Mary Jane Donaldson

\She was a strong, gracious and generous soul. With an indomitable spirit of cheerfulness and optimism, she brought encouragement and support to those around her. Her main credo was “positive thinking,” but she was equally comfortable in repeating one of her favorite Pennsylvania Dutch sayings “sell is da waig es gaet” (that’s how it goes). Ever a steady and dependable presence for her family, she leaves behind two children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She leaves our world a better place for her having been part of it. And her legacy lives on. Born during the Great Depression that spanned her early years, her childhood was marked by poverty and made worse by an absent father and a fraught family environment, but, as with the other challenges life sent her way, she humbly preserved and overcame. Her lifetime of hard work began as a farmhand and helping to support her mother and younger sisters.

After high school, she earned her nursing degree at St. Joesph Hospital in Reading Pennsylvania and become a Registered Nurse, a path not common for a young woman at that time and place, and nor was her decision to venture across the country as a young woman in the early 1950s to begin a new life in Seattle. She carried her Pennsylvania Dutch origins with her and demonstrated those values and culture throughout her life. Her nursing career in Seattle began at Maynard Hospital and later Providence Hospital where she became a charge nurse and also an operating room nurse. After a long career at Providence, she then continued her nursing career well into her later years, which included working as a nurse at the Monroe Correctional Complex and the King County Jail. Her volunteer efforts were continuous and included the Bellevue Senior Center, the Museum of Flight and Bellevue Police community outreach programs.

Mary Jane was a devoted mother who sacrificed and worked hard to be able to raise her two sons, providing for them a beacon of stability and support. She always put the care and wellbeing of her children beyond her own. Always busy, while she was not otherwise working she was rarely without her books, crocheting and crafts. She also had many international students in her home over a number of years, always being curious about and supportive of backgrounds and cultures different than her own. She was always open and welcoming of new experiences and her life was focused on personal growth through care and service for others. Mary Jane’s passing, while sad, is much more of a testament to a long, rich life and she will live on in love in our fond memories.