Mary Kathryn Broude

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Topic: Mary Ostenson Broude Memorial Service City of Irvine Council Chambers

Time: Jan 7, 2023 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

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Mary Ostenson Broude: A Guiding Bright Light

Born and raised on the vast open farmland under the endless blue skies of the North Dakota prairies, Mary Ostenson Broude passed away in Southern California on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. In her 76 years, she personified that openness in her interactions with numerous friends in pursuit of myriad social uplifting activities, not to mention her travels worldwide, and appreciation of art and music.

Dedicated to making the world a better place, Mary chose to be a Peace Corp volunteer after college. She spent two years (1969-1970) in Seoul, Korea, and remained active in various Peace Corp associations activities, including co-founding the Orange County Peace Corp Association (RPCV) and serving as an elected Board member of the National Peace Corp Association. Mary’s decades-long work for the Peace Corp and lifelong support of Peace Corp volunteers is exemplary.

A well-regarded participant in the Korean community in Orange County, her deep affinity for Korea and its people was exemplified by service as a Board member of Friends of Korea, and membership on the Leadership Council for the Center for Critical Korean Studies at UC Irvine. She tirelessly worked for four years to design, organize, and execute a special Peace Corp exhibit which opened in Seoul, Korea on September 12, 2016.

Passionate about empowerment of women, Mary played leadership roles in many philanthropic organizations dedicated to ensuring that women and girls here and in developing countries had equal opportunity to formal education, financial literacy, and opportunities to pursue their aspirations. These organizations included: Together Women Rise (co-founder), Women Helping Women, Dining for Women Giving Circle, etc.

A lover of art and music, Mary regularly attended art exhibits, concerts and participated in group tours at home and abroad. Along the way she made numerous friends. As a result, Mary was many things to many people, equally loved and respected by all.

Daughter of Thomas and Constance (Strand) Ostenson, Mary was born on March 10, 1946, in Wahpeton, ND. With a father who was a farmer, a flight instructor and then faculty at North Dakota State University, and mother who was a teacher, teaching was in her blood. Her first teaching experience was in Seoul, Korea where she taught (K-7) as a Peace Corp Volunteer. Upon her return home, she became a high school German teacher in, Minneapolis, MN. The relocation to Southern California brought diversion in her career path. She worked in Human Resources of the Organization Development Management Training at Walt Disney Company in Burbank, CA and later for healthcare organizations. She also consulted for many healthcare devices startup companies. Yet, she still retained her love for teaching in her position as Adjunct Lecturer at CSU Long Beach, CA as well as at University of Phoenix, AZ.

As her interests expanded, Mary focused on her own education to ensure she was fully equipped to follow her own path. Starting with BA in from St. Olaf College, MN, she obtained master’s in educational administration at Cal State University Fullerton and then an MBA at UC Irvine.

Always willing to support others, her dedication to education translated into becoming a Board member of St. Olaf College Alumni, and setting up scholarship programs for marginalized students, including Native Americans, at her parents’ alma maters. To honor her musician brother, John, Mary sponsored many concerts in their hometown of Fargo, ND. She actively supported projects that taught underserved youth about finances so that they could grow into financially responsible persons.

Though Southern California became her home, Mary never lost her connection to her midwestern farming roots and relatives who remained there. She took genuine interest in the joys, sorrows and hopes of her cousins and their families. Her concerns included struggles of the farm youth in a rapidly changing time. It was thus important for her to be ferociously active in politics to pursue policies to maintain that way of life.

During Mary’s senior year at Fargo Central High School in 1963, a life changing event took place in the life of two families living 10,000 miles apart. Fargo Central High School wanted to participate in the nationwide foreign exchange student program, which was sponsored by American Field Service Organization founded by World WarII ambulance drivers (AFS). The foreign exchange student was to live as a family member and attend the school as a senior along with the child of the host family. The Ostenson family’s fundamental belief that each human being deserves respect and opportunity on equal footing made them an ideal family to play host for this novel experiment in making the world a better place. Their “daughter” came from India, halfway around the world.

The bond of love, mutual respect, support, and friendship between the extended Ostenson family and that student, Rajani Pradhan (now Radhika Yadav), Mary’s “special sister “remains unbroken and spans generations.

Mary understood that her Norwegian-Sami ancestors and her friends from Asia, Europe, the Caribbeans, etc. were all the same people of this earth and shared her life on equal footing with them. Thus, she became the living testimony of the American Field Service motto, which was taken from the Rig Veda of the ancient India, “walk together, talk together, O ye people of the earth, then and only then, shall ye have Peace”.

Written by Radhika Pradhan Yadav

Mary is proceeded in death by her parents, Tom and Connie Ostenson and brother John Ostenson. Along with many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Mary will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Her exemplary life will be a guiding light to all whose lives she touched across generations. She is survived by several cousins and their families along with her special sister Radhika Pradhan Yadav and her family.

Family is planning a Celebration of Life Memorial Service in CA on Saturday, January 7th:

Memorial Service

Saturday, January 7th, 2023

City of Irvine

Council Chambers

1 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine, CA (corner of Alton and Harvard)

Visitation (Urn Present) 10:00AM-10:30AM

Memorial Service at 10:30AM

Memorial Service and Inurnment January 14th at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo, ND

Family and friends will gather in Fargo for a memorial and burial, where Mary will be inurned adjacent to her parents and brother John in the mausoleum at Riverside Cemetery in Fargo, ND.

Memorials Preferred to Donor’s Choice.

God Bless the Memory of Mary Ostenson Broude

Arrangements provided by Pacific Cremation, Lake Forest, CA.