Mary Jane Stewart, 84, passed away on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 after complications from a stroke. Mrs. Stewart was born in Portsmouth, R.I. on May 22, 1937, to Joseph and Mary Resendes. Her family moved to Cambridge, N.Y. in 1951 where she attended Cambridge Central School, graduating in 1955. After attending Milgrim School for Secretaries in Newport, R.I., she went to work at the U.S. Naval Base there. With a desire to go overseas, she joined the Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA) and after orientation in Washington, D.C., was assigned as secretary to the Agricultural Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There she met and married Karol R. Stewart in 1968. Their work then took them to Bangkok, Thailand and then Kabul, Afghanistan. They returned to the States in 1973, eventually settling in Gainesville, FL in 1979.

After several years as a homemaker and caring for their two children, Mrs. Stewart worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center as secretary to the Chief of Staff. She retired from the VA in 2000 and has since been involved in several volunteer activities.

She was a member of Holy Faith Catholic Church in Gainesville and was a Eucharistic Minister for several years.

She was widowed by Karol R. Stewart in 2014 and is survived by her daughter Kristina Grenga (Troy) of Edgewater, MD, and son Joseph R. Stewart (Christina) of Coral Springs, FL; three grand children, Zachary, Kaitlyn and Jackson Stewart; and brother Joseph Resendes, Murrells Inlet, S.C. She was predeceased by two sisters, Georgiana Souza and Lillian Reardon of Middletown, R.I. and brother Raymond Resendes of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

A funeral mass will be held on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 11:30am at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Coral Springs, FL.