Leona "Tess" Mcmains Burrows

Leona “Tess” (McMains) Burrows of Gainesville, Texas passed away on January 29, 2022. She was born in 1927 and adopted at the age of one from Hope Cottage in Dallas, Texas. She lived with her loving parents in Durant, Oklahoma until she was 16 when they moved to Denison, Texas.

After graduating from Denison High School in 1945, she went to Southeastern State College in Durant (now known as Southeastern Oklahoma State University). She graduated in 1954 with a BS in Elementary Education and went on to teach at the Golden Rule School in Denison for many years. She later went back to school and obtained her Masters in Teaching.

In 1955 she married her high school sweetheart, John “Jack” Burrows and was happily married for 53 years before his passing in 2008. Together they raised her only child, Nikki (Bollinger) Addison. In 1960 the family moved to Salvador, Brazil where her husband worked as a geologist for the Brazilian government. While there, she and two other teachers realized the need for an American school, and together they founded the Pan American School of Bahia. She enjoyed serving as the school’s first principal and was very proud that it remains open to this day.

In 1970, the family moved to Gainesville, Texas after she accepted a position at the Cooke County Junior College (now known as the North Central Texas College) to be their Reading Director. While there she served as the Department Chair for the Reading and Foreign Language departments. She retired from the college in 1988.

In her retirement she enjoyed managing a local jewelry store that she and her husband owned. She also enjoyed reading, playing cards with friends and volunteering at the V.F.W. Post 1922 where her husband served as a former Commander. She treasured all her friends at the Summit Senior Village and appreciated all of the help they had given her over the last few years. Above all else, she loved her family. There was rarely a day that went by that she wasn’t calling and checking in on somebody from the family. To some she was known as Tessie, to others the cookie lady (she was famous for handing out cookies to everyone she encountered) but to her family she was simply Meme, and she will be missed.

Survivors include: son-in-law, Tim Addison of Coppell; grandson, Stace Maxwell of Sanger; granddaughter, Jordan Walker and Alan Corscadden of Dallas; great-grandchildren: Trace Maxwell, Brandi Hill, James Anderson and Kaia Corscadden; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, great-great-grandchildren and other friends and family she loved very much.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Wilma Ruth Mason-McMains and Leo Daniel McMains; her husband, John Burrows; her daughter, Nikki Addison; and her granddaughter, Dylan Gotcher.

A memorial visitation will be held on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home.