Mary Jane Pastorek

Mary Jane Rogers Pastorek, a resident of Gretna, Louisiana, passed away on August 8, 2016 at the age of 83 after battling cancer. She was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, the eldest child of the late Paul Verbon Rogers and Robbie Lisemby Rogers. A sister, Elizabeth Ann “Libby” Lewis, and a brother, Vernon Dean Rogers, preceded her in death. She left Arkansas at the tender age of 17, traveling to New Orleans to study nursing at Charity Nursing School. Soon thereafter, she met a young law student, René Pastorek, and they married on July 10, 1953. She practiced as a labor and delivery nurse for several years after they settled in Gretna, but she ultimately relinquished her career to become a dedicated mother to Paul, Guy, and Marc Pastorek, Robin Fett, Nicole Fuller, and Monet France, who were entirely devoted to her comfort and care through her long illness. When her youngest child was almost grown, she began studying art. Always the connoisseur, she now became the creator, first with watercolors and then with acrylics. She flourished through her art and found great joy and satisfaction in creating beauty from a blank canvas. She traveled the world studying and learning through painting: to Italy, Peru, Guatemala, India, Barcelona, Indonesia, Mexico, France, and England. Her art would always be inspired by both her travels and the artists she studied over the years. As a gift to her and her children, after being told that cancer would claim her soon enough, but before it would mar her quality of life, she returned to one of her most favorite places on the planet, Barcelona. She saw the works of one of her most favorite artists, Antoni Gaudi, and his sacred church, the Sagrada Familia. She enjoyed a glorious trip throughout Spain's Catalonia, including a visit to the Black Madonna in Montserrat. Even as she contracted cancer, she painted about the disease and her feelings about it. She created beautiful new canvasses for the remainder of her life, and these cherished works of art will live on as just one of her lasting legacies. Perhaps her greatest legacy and joy was her family and she was most proud of the family she and René created: six loving children, her sons- and daughters-in-law: Kathy, Marcia, and Candi Pastorek, Patrick Fett, Rick Fuller, and Kelly France; her beloved grandchildren: Ryan Pastorek, Jeff and Marcelle Pastorek, Kaitlin and Nick Gambino, Blair and Trevor Thurston, Colin Pastorek, Gary, Cher, Scott and Shannon Sarrat, Jon Pierre and Ami Pastorek, René and Emily Pastorek, Rémi Pastorek, Joel and Sunshine Pastorek, Cale and Lacey Pastorek, Megan and Chris Loisel, Emma Fuller and Chris Campbell, Tucker, Gabriel, Atticus, and Henry France; and 12 great grandchildren: Peter, Simon, Felicity, Grace, Caden, Asher, Libby, Owen, Joel, Mathias, Silas, and Ammi. She was excitedly anticipating the impending arrival of two more great grandchildren. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. and a Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Church at 610 6th Street, Gretna, LA on Saturday, August 20, 2016. Private interment at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Cancer Crusaders, P.O. Box 7911, Metairie, La. 70010-7911.