Mary Ann Fasold was born on Feb. 27, 1934 and grew up post-Depression on the family dairy farm with her parents, Martin Wilson (Boob) Johnson and Elizabeth Hardesty Johnson, five brothers and sisters, and her grandparents, where she learned her strong work ethic and importance of family. She modeled her life on her grandmother’s example of kindness, a sense of humor, and Christian charity towards all.
She made it her mission to enrich and improve the lives of others. Mary Ann was a leader in school and community throughout her life. She served as secretary of her class for over 70 years. She was a Girl’s State participant, a talented athlete, and won many awards throughout her life for her service to her community. She was a recipient of the DAR Medal, the Old Home Prize, served as a Charter Member, President and Project Chair for the Lioness Club, and was named a Ralph Helms Fellow for her humanitarian work. Her privacy was very important to her and very few knew that she was an accomplished artist, designing fashions for the nationally syndicated comic strip “Dixie Dugan.” She was awarded a full art scholarship to the University of Virginia but decided to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother and aunts and became a nurse. She attended the PGH School of Nursing on a full scholarship. She had to obtain permission from the school officials to marry the love of her life, Jim Hopkins, and became the first married student at PGH.
She had to take a leave of absence when she became pregnant, and two babies later, she graduated with the highest honors. She taught Nursing Arts at the School of Nursing to student nurses, and until her death, critiqued health care workers on their technique of giving injections. She spent two decades as the office nurse for Dr. Pierce Ellis, and then another 20 years as an elementary school nurse for two schools in Laurel, where she pulled a lot of teeth, patched a lot of scrapes, checked lots of heads for lice, and helped dozens of homeless, abused and neglected children.
She was incredibly in love with her husband and children. Family was everything to her. She and “Jimmy” filled their noisy home with warmth and kindness, friends, their kids’ friends, stray animals, and sometimes stray people. Mary Ann loved to entertain and was a wonderful cook. Her kitchen was a gathering place for everyone, and she always had room at the table for one more. Mary Ann immediately lit up any room she entered and made an impact on so many people. She loved to laugh, was a joyful presence with her beautiful smile, creative fashion choices, and bubbly personality. She loved her Irish heritage, Snickers candy (she swore it cured cancer), Butter Pecan ice cream, hot, homemade bread, books, traveling with her daughter and family, Bridge Club, her lovely yard filled with bird feeders and something blooming year-round, a cold glass (or two) of a good Chardonnay, and the greatest joy of her life – her two grandsons and her beloved great- granddaughter, who inherited a love of sewing and creativity from her “Grandma.”
She hated the smell of cabbage, the taste of Scotch, hats on heads inside the house, and mean people, and she never let the truth get in the way of a good story. She loved and missed her Jimmy until the end of her life. Mary Ann was preceded in death by her second husband, Roy Fasold, who died in 2014; her parents; her baby sister Kathy Johnson; her brother Jack Johnson; and her sister Connie Johnson Justis, who died just three days before Mary Ann. The biggest influence in her life was her late grandmother, Rose Gertrude Harkins Johnson.
She is survived by her daughter, Karen Hopkins Pugh and her partner, Leslie Kimble; her “baby boy” son, Jim Hopkins, Thai daughter Achanee Indrachai-ea Boonchai; her grandsons, Brian Pugh (Meghan) and Patrick Pugh; and her life’s delight, eight-year-old great-granddaughter Allison Noelle Pugh. Also surviving are her Irish twin brother, Martin Johnson (Suzanne); brother Bob Johnson; her beloved nieces and nephews and huge extended Johnson family members; her devoted and loving friend and caregiver Sue Messick; and Jim and Betty Manion and their son Sean Patrick Byrne Manion. Special thanks to Delaware Hospice for their kind and compassionate care, particularly Chelsea Dubinski and Julie Frost.
Father James Manion will officiate at her funeral at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 600 S. Central Avenue in Laurel on Jan. 18 at 11 a.m., with visitation beginning at 10 a.m. in the church Parish House. Burial will be private. Services are entrusted to Hannigan, Short, Disharoon Funeral Home, 700 West Street in Laurel.
Mary Ann had a deep faith and loved and supported her church, St. Philip’s. She was also a generous donor and advocate for St. Jude’s Hospital for Children, and her wish was for any remembrances to honor her life be focused on the needs of others, so please consider St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 600 S. Central Avenue, Laurel, DE 19956 or St. Jude’s Hospital for Children, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 so that her legacy of helping others can continue. Per Mary Ann’s wishes, please omit flowers. She enjoyed them from you while she was living. She will be desperately missed by all those she’s left behind. To be loved by her was to be truly blessed. She was a humdinger.