Mary Carlson

Mary Patricia Carlson passed away peacefully at home in Texarkana, Texas on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at the age of 82 after a valiant battle with cancer.  Mary Pat was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma on June 24,1943 to Ernest and Nettie Carlson.  She spent her early childhood in Minnesota and then in Texas.  In Donna, Texas she made wonderful memories with her grandparents, her Aunt Lucille, and her cousin Beau, who she remained close to until her passing.  She attended Donna Elementary School, then Sam Houston Elementary School and Jefferson Elementary School in Edinburg, Texas when the family lived with her beloved Aunt Grace and Uncle W.C. who called her “Pitti-Pat”. She also attended schools in Harlingen, Texas where she played clarinet in the band and was a Girl Scout.  She graduated from Harlingen High School.

Mary Pat went to college at Pan American College in Edinburg, Texas and Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated with a triple major in Literature, Philosophy, and History and her Masters Degree in Counseling and Mental Health. She also joined the Peace Corp in 1962 and taught English and Math in Northern Wisconsin on the Shawnee Indian Reservation.

She married Henry Snodgrass and they raised three sons and a daughter. She later married Dr. Tom Wright, her husband of 44 years until his death in April of 2025.

Mary Pat and Tom worked in many cities in Texas, eventually settling in Texarkana where they raised their daughter Grace.  Mary Pat was extremely intelligent and cared deeply for others.  She and Tom made a great team working in their field at a state hospital and other facilities before opening their private practice.  They helped countless people, many who have reached out to the family to express their condolences and to share stories of Mary Pat.

Mary Pat is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Tom, and her daughter Grace Annice. Left to cherish her memory are her brothers and their wives, Bill Carlson and Linda Gardner, Mark and Kelly Carlson, and Jim and Sherri Carlson, her sons Bill Snodgrass and his wife Laura,  George Snodgrass and his wife Jennifer, and Charles Snodgrass, her grandchildren Austin, David, Bryan, Sarah, Noah, Morgan, Levi, Christopher, and Gabriel, and six great-grandchildren, her brother-in-law and sister-in-law Jim and Charlotte Wright, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends, and her fur baby, Jackson.

The family wishes to thank Mary Pat’s loving caregiver Sheryl Smith for her unwavering friendship, care, and compassion, and also thank Mary Pat’s dear friends Cissy, Misty, Richard, and Brooke and other friends and family who provided love and comfort with calls, visits, prayers, food, and transportation, along with Chambers Hospice staff who were so helpful and kind.  All of these gestures gave Mary Pat such joy and a great sense of peace. 

There will be a memorial service for Mary Pat Carlson on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at Life House Church in Texarkana, Arkansas at 10:30 am.  

A second memorial service will be held at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Edinburg, Texas on October 28, 2025.


Arrangements are entrusted to Tri-State Cremation and Funeral Services.