Mary Kay Hajek

DOYLESTOWN – Mary Kay Hajek had a heart full of love, but that heart gave out when she died unexpectedly, surrounded by family and friends on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at the age of 69.

Mary Kay was born on February 23, 1953, to Ralph and Eloise (Hummel) Busson, the third of their five daughters. She graduated from Doylestown High School in 1971 and earned her bachelor degree in education from the University of Akron. She married her high school sweetheart, Jody Hajek, on December 14, 1973. Together they raised four children and enjoyed thirty-nine years of marriage before Jody’s death in 2013.

Mary Kay taught physical education at Sts. Peter & Paul School for seventeen years. While there, she started the girls’ basketball program that become a feeder system for the successful Lady Chipps teams. After obtaining additional certification, she taught social studies for twenty years at Chippewa Middle School. While there, she helped initiate the Lady Chipps soccer program, which she still helped coach. Although she retired from teaching in 2015 - the year in which she was added to Chippewa’s “Wall of Honor,” - she continued working within the schools, coaching track as well as soccer.

Mary Kay was an active member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church, where she had formerly been principal of the PSR program, served on parish council, and still volunteered in the school library.

Most of all, Mary Kay was a wonderful mother, a beloved grandmother, a devoted sister and sister-in-law, a much-loved aunt, and a cousin to many. In addition to her parents and husband, her only son, Ken, who passed earlier this year, preceded Mary Kay in death. Surviving Mary Kay are her daughters and sons-in-law Karen and Scott Steen and Beth and Jake Lewis of Doylestown, and Mary Jo and Lonnie Kaye of Conway, SC. She will be deeply missed by her grandchildren: Jayley, Abby, and Sam Steen; Lilianne, Fletcher, and Lincoln Hajek; Olivia and Myra Lewis; and Andrew, Ramsey, and Cameron Kaye; daughter in-law, Tamar. She also leaves behind her grieving sisters and brothers-in-law Ann and Dale Youngblood, Alice and Bob Rote, and Laurie Busson of Doylestown and Jane and Kerry Cullin of North Ft. Myers, Florida, as well as her in-laws Jim and Carol Hajek, Barb Hajek. and her sister-in-law and special buddy Terri (Hajek) Zeaman.

From her mother, Mary Kay inherited a strong religious faith, a tendency to worry about everyone, and the polycystic kidney disease that challenged her health. From her father, she inherited her athleticism, her dry sense of humor, an occasionally ornery attitude, and the weak heart that took her from us. In her honor, memorials may be made to Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School.

Mass of Christian Burial will be on Thursday, December 22, 2022 at 10 a.m. at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 161 W. Clinton St., Doylestown, OH, 44230 with Fr. Peter Morris, Celebrant. Burial will take place in the church cemetery. Calling hours will be Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Chippewa Jr. and Sr. High School gymnasium, 466 S. Portage St., Doylestown, OH, 44230. Online obituary and guest registry are available at www.zakmonbarrenfh.com

(Zak-Thacker & Monbarren, 330-658-2211)

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Mary Kay Hajek, please visit our floral store.