Mary Jacqueline Olhausen's Obituary
Mary Philomena Jacqueline (née Fogarty) Olhausen passed away peacefully on 1 October 2016, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Known to all as Jackie, she was a larger than life character, and heaven will be a livelier place with her there.
Born 16 August 1945 to John Joseph Fogarty and Pauline Byrne in Dublin, Ireland. She was the widow of James N. Olhausen (Jim) whom she married on 24 November 1972 at Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Jackie is survived by daughters: Heather & Jillian; son in law: Vladimir; granddaughter: Nieva; siblings: John, Arlette, Ronald & Lomena; many dear friends; and faithful companion: Shadow.
She was one of the founding students when Our Lady's School, Clermont, Rathnew opened in 1956 and went on to study nursing at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin.
Jackie was famous for piling her fellow nursing friends from Vincent’s in her dad's Citroen on death-defying drives in the Wicklow Mountains warning them to, ‘Hang on to your hats!’ and would ensure there were plenty of hot thermoses of tea and bacon and egg sandwiches for a picnic by a stream.
In the early 1970s, Jackie went to Texas to be a nurse in Ft Worth for a few years. Always up for an adventure, she enjoyed her time there with the intention to come back to Ireland until meeting her future American husband, Jim, in a bar ruined such plans. They settled in Ft Worth, Texas when Jim started his job at General Dynamics as an aeronautical engineer.
Jackie was a force to be reckoned with. A poem that a dear friend wrote about her sums it up well: ‘Don’t be beguiled by her bright eyes and smile, She’s the size of a Leprechaun; Her sharp wit and tongue will cut you down, Before you’re scarce begun.’ Yet, Jackie balanced her sometimes cheeky demeanour with a true heart of gold.
She must have seemed so foreign to her Mormon neighbours when she moved with her family to Sandy, Utah in 1991. She smoked her long cigarettes, wore skirts & high heels at all times and loved to throw lavish parties with the dining table laden with homemade culinary delights from around the world. She & Jim invited all into their home: Mormons or Muslims, black or white, gay or straight, democrat or republican. They all were equally loved in Jackie’s house, and they, in return, made her family, their family. Jackie fell in love with Utah and its stunning mountains, and her Utah friends and neighbours fell in love with her.
A memorial service took place on 7 October 2016 at St Thomas More Catholic Church in Sandy, Utah. An ash scattering ceremony to join Jackie with Jim’s ashes in the Wasatch Mountains will take place in Utah in the summer (2017) followed by a big life celebration party.
In lieu of flowers, Jackie’s daughters ask that donations be made to Utah Refugee Center. This cause was one of the many causes close to Jackie’s heart. (www.serverefugees.org)
We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when…
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