Mary Grace O’Shea, nurse and matriarch of blended family, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

Mary Grace O’Shea, a retired nurse and family matriarch, died July 5 at Brightview Mays Chapel Ridge, a senior living community in Timonium. She was 95.

Her stepson Dennis O’Shea said she had been in failing health and no immediate cause of death was determined.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Pimlico Road, she was the daughter of Joseph Hanly, a salesman, and Marie Grace, a homemaker. A 1946 graduate of the old Mount Saint Agnes High School, she received her nursing diploma from the now-closed Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1950.

She married Hayward “Buzzy” Heubeck that same year.

In 1952, Mrs. O’Shea put her nursing career on hold to begin raising a family and moved with her husband to Penhurst Avenue in West Arlington, and later to Edgevale Road in Roland Park.

“Together they raised six children and were very active in the church and school communities of their children,” said her son David Heubeck.

Mrs. O’Shea’s eldest son, Michael Heubeck, died in a swimming accident in 1962 and her husband, Hayward Heubeck, died in a car accident in 1969. She was left with five children to raise on her own.

“My mother was gracious, welcoming and resilient,” David Heubeck. “She was steadfast, faithful and strong.”

Mrs. O’Shea resumed her nursing career and worked at the Manor Care Nursing Home on Charles Street and later with the Baltimore Home Health Agency.

“She made the time to attend to her children’s needs and at schools and sports,” said her son. “She also oversaw the operation and eventual shutdown of her husband’s paint manufacturing and distribution business.

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“My mother was one of the most courageous individuals I have ever known. She was a wonderful role model. She consistently projected faith, hope, and strength in the face of adversity,” he said. “She taught us all accountability and a strong work ethic by example.”

Her daughter Mary Gail Campanella-Snow said: “My mother was aptly named because she was always the epitome of grace, compassion and love while dealing with the challenges of raising five children as a single mother.”

In 1983 Mrs. O’Shea remarried.

“She found love again with G. Rick O’Shea, an insurance executive and the widowed husband of her high school classmate, Doris Brown O’Shea, who died from breast cancer the previous year,” said her stepson Dennis O’Shea.

They were married on St. Patrick’s Day in 1984 and moved to Ambler, Pennsylvania, where they remained until 1997 when they returned to live in Lutherville after Mr. O’Shea retired.

The couple hosted beach vacations in Delaware and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

“Mary Grace was a second mother to my brothers and me and a devoted grandmother to our kids,” her stepson said. “She loved us all, and, most important, she loved our dad.”

Mrs. O’Shea’s second husband, Rick O’Shea, died from esophageal cancer in 2006.

She was active in her church, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Mount Washington, and funded scholarships at Saint Ignatius Loyola Academy, a Jesuit-sponsored Catholic middle school for boys from low-income families.

A memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Aug. 17 at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Mount Washington.

Survivors include her three daughters, Mary Gail Campanella-Snow, of Timonium, Mary Beth Heubeck Gamper, of Baltimore, and Mary Patricia Poole of Chilmark, Massachusetts; two sons, David Heubeck, of Phoenix in Baltimore County, and Peter Heubeck, of Towson; four stepsons, Dennis O’Shea, of Baltimore, Patrick O’Shea, of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Timothy O’Shea, of Richmond, Virginia, and Brendan O’Shea of Charleston, South Carolina; 24 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.