Mary Ca Ralstin is 54 years old and has lived in Shawnee, KS. for 24 years. She came to the Kansas City area in 1977 and worked at Bethany Medical Center in the Surgical ICU where she met her husband, Jim, a pulmonologist. She has been married to Jim, for 24 years. They have four children:  Meg, Rebecca, James and Allison, all who have attended Shawnee Mission public schools and now attend or have graduated from, the University of Kansas. Her son James, has decided to join the U.S.Marines and leaves for boot camp at the end of October. The family attends Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Shawnee.

      Mary Ca has been very involved in the Shawnee Mission School District and with the Kansas PTA.  She was PTA President at Rhein Benninghoven Elementary for two years and at Trailridge Middle School for one year; she then took on Legislative Chair duties at the high school at different times.  As PTA President, she served on the Site Councils at both schools.  Mary Ca also served on the Shawnee Mission PTA Council as a Member-at-Large and Vice-President of Community Services, where she was in charge of the PTA Clothing Center, Block Mother Program and other duties.  She has a Life Membership to the Kansas PTA from Benninghoven, Trailridge and SMNWHS and a National Life Membership to PTA from Benninghoven.

      She has also been involved with the Northwest Theater Booster Board, the Wrestling Booster Club Board, the Orchestra Booster Club and was a Founding Board Member of Kansas Families United for Public Education, a non-profit group that monitors issues related to public education, school board decisions and legislation affecting public schools.  In her various roles, Mary Ca has worked closely with legislators, state board members and SBOE staff; she has written columns for print and has offered testimony before the State Board.  She has also volunteered on many local, state and national political campaigns. Mary Ca is a registered Republican and has served as Precinct Committee Woman for Ward 4, Precinct 5 in Shawnee. She has also recently been recruited to serve on the University of Kansas Parent Advisory Board.

      Mary Ca is a registered nurse having earned her BSN from Marymount College in Salina, Kansas.  She worked one year at the Topeka VA Hospital and then ten years at Bethany Medical Center. After staying home to raise her four children, she recently re-entered the workforce through the RN re-entry program at Johnson County Community College. She currently is employed by Shawnee Mission Medical Center on the Progressive Care Unit.