Mary Jane Hudoba

Mary Jane Hudoba was a woman formed in body, mind, and spirit by her Catholic upbringing, who excelled at the knowledge, care and compassion that was required to be a career Registered Nurse trained in the Midwestern United States in the 1940’s. Mary Jane, a resident of Altamonte Springs, Florida, since 1987, passed away at Island Lake Center Nursing Home in Longwood, Florida, on Thursday, June 2, 2016, at the age of 95. Impacted by multiple health issues during the later years of her life, she chose to “not go gently into this good night.” Her strong will throughout her life was evidenced by the multiple times that she rebounded from seemingly insurmountable odds to astound her caregivers with her ability to recuperate and move forward through her life. Mary Jane was born on May 31, 1921, in Minneapolis, Minnesota to her parents of German heritage, Frances Harrer Treager and Charles C. Treager. She was the oldest of three children and was very involved in the raising of her two younger brothers, Leroy and Jimmy, who both preceded her in death more than fifty years ago. She attended Catholic Schools throughout her education including: St. Joseph’s Parochial Grade School, St. Anthony High School and St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis (1939-1943). Immediately following her graduation from Nursing School, she worked for a year as a Charge Nurse in the delivery Room of St. Mary’s Hospital. During World War II, she also served as a volunteer in the Nurses Corp of the Minnesota State Guard. She worked from 1944-1949 in a private practice for Drs. Borowicz, Walsh, and Zaworski. This medical practice was located in the northeast section of Minneapolis, a community built up by strong and proud Polish immigrants. She met her husband, Frank Carl Hudoba, when he returned from World War II and came in for medical care at the practice where she worked. Because she worked in the community where Frank grew up and many of his friends and neighbors were her patients, a rich and wonderful bond was formed and this Polish community greatly anticipated their wedding. Plans for their wedding took several years to complete as they saved money and made arrangements for a very large and traditional three day Polish wedding. More than three hundred people, a great majority from her “adopted” Polish community, were in attendance during their wedding at Holy Cross Church on April 3, 1948. The three days of celebration included much food, polkas, waltzes, and an extremely long Bridal Dance. Mary Jane would talk about her sore feet being well worth this experience, since so much money was received during the dance that she and Frank were able to pay months of rent in advance for their apartment and purchase all new furniture for their first home. Mary Jane and Frank, who she loving called “Hub”, became the proud parents of Frank Carl Jr. in February of 1949 and Susan in September of 1950. She sacrificed and worked tirelessly so that both of her children would be raised with a strong Catholic education and also have valuable cultural and life experiences through exposure to music, dance, the arts, scouting, boating, fishing and other outdoor activities afforded in the beautiful lake covered terrain of rural Minnesota. Throughout her life, her nursing background impacted their married life in many ways. In addition to her full time nursing job, she often did home nursing care for very ill friends and relatives. In addition to her mother, Frances, living with Mary Jane and Hub from the time that their son was one year old until she died, they also took in her father-in-law, who required years of nursing following a severe work related injury. But nursing was her love, her forte, and she excelled in this environment of providing the best quality of care to loved ones often sacrificing her valuable time, privacy and much needed space in her home. Mary Jane and Hub continued to live their married lives in Minneapolis and Fridley, a Minneapolis suburb, until her nursing skills were once again required by a loved one…..her beloved husband, her Hub, who she called the “best of guys”. For several years she nursed Hub, who suffered complications related to heart damage, until he died at the age of 54. Following more than a two year break to give birth and start raising her two children, Mary Jane continued her nursing career as a full-time Occupational Health Nurse from 1951 until her retirement in 1983. During this 32 year period of her career, her work entailed providing Emergency Care, Red Cross and Advanced First Aid Instruction and all other aspects of Health and Safety Education to employees of large manufacturing companies such as Gray Co., American Can Company, FMC Corporation and Tennant Company. During this time period, she was also a member of the Minnesota Association of Occupational Health Nurses and actively involved in serving from 1979 – 1982 on this organizations’ Board of Directors and Legislative Committee. Retirement from Nursing really wasn’t something that Mary Jane could fully embrace. She took up golfing, crocheting, sewing, and went on several trips with friends including an adventure to Las Vegas, since she always loved slots machines, bingo, and scratch-off lottery tickets. But she soon grew restless and decided to continue to utilize her abilities by becoming a Nurse during the next two summers at an overnight summer camp for children and then as a nanny for a young family with two small children. Being a nanny was something that she greatly loved. As a teenager, she had been a nanny for a wealthy family who took her on their vacations where she had the opportunity to learn to ride horses, play outdoor games, swim, boat, fish and hike with the children, which were all new and exciting experiences for her. She also greatly loved her work as a young nurse with newborns in the Hospital Delivery Room, which proved to be invaluable experience for her nanny work. After experiencing an extremely harsh Minnesota winter, she decided to move in 1987 to Central Florida in order to live near her daughter. She became an active member of St. Mary Magdalen Church in Altamonte Springs, Florida, often attending daily Mass and being involved in the charitable activities of St. Paul’s Circle of the Council of Catholic Women. Over the course of more than ten years, she continued to work as a nanny in Florida. She was lovingly called by the nickname “Doba” by the four families who gave her the privilege to care for and help raise their newborn babies and young children……experiences which she greatly loved and deeply treasured. Having a somewhat flexible schedule during these years also made it possible for her to plan trips to visit her son, his wife, JoJo, and their three young boys in Georgia, Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Hawaii or whatever new destination was assigned during her son’s military career. This time was spent creating memories and being a Grandma……she baked cookies, prepared her special dishes, planned activities, and helped her grandsons with reading and other school related skills. Mary Jane Hudoba, a woman who lived an extraordinary life, is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Retired Army Colonel Frank C. Hudoba, Jr. and Jo-Evan Hudoba of Woodbridge, Virginia; her daughter and son-in-law, Susan Hudoba-Lewis and James A. Lewis of Altamonte Springs, Florida; her three grandsons – Frank C. Hudoba, III of Delaware; Joseph A. Hudoba of Hawaii; and John P. Hudoba of New York City; and cousin, Marion Campion and her family of Minnesota. Mary Jane was finally willing and able to go gently into God’s beautiful and good light and now dances with her beloved Hub before the throne of God. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary Jane’s name to her favorite charity, which provides food and other necessities to little girls living at a Catholic Orphanage, under the direction of Benedictine Sisters, called Peace Orphanage (Orfanatorio La Paz) in Mexico City: ST. MARY MAGDALEN CHURCH - PEACE ORPHANAGE FUND 861 Maitland Avenue Altamonte Springs, Florida 32701

Mary Jane Hudoba

May 31, 1921 - June 2, 2016