Rose Ann Husband

Rose Ann Cyganik Husband, age 80, passed away on Sunday, December 7, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.

Rose Ann was born on March 1, 1945, at St. Paul Hospital in Dallas, Texas. She was the daughter of Matthew Francis (Mieczysław Franciszek) Cyganik and Jimmye Naomi Sarver.

Rose Ann was preceded in death by her parents and by her younger brother Matthew David Cyganik. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Arthur, and the family of which she was so proud:

• Brother Anthony (Tony) Cyganik and his wife Gail Cyganik of Garland.
• Son Clayton Husband and his wife Sheri of Fort Worth.
• Daughter Jennifer Husband of Arlington.
• Son Mark Husband and his wife Robin of Keene.
• Grandson Matthew Husband and his wife Kaylin of Burleson and their two children, Kinleigh (6) and Liam (3).
• Grandson Johnathon Husband and his wife Arielle of Longview.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at St. Barnabas United Methodist Church, 5011 W Pleasant Ridge Drive, Arlington, Texas. A reception will follow the service.

Flowers are welcome, and the family encourages memorial donations to be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or Cowtown Loves Animal Shelter Pets (www.cowtownpets.org).

Rose Ann grew up in Garland, Texas, a place she held dear in her heart her entire life. She attended Freeman and Williams Elementary Schools and Bussey Junior High School. She graduated from Garland High School in 1963. During her senior year she was a member of Future Homemakers of America and the AO Biology and Pan American clubs, worked as an office assistant, and was awarded the Optimist Club Student of the Month. As a proud Garland Owl, she began collecting owl figurines, knickknacks, and accessories, which became a lifelong hobby that sparked joy in her life.

Music and choir were meaningful activities throughout Rose Ann’s life. At Garland High she joined the choir program, singing with the Choralaires girls choir and the A Cappella choir. She earned first place awards in solo and ensemble contests in her senior year. Her first ever trip away from home was a choir tour to Killeen and Temple, Texas, where she performed at Fort Hood, followed by a tour to Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado.

She was a long-time member of First United Methodist Church in Garland, where she sang in the alto section of the church choir. It was here that she met Arthur Clayton Husband for the first time, who sat next to her in the tenor section.

Following graduation, she went to work at a local accountant’s office as a secretary and bookkeeper. Since they needed part-time help during tax season, she told them she knew an accountant in the church choir named Art Husband, who ended up working for them after hours. Rose Ann and Art started dating during this time, and a love blossomed that would last a lifetime.

Arthur proposed to Rose Ann at the State Fair of Texas on October 15, 1964. After a short engagement, they were married on December 5, 1964, at Wesley Methodist Church in Durant, Oklahoma. After they returned home, they sang together in the church choir production of The Messiah.

Rose Ann and Art built a house in Mesquite while she was pregnant with her first child. In the true sense of strong Texas women, Rose Ann drove herself to the hospital in Garland to have her first baby, James Clayton in January 1967. After a brief move back to Garland, Art took a job in west Fort Worth in 1969, and the family settled in the Ridglea neighborhood. In October that year, Rose Ann welcomed her second child and daughter, Jennifer Ann, who was also born in Garland.

Rose Ann and Art established a new home in Forest Hill in 1971 and joined Forest Hill United Methodist Church. While she naturally joined the choir, she also enjoyed teaching Sunday school, attending Bible study groups, and cooking for potluck dinners. Since it was a small congregation, she volunteered for and took on many leadership and administrative roles within the church.

In April 1972, Rose Ann welcomed her third child, Mark Alan, who was also born in Garland. She always said how proud she was that all her children were born at Garland Memorial Hospital and delivered by the same doctor that delivered her in 1945.

Rose Ann found her forever home in southwest Arlington in 1977, where she created a loving home for her family and started a new chapter in her life. Since all three children attended Little Elementary at the same time, Rose Ann started volunteering at the school. She wrote in a diary that the “principal there told me since I was there all the time that I should interview with his friend because she was looking for a secretary. I interviewed one day and started the next. That was fast! I had to scurry and find a sitter to watch the kids.”

That serendipitous conversation resulted in her 37-year career with the Arlington Independent School District as an administrative professional and school secretary. During her junior and senior years at Garland High School, she worked in the main office, walking the halls and picking up attendance and delivering messages. She later wrote in a diary “…that’s why I ended up being an elementary school secretary as my profession. I just love being at a school.”

Rose Ann spent her career at Roark, Wood, and Foster elementary schools. During her 37 years with the district, she was an inspiration and school mom to thousands of children from diverse backgrounds, and she loved every one of them as her own. She was always quietly elated when former students recognized her and came up to say hello. In 2012, Rose Ann was recognized by her peers as Paraprofessional of the Year for Arlington ISD.

Shortly after moving to Arlington, Rose Ann and Art joined St. Barnabas Church, a new church that was forming near home. She was a charter member of the church choir, which became a family affair singing with Art and all three children. She was especially proud when Mark became choir director at the church, and she loved singing under his direction. In her personal hymnal she kept track of the hymns he selected each week, making sure he didn’t repeat anything too soon. A photo of Rose Ann and Art from April 2023 is pasted inside her hymnal to celebrate 60 years of singing together in church choirs.

Square dancing became a passion for Rose Ann in 1986 when she and Art joined the Diamond Jubileers club in Grand Prairie. She and Art held nearly every office in the club and ultimately served as co-presidents of the North Texas Square and Round Dance Association from 1997-1999. She and Art continued dancing until 2003, when she decided that grandchildren were much more fun.

Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren brought immeasurable joy and happiness to Rose Ann. Many of her most treasured moments were spent with her grandsons Matthew Clayton and Johnathon Luke, great-granddaughter Kinleigh Grace, and great-grandson Liam Carter.

Throughout her life, Rose Ann embodied compassion, kindness, humility, and selfless generosity. Her support of local charities was instilled at an early age when the American Red Cross assisted her family after a devastating flood of their home on Duck Creek. Her adopted cats were loved unconditionally. And every December Rose Ann’s Christmas cookie baking adventure was legendary, when she spread goodwill and cheer delivering homemade cookie baskets to family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. The world was a richer place, a brighter place, with her in it. She was simply one of the kindest people ever to grace this planet. We shall never know her like again.

It's usually impossible to sum up a person’s life in one sentence. But Rose Ann carried a quote with her that does just that: “Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.”