Mondonna Martha Gully

Mondonna Martha Kiedrowski was born in Bisbee, North Dakota to Albert L. Kiedrowski and Anna B. Kiedrowski. Her siblings included the late Celestine Eggl (George), the late Patricia Tompkins (Darrell), the late Delphine Hutson (Hod), the late Albert William Kiedrowski (Mary Owen), the late Frank Kiedrowski (Cheryl), Ronald Kiedrowski (Barb), and Gordian Kiedrowski (Patti). She was married to Raymond Joseph Gully for 25 years until their divorce.

She graduated early from high school at age 16 due to being promoted a grade in elementary school. She wanted to enter nursing school but the nuns at St. John’s Hospital in Fargo said she was too young to enter. She began working immediately as a waitress, and was soon hired by the Selective Service System typing up men’s physicals at the beginning of World War II. She took the Selective Service exam and was sent to Washington DC at age 17, working in the Transportation Department in the Pentagon until the end of World War II. She returned to St. John’s Hospital in Fargo, and earned her RN degree on the GI Bill. It was here she met her husband, Ray, and they married in 1948. She worked a few months after she was married until the birth of her first child in 1949. Her husband was a civil engineer working for Kiewit Corporation, and they moved around the country as he was assigned to manage different construction jobs, including assignments in Pennsylvania, California, Ohio, and New York, moving about 10 times.

She had four children, Donna (1949) (William), Stephen (1950) (Barb), the late Murray (1951) and the late Edward (1956) (Toni). She lovingly cared for her son, Murray, diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth, until his passing in 2004 at age 53. She worked 15 years as an RN at the Harlee Manor Nursing Home in Springfield, Pennsylvania, a job she found richly rewarding.

She was an active member of her Catholic Church and an advocate for women’s rights throughout her life, a member of NOW and the Women’s Political Caucus. She loved to read and her library collection numbered over 600 books. She exercised regularly, walking 5 miles a day and went to a gym until she was 92. She traveled the world after her retirement. She remained an advocate for the mentally impaired, and especially those with Down Syndrome, throughout her life.

She moved to Clarkston, Michigan in 2024 to be close to her daughter Donna, and celebrated her 100th birthday one month later with her children and their spouses Donna and Bill Whitley Sr., Steven and Barbara Gully, Edward and Toni Gully, 3 of her grandchildren Michael Gully, William Whitley Jr. (Adriana), and Alison (Whitley) Hite (Bryant), and 4 of her great grandchildren William Whitley III, Jonathan Whitley, Henry Hite, and Archer Hite.

No service is planned. Interment of cremains will take place at Calvary Cemetery in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

Memorials may be made to National Association for Down Syndrome.