Mary Hazel Cusic

Mary Hazel Cusic passed onto eternal life on February 13, 2025, at the age of 101. Mary was born Mary Hazel, daughter of Joseph (Cap’n Joe) and Mary Frances (Fanny) Pillsbury on August 1, 1923, in Compton, Maryland, into a large Catholic family. She graduated from Margaret Brent High School and, during World War II, obtained a job in Washington with the National Geographic Society where she was in the Mail Department, which sent maps for the military in Europe and Asia. In her job, she played a major role in the United States winning World War II! She married the love of her life, Lloyd Francis Cusic, on January 12, 1946, and began her life as a homemaker, bookkeeper, and cook for the people who worked on the farm. Her children consider her role as a mother as her greatest accomplishment, describing her as a one-in-a-million mom. The house in which Mary and Lloyd settled is popularly known as the “Three Bears House” on Bull Road in Leonardtown. Later, the family moved to a farm in Compton owned by Buck Briscoe where Lloyd raised tobacco, soybeans, corn, wheat, and raised cattle and hogs to feed the family and send to market. In the early 1970s, they moved back to the Bull Road property where they built their home. Neighbors often expressed surprise to see "Miss Mary" still mowing the grass on her riding mower every summer despite her age. Mary was resourceful, intelligent, witty, and an inspiration to many. She was a member of St. Francis Xavier Church for her entire 101 years; she often volunteered and took a special pride in arranging flowers from her garden for the altar. She lived her entire life, other than the years spent in Washington, within a 10-mile radius of where she was born. She always loved the water and her family loved the way she could cook crabs in all kinds of ways (hard crabs, Devil crabs, crabcakes, soft crabs etc). She also loved to have cabbage, another favorite food, on her cake. Mary gave birth to three accomplished children: Don (Jackie), Nashville, TN; Faye Chandler, Tucson, AZ; and Cindy (Lambert) Rosenbaum, Renfrew, PA, who all survive her as well as eight grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren who all love her dearly and will miss her unfailing love, enduring positive outlook on life, great sense of humor, and her enthusiastic desire to play the card game "Pitch" whenever they visited. Mary's children wish to thank their cousins -- Gail Fletcher, Ben Cusic, and Debbie Swann -- for looking after Mary in her later years when her eyesight was failing and she needed help getting to doctor appointments and grocery shopping. Their love and care for their "Aunt Mary" is deeply appreciated. Mary loved flowers and flowers are welcome at her funeral. If you wish to donate to a charity in her memory, the family encourages you to support the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, with prayers recited at 7:00 PM, in the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, Leonardtown, MD. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 1:00 PM, in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Leonardtown, MD. Interment will follow at the church cemetery. Condolences may be made to the family at www.mgfh.com. Arrangements provided by the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home and Cremation Services, P.A., Leonardtown, MD.