Mary U. Woodmaska

MARY U. WOODMASKA, 95

Educator, Wife, Mother

It is with heavy hearts, but with joy at the Lord’s promise, that the Woodmaska family announces the passing of their matriarch, Mary (nee, Theresa Uhlik), at the age of 95. Mary, who was born at home on Schuyler Ave. in Kearny, passed peacefully at home in Manahawkin on Saturday, May 10, 2025, with her loved ones by her side.

Mary was born around Christmastime in 1929, the sixth of seven children of the late Felix and Stella (nee, Maliszewski), both immigrants from Eastern Europe. As a child, she loved frolicking in West Hudson Park (where she sustained a lifelong sore knee while sledding) and exploring the nearby Meadowlands.

Mary attended St. Cecilia’s school, and was a graduate of Kearny High School and New Jersey State Teachers College At Jersey City (now New Jersey City University), where she earned a B.S. in Education. As a college student , Mary took up flying lessons, writing in an essay in the college newspaper about the ineffable joys of soaring into the heavens. After graduating, she hiked through Europe on her own, staying at hostels and seeing the sites in Belgium, Holland, Italy, etc.. Decades later, her children would follow in her footsteps, finding themselves in many of the same locales she’d visited.

After her return home, Mary followed her passion and embarked on her career teaching elementary school in West Orange, but after marrying her husband, Steven (who she met at Monmouth Park Racetrack), in Dec. 1958, she settled into the roles of homemaker and mother. She would remain in this vital role until all her children were enrolled in school, at which time she returned to teaching, this time in North Arlington. Mary first taught a generation of 3rd Graders at the former Wilson School (now Susan B. Anthony Elementary School) before standing up the district’s Gifted & Talented program and serving as NAEA President. As a teacher, she truly treated each student as if they were her own, and, as a mother, instilled in her own offspring a lifelong love of reading, learning, travel and adventure and appreciation for nature and all God’s creatures.

Mary retired from teaching in 1994, and returned to her greatest love, travel, going on cruises to Canada and Alaska and the Mediterranean, as well as numerous domestic travels with her husband and daughter. Her other passions included gardening, hitting garage sales and thrift shops, spending time with family and friends, passing along Uhlik family history and traditions, celebrating the holidays with loved ones, reading the newspaper and thrillers, doing crossword puzzles, spending hours in the warm sun that gave her her rich tan, playing the slots in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Mohegan Sun and Sands Bethlehem – and, above all, her never-ending faith in God.

Mary is survived by her grateful children, Stephen (Julie), Thomas, Jon and Mary Ann, and her grandsons, James and Luke and step-grandchildren, Alex and Nicole. She was predeceased by her husband, parents and siblings, Walter, Slim, Victoria, Wanda, Chester and Dorothy, with all of whom she is now reunited in Heaven, along with her precious daughters-in-law and her dear friends, Helen Kearney, Ann Thompson, Addie Spitzbergen and Delia Maurice, fellow educators all. She was also especially fond of her niece, Cathy, whose visits after she moved down the Shore were treasured moments. The family also expresses gratitude to Mary’s beloved and faithful live-in aide, Vida Osei, who was fiercely protective of her beloved “Grandma” and who earned a place in the Woodmaska family through her loving care of their matriarch. Also remembered is her nephrologist, Dr. Tamim Naber, whose kindly ministrations were a Godsend during difficult times.

A memorial service is set for St. Stephen’s Church, Kearny with interment to follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington starting at 11 am on Monday, May 19th.

To quote our dear mother, we answer her question as to how much we loved her by saying, “A bushel and a peck, and a hug around the neck.” It was truly our privilege and blessing to have had her with us for as long as we did. As she showed us, every new morning is a blessing, and every moment spent with loved ones a precious gift. “I love you so much, Mom,” we’d tell her. “Remember that,” she would respond. The answer to that, written in our hearts, is, “Always and forever.” And, as she’d enjoin when informed that a loved one was going to do something as banal as take a bath or run out for a routine task, “Enjoy.” In everything you do, may you find enjoyment as she did in the simplest of things and as we so blessedly did our time with her.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated 11 AM on Monday, May 19, 2025 at St. Stephen's R.C. Church, 141 Washington Ave, Kearny, NJ 07032. Interment of cremains will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ. Barnegat Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. (www.BarnegatFH.com)

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Mary U. Woodmaska, please visit our floral store.