming, and Rose Mary needed another source of income. This is when she began oil painting. After a time, she began to give lessons. More and more people saw her work and learned of her. They began asking her to paint commissioned work. Rose Mary had become a well known artist in the Black Hills area by this time. She also published two more books, The White River Badlands Story and The Mount Rushmore Story.

Relief from the Cold
Winters seemed to get longer and colder each year, so Rose Mary began snow birding to Arizona each winter and would return to South Dakota in the summer. After a few years, she bought a pretty lot in Congress, Arizona, and she, along with her son and daughter-in-law, built a house on it. This allowed Rose Mary move to Arizona full-time. Here she could paint to her heart's content. Everyday she saw new beauty in the desert and the surprises it held, and she put them onto canvas. While she lived in Arizona, she painted hundreds of paintings and held many shows. She also published another book, The Story of Congress, and made another line of Arizona note cards and pen and ink prints.

Missing Her Family
Although Rose Mary had her paintings, she began to miss her scattered family. One of her daughters in St. Charles, Missouri asked Rose Mary to share her home with her and her husband. Although it was hard to leave her beloved home in the desert, Rose Mary was thrilled to be near her children again. Now, she is once again, living in Missouri, but this time she has the time to follow her life's dream - painting. That's where you'll find her today, with brush in hand capturing the beauty of things she finds in her everyday life.

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