Audrey Marie Mara

Audrey Freiheit Mara, 81 was born March 16, 1944. Her parents, Lawrence and Mary Frieheit preceded her in death as did her daughter Malinda Marie Barrera. She is survived by her husband Duane, son Matthew, daughter-in-law Lucy, grandsons Tyler Toumbacaris, Omar Barrera, Nickolas Mara, Mitchell Mara and granddaughter Tabatha Barrera. And her sister Phyliss Holmbeck, brother Charles Freiheit and sister Kathleen Guinan.

Audrey graduated from the St Francis School of Nursing in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1965 and went to Grandview Hospital as a night shift neo-natal nurse. She met Duane in the next year and on 1 April 1967 they were married. In January 1968 she moved to Washington D.C to be with Duane as he was in the Air Force and assigned to the Air Force Data Systems Center (AFDSDC), she then went to work at Cafritz Memorial Hospital and in no time at all was the day shift ER supervisor. In 1969 daughter Malinda was born and in 1971 son Matthew was born and the Mara family moved with the AFDSDC to Montgomery, Al. Duane was donating blood at the Red Cross on Ripley Street and asked if they could use a nurse. They said yes and Audrey went to work there in 1972 and shortly became the Director of Nursing. They reorganized and she retired from the Red Cross but went to work for the Alabama Public Health Department and did ten years before moving on to a private company that did nursing homes and assisted living surveys. In 2015 she retired from nursing.

She was a loving wife, caring mother and grandchild spoiling grandmother. She loved being in the choir at St Bede’s Catholic Church, singing with the Sweet Adelines and gardening with the Herb Society garden group at Old Town. She loved being out with the children, going to zoos, museums, parks and everything they could think about doing and even took up golf where one Sunday afternoon she had a hole-in-one at Bonnie Crest Country Club. Something Duane wouldn’t do until a few years later. And her last greatest gift was for some 23 years when she was Mrs. Claus and Duane was Santa. She made sure Santa had something to give to every boy and girl; her specialty was tying red and green lace to red, white, green and silver bells to give out to all the young ladies and any boys that would want one. Her favorite grandson Mitchell gave her a wall plaque that says, “Who needs Santa when I have Grandma”.

Audrey’s funeral Mass will be at 1 pm on Wednesday the 17th at St Bede Catholic Church, Montgomery, Alabama, with visitation before the Mass from 12pm to 1pm in the parish hall behind the church. Interment will follow the Mass at Greenwood Serenity Memorial Gardens, Montgomery, Alabama.