Mary Elizabeth Gusky, beloved wife of Lenny and mother of Diane, David, and Leslie, lived to the grand age of 100 years. As Mary told her children, “I’ve lived a good life.”
Born March 25, 1920, in Maplewood, New Jersey, Mrs. Gusky was the first of Joseph and Christine Frayne’s six children. Her close and supportive family guided her life of helping others and community involvement. Mary loved socializing with her family and friends and was happy when entertaining at home. By embracing life with extraordinary fortitude, creativity, and kindness, she was an inspiration and a hero to her children. Mary died peacefully at her home on June 4, 2020.
After graduating from Columbia High School, Maplewood, which recently honored her as a “Distinguished Centenarian,” Mary worked at the Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, until she met the dashing Sgt. Marvin Leonard Gusky at a dance in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Their love blossomed and while Lenny served in Europe during World War II, Mary served her country, enlisting in the Navy WAVES in 1944.
Mary and Lenny married in 1945, and moved to Livingston in 1951, where they raised their three children and were active in the community. They shared a happy and contented marriage until Lenny’s sudden death in 1962. Mary and her children stayed in Livingston until 1973, when she moved to Verona.
Mrs. Gusky was employed at the Landmark and the Afton restaurants, where working with the public was a perfect fit for her affable personality and good sense of humor, and, with her easy-going confidence, Mary touched the lives of many people in countless ways.
In 1999, Mary moved to her son’s home in Maryland, and in 2012 she moved to Fairfax, Virginia.
Mrs. Gusky is registered at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, which recently honored her with a “Living Legend Proclamation,” and the National World War II Memorial, both in Washington, D.C. Mary was involved in community and civic organizations in New Jersey and Maryland: Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Doctors Community Hospital, the New Jersey Democratic Club, St. Philomena Church’s Rosary Society, St. Raphael Parish, Our Lady of the Lake Church, St. Ambrose Rosary Society, Holy Family Church, Navy WAVES clubs, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Mary was the cherished mother of Diane Gusky and her husband, John Broster, of Nashville, Tennessee; David and his wife, Sonna, of Melbourne, Florida; and Leslie Morris of Fairfax, Virginia. She was ...
