Mary Katherine DeBroeck

Mary DeBroeck, age 71, entered into the presence of Our Lord on Sunday, September 20th, surrounded by her loving family, after a short battle with cancer.

Born May 9th, 1955, at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Mary’s family soon moved to Dover, Delaware. At nine, her father retired from the Air Force and the family relocated to Fox Island, Washington. Living on a rural island gave Mary the opportunity to raise dairy cows to supply her family with milk. As the oldest daughter of ten children, she helped her mother run the household, which led to a deep sense of responsibility to care for others, a trait she became known for later on in life. She attended St. Leo’s/Bellarmine high school and graduated from Washington State University in 1978.

Mary met her future husband, John DeBroeck, while playing on a softball team for the Seattle Chancellor’s Club. He hit a line drive straight to her head and she decided then that she would need to keep a close eye on him. They married on June 18th, 1983, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Seattle, Washington.

Together they raised five wonderful children, who were truly the joy of their lives. Mary often said that each child multiplied, rather than divided, her love. Mary supported her family with unwavering love and faith through their deepest challenge, when their teenage daughter passed away unexpectedly in 2000. Her lifelong passion for learning served her well as she homeschooled her children through High School, totaling up to almost 20 years of homeschooling.

After her father’s passing in 2002, Mary’s mom moved in with the family. Mary truly treasured having her mom live with her, as they enjoyed many mutual passions including daily Mass, rosary, education, gardening, and sewing. She was so proud to have her mom living with her.

Mary poured her love into others through her countless creative works, always thinking of the recipient and made sure each piece reflected their hobbies and likes. She sewed dresses, pajamas, doll clothing, designed hanging pocket organizers, custom quilted wall hangings, and so much more, embroidering favorite animals, characters or sayings onto her creations. She would special-order high-quality fabrics to make future family heirlooms including baptismal gowns, first communion dresses, and wedding veils. She was a gifted baker and cake decorator, creating birthday cakes including “mountain cakes” featuring real rock candy and lava flows, “pizza” cakes with fondant and candy making up all the toppings, and hand-piped flowers for beautiful wedding cakes. Her delicious homemade meals, often from recipes of her own invention, were a staple while growing a family and later on for her grandchildren.

No yard or house project was too intimidating for her. If she felt it would benefit her family, she got to work. She readily took on home remodeling, built retaining walls, and expanded, beautified, and tended to her fruit, vegetable, and flower gardens. She loved to find inventive solutions to problems and would often “MacGyver” a fix. She made it a priority to attend as many of her grandkids’ activities as she could, cheering from the sidelines, watching school performances, and being present to show them how much they mattered to her.

An active member of St. Mary Magdalen Parish, Mary taught her family to love Jesus by the example of her own life, including daily Mass attendance, service in the Altar Society, profession into the Third Order of Mary, and obtaining her Catechist certification. She constantly looked for ways to put her talents to use to serve others, including volunteering to run the kitchen for numerous Boy Scout functions, church fundraisers and an annual Catholic youth summer camp, offering counsel to families who have lost a child, and even developed a Catholic program for girls called “Mystical Rose.”

Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph Henry and Diana Jean Kilber Bushnell, her in-laws, Edward Bernard and Harriet Averill Porter DeBroeck, and her daughter Diana Marie Kibler DeBroeck. She is forever loved by her husband, John Edward DeBroeck; her nine siblings; her four children: Edward (Corina), Daniel (Amanda), Harriet (Ryne), and Leo; and her twelve grandchildren: Maximilian, Magdalen, India, Philomena, Silas, James, Michael, Clare, Diana, Adelaide, Beatrix, and Leila.

A Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on October 1st at St Mary Magdalen Parish in Everett. Mary did not like cut flowers, so instead the family welcomes memorial donations to St. Mary Magdalen Parish or two HEARTS Pregnancy Aid, which she would have loved.