Mary Jane Wood

72, of Aurora, passed away Feb. 22, 2009. She is survived by her sons: Steve (Cindy), of Mesa, AZ; Bill (Hope); daughter: Beth (Brad) Ketel; brother: Jerry (Dee) Dorsch, of Weston, FL. Memorial services at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please remember Jane with a donation to the Denver Hospice, 501 S. Cherry St., Ste 700, Denver, CO 80246.
On February 22nd a new star entered the heavens as Mary Jane Wood departed this world after a valiant battle with lung cancer. She was 72 years young and as fun-loving and feisty as she was as a young lady of 16 entering society.
Born in Baltimore in 1937, the first child of the late Lewis and Nellie Dorsch, Jane immediately made her presence known as a fun-loving individual, always ready to share a huge smile and hugs! Moving around the east coast with her father as he progressed in his career with the Mutual of New York company, she welcomed her "MUCH YOUNGER" brother Lewis Jerome (forever known as Jerry) in Atlanta in 1943. They were immediately an inseparable pair which continued all her life.
Settling in Coral Gables Florida in 1948, "Mary Jane" was an immediate hit in the local area. A popular girl in school, she managed to make so many life-long friends that her class reunion books are filled with addresses and phone numbers: truly a remarkable impact she made! After graduation in 1954 from Coral Gables High, she entered the Saint Mary's Hospital School of Nursing in West Palm Beach where she graduated in 1957 and was licensed as a surgical nurse in 1958. Her lifetime of caring for others had commenced.
It was during her early years of nursing that she met her future husband, Edward Howe Wood, a medical student at the University of Florida. Her standing joke when asked how they met was "we met over an open belly in surgery." They married in early 1959 and near the end of that year their first son, Stephen, was born. Shortly thereafter Ed entered the US Air Force and trained as a flight surgeon and the family was off and moving around the world!
From Florida they moved to Greenville, South Carolina and then after several years to San Antonio Texas. It was while they were in Texas that their daughter Mary Elizabeth (ALWAYS Beth) was born in 1963. They remained in Texas until early 1967 when they were ordered to Royal Air Force Station Lakenheath, England. Jane met her second love at Lakenheath: The United Kingdom! For a devoted gardener and traveler, England was all one could ask for and more!
After a much too short time in England, duty called, again, and the family moved to Omaha, Nebraska. In December of 1971 the family grew for a final time with the arrival of "little" Bill as an early Christmas gift! Never to stay too long in one place, the family was transferred, once more, this time to the Air Force Academy in 1973. It was there that Jane's love of the Rocky Mountains was cast in stone: she would never leave, other than to move to Aurora in 1978.
All during her life, Jane was deeply involved in helping others. As a nurse she ministered to the sick and injured, and then as a mother her primary focus in life was the raising of her children to be the best that they could be. While we were in school, she worked full-time for World Savings and Loan gaining experience that led her to Unipac Services Corporation (now NELNET) where she worked for 20 years until retiring in 2004. All the while, she continued in her community service/volunteering; something she had started as a young AF spouse in the 1960's. Her easy-going ways and huge smile made her so many lifelong friends. In her later years, mom was dedicated to the causes of human services, health, and animal rescue charities. She volunteered at the Day Surgery Center in Aurora South Medical Center, until she was unable to walk due to pain.
Mom was a world traveler, be it with her family or friends, and even alone (because, for her, it was so easy to make new friends!) Her passport is covered with worldwide ports-of-call during the last 12 years, including Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Russia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Mexico, as well as local visits to Phoenix, Baltimore, and South Florida to visit her family.
Always a knitter, she would volunteer hours to knit with volunteer groups to make quilts for less fortunate people. Her hand-knit dogs have been supplied to more newborns than we know and many are still cherished by their recipients more than 20 years later! Around the house, mom's favorite passion was her garden, where she had a wide variety of flowers, plants, and where she cherished her mini-roses.. She would sit for hours working on her yard, all the while watching "her" squirrels and birds.
To maintain her social networks, she bowled (which she did for over 40 years), she was a graduate of the Aurora Citizen's Police Academy, where she participated in ride alongs with the police, and enjoyed her day at the firing range, which provided her with her greatest theft deterrent system - a bullet riddled paper target that hit the mark very well! She participated in neighborhood watch programs, as well as neighborhood zoning groups; she was proud of her neighborhood and wasn't ashamed to let it be known. Even during her last year, she was a member of a remarkable cancer support group that met weekly; through her sickening treatments of chemotherapy she still had the energy and want to see her friends who knew exactly what she was feeling.
Yes, a new bright light shines in the heavens today. And while we will all miss Jane (mom) we have no doubt that the many lives she touched have been enriched by her and will keep on being enriched by her memory. And can anyone ask for more out of life?
Having been so passionate about her flowers, her miniroses, the outdoors and urban wildlife (squirrels, birds, an occasional owl,) we felt it fitting to have Mom's memorial, or Celebration of Life, when the colors were in full bloom. We are, therefore, waiting until June 13th to have her Celebration at the Hudson Gardens. I don't know if Mom has ever been there but she would certainly approve.
We ask that, in lieu of flowers or other gifts, a longer lasting tribute to our Mother could not be expressed better than with a donation to The Denver Hospice (www.hmd.org) , 501 S. Cherry Street, Suite 700; Denver, CO 80246. They were so compassionate, caring, and expeditious for all of Mom's needs, and the family's needs, as well, during Mom's last days.
Lastly, please visit our mother's website, at www.maryjanewoodupdates.blogspot.com, for updates on her memorial service, and where you can contribute additional stories, photographs, memories and wishes for our mother.