Mary Jane Rusnak

Mary Jane Rusnak, 85, passed away peacefully at Leawood Gardens Memory Care Community, on December 14, 2020. A private graveside memorial will be held in the future at Shawnee Mission Memorial Gardens, where Mary will be laid to rest with her beloved husband, Frank (Rusty) Rusnak. Mary was born in North Dakota and as a child moved extensively due to her dad’s sales job. They eventually settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where she graduated from Westport High School. She worked using her secretarial skills in shorthand while living on the Plaza. She met her loving and devoted husband in Kansas City and raised their two children in Overland Park, Kansas. She was a devoted and caring daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. She loved to play golf with both her husband and lady friends at Brookridge Country Club and then later at Shadow Glen Golf Club. She enjoyed teaching her grandson how to play golf and assisting with the junior golf program. The love of golf lured her to move to Florida in 2005 for year-round golf weather. Mary returned to Overland Park, Kansas in 2014 when her cognitive health began to fail. Mary lived at the Atrium’s Senior Community for 5 years where she enjoyed life surrounded by caring staff and residents, including her brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Gerda Rusnak. She moved to a Memory Care community for her final year of life. Dementia disease slowly affected her health and memory; but thankfully, Mary never forgot her children, and she felt their presence in her final days. When Hospice told the family Mary was probably a few days away from the end of life, it became her daughter’s hope and prayer that Mary would pass on her daughter’s birthday for a “heavenly dance’ with her husband after missing him for 24 years. Mary passed at 12:20 am, on her daughter’s birthday...a memory the family will always remember. Mary was preceded in death by her husband, Rusty Rusank; parents, Tom and Ethel (Bier)Young; Mary is survived by her son, Bob Rusnak (Barb); daughter, Karla Johnson (Jay); grandchildren: Lindsay Johnson, Michael Johnson (Lindsay), Stephanie McCaffrey (Jake), Rachel Hendrix (Wyatt); great-grandchild: Natalie Johnson; sister-in-law, Bobbie Rusnak; brother-in-law, Lou Rusnak, and many nieces and nephews. Mary would want to be honored by sharing a dance with someone you love or enjoy a game of golf together! Or, if you wish to honor her with a memorial contribution to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, please click the link below. The family is grateful for the condolences we have received since Mary’s passing, and many special memories will live in our hearts forever. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Memorial Donation I am my Mother's garden, I am her legacy. And I hope today she feels the love, Reflected back from me. ~Anon

Mary Jane Rusnak

September 8, 1935 - December 14, 2020