Mary Jo Anne White Strachwitz

Lost her heroic battle against the results of two bowel perforation surgeries on Christmas Day 2022. She always said she was put on earth to train surgeons and infection would be her end. The problem was a mesh that was to retain her abdominal wall after a surgery for a bowel obstruction in 2007. She almost didn’t make it after that 5-hour surgery by Dr. Brunson. That mesh moved and perforated her small intestine this time. The surgeons did their best but the infection moved to her blood and infectious disease took on the task and ultimately was successful. Unfortunately, it required shutting off intravenous feeding and placing her on a ventilator for an extended period. This resulted in weakening her body too much. My son, Peter, and I had the opportunity to spend most of Christmas day with her and helping her eat her first meal in a month. Peter's family and my other son, David, were scheduled to visit the next day. One ICU nurse in particular, Janine, arranged for a priest to come for the blessing of the sick and to make her as comfortable and pain free as possible. Unfortunately, her body was too weak and she passed before the end of the day.

She and we all thought for sure she would survive this like all the others:

Tonsillectomy and Appendectomy before age 10.

1963: Right Ovary and tube removal because of endometriosis. The disease was not widely recognized until much later.

1966: Married. Hugh wore his Navy dress sword but no surgery. Adopted Peter in 1969.

1971: Left Ovary and tube removal and complete Hysterectomy. Adopted David that same year.

1973: Removal of Spleen due to fever of unknown origin.

1980: Hugh retires from the Navy and family moves to San Diego. Here were Geoff and Carol Clough, who were shipmates, helped us find our house, and helped us for many years.

1985-87: 5 bladder operations.

1987: We heard about a bladder replacement called the Indiana pouch and paid her urologist, Dr Tom Nicholson, to fly to Indiana to learn the procedure, which he performed in October.

1988-2000: 10 repairs to the pouch and stoma (the portal in her abdomen for a catheter

2001-03: Removal of 3 stones from pouch by Dr Gittes.

1992-2008: Installation of several Portacaths to help with IV treatment of infections.

2009-10: Left Knee replacement by Dr Ezzet. Repair of back disc and Medtronic infused bone graft by Dr. Thorne.

2011: Implants to straighten two severely distorted toes by Dr. Clark.2012: Broken ankle repaired by Dr. Bodie.

January 2022: Right Knee replacement by Dr. Ezzet.

Despite all these traumas she would always work out with jazzercize, walks with friends, trainers at the YMCA, trainer at NXPT, and Physical Therapy at Spine and Sport, until she was fit again. She spent untold hours ensuring that her children received the best possible education and broadening experiences by volunteering and heavy school involvement. After Hugh retired in San Diego, she volunteered at Scripps Memorial, not because she spent so much time in Scripps’s care but because she wanted to give back. She was the president of the SMH Auxiliary and logged more than 10,000 hours of volunteer time. As a Navy wife she tried hard to help shipmates regardless of their rank. With 5 moves in 20 years, it was a challenge to find a house (we never were able to stay in Navy housing), start furnishing, and find good schools for the kids. The last house she was left with as a Navy wife was condemned by the county. Of course, that happened just as Hugh left on deployment as Chief Engineer on an aircraft carrier for 9 months. She learned to be a contractor, carpenter, and gofer at the hardware store, standing in line with other male contractors. To make extra money to pay for repairs and buy gifts and clothing for the kids, she became an antique furniture restorer. She loved old wood but the stripping compound raised havoc with her skin.

Despite all the work, she managed to look so attractive that David (at 9 years old) had to tell some young man at the pool that she was married and his mother. We subsequently sold the house for a sizable profit thanks to Mary Jo's work and moved to San Diego. This was 1980 and interest rates were through the roof thanks to inflation, very much like today, so we bought a house and Mary Jo went to work again, laboring in the yard and house without much help. Hugh went to work for a small local machine shop that was being robbed blind by a crooked accountant and overspending owners. As if she did not have enough to worry about with volunteering, driving the kids to school and athletic practices, having to deal with health issues that would have devastated the average person. Starting in 2000, she had a beautiful garden that Carla, her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, called "The Resort". The house had been transformed to Mary Jo’s liking. In 2005, Hugh's mother passed away, leaving enough funds to bring the house up to her dream standard. Her passion outside of gardening was history, especially of the Civil War, and she decorated one wall with nothing but Winslow Homer prints. She also got heavily involved in the expansion of Peter's house in 2009. She helped with the design, picking out tile and other materials, and refinishing the wood floors. All that work and worry had finally been rewarded. Even her youngest son had started to turn his life around, and she had three granddaughters to spoil and love and who made her laugh. Then God decided to call her home to be with her three brothers who had passed away this year.

Hugh Strachwitz the devastated husband