Obituary: Martha Jean Hogerson
, 2025, age 94.
Jean, as she was always known, was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1930, the oldest child of William Mark and Audrey Romilda Sheard (nee Butterfield).
Educated in Oxford schools, she was a graduate of the Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati.
While working in that city she met her first husband, George Edward Gorsuch, of Toledo, Ohio; a medical school student and later a doctor in the U. S. Navy. They were married in 1952, and together had three children.
During her first marriage Jean regularly moved around the United States and the world, in accordance with the demands of her husband’s career: living in Philadelphia, San Diego, Washington, DC; San Francisco and London, England. Following their divorce in 1970, Jean married another Navy medical man, Jame Stewart Hogerson, of Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1971. With Jim she resided in Corpus Christi, Texas; and Jacksonville, North Carolina, where she experienced the uniqueness of living in the tightknit service community of U. S. Marines. When Jim retired from the Navy in Orlando, Florida; they settled there for good.
As a result of these moves, Jean became an avid and skilled traveler. While George was stationed in London, they visited most of the countries of western Europe. During her second marriage to Jim, she saw or played on her husband’s favorite golf courses across the U. S. Later she regularly visited her adult children wherever they resided around the country, and from these varied locations traveled still further within the U. S. and aboard. Late in life she especially enjoyed cruises, to such places as Alaska; and around the Caribbean, the Baltic and the Mediterranean. Among her late life travels, her favorite trips may have been to St. Petersburg, Russia and Quebec. She made her final unaccompanied cross-country flight at age 92.
Although for most of the first 14 years of her first marriage, Jean focused on her duties as a mother, housewife, and “Navy Wife,” she still managed an impressive professional career.
With her children maturing, she returned to work for another 25 years. She took special pride in her skill in cardiovascular and operation room nursing. Jean participated in the set-up of Bethesda’s Navy Regional Medical Center’s catheterization lab, and later as Head Nurse she managed Oak Knoll Navy Regional Medical Center’s catheterization lab. She also managed the lab set-up at Lake Merritt hospital in Oakland, CA. Jean taught operating room techniques at Coast Carolina Community Colleges and gave coronary care seminars at Ohlone Junior College in Fremont, California. While living the Washington DC area, she worked at the National Institute of Health in their pediatric endocrinology research environment, and finally in risk management for Crawford, Incorporated, in Texas and Florida.
Over the years, Jean enjoyed art museums, touring historic homes, strolling through elaborate gardens, and watching foreign movies. Another source of enjoyment was eating out, both where she lived, and during her travels. Having sampled foods of all types and almost all nations, late in life she would regularly seek out French restaurants and English “high teas” with their scones and clotted cream. More often she would simply seek the entirely new dining experience.
To those fortunate to know her, Jean was steady, reliable, helpful, interested and supportive to both family and friends. She was the willing and able hostess to her many relatives and friends when they came to visit the Disney parks in Orlando. When one of her grandson’s became an avid fan of British soccer, she became knowledgeable and enthusiastic on that subject. She contributed to others and the community by volunteering at “Give Kids the World” village in Orlando.
For most of her married life Jean cared for the family pets. These were initially big dogs, (including one named “Caesar,”) but they eventually gave way to a smaller one (“Muggsy”).
These were joined by many cats (such as a “Charlie Brown.”) Over her last 55 years, she owned at least seven of the latter, most fluffy Persian breeds, the last of these (“Larkspur”) dying only a month before Jean.
To maintain her health and vigor, Jean performed water aerobics and yoga, and swam at the YWCA.
Following the death of her second husband in 2005, Jean continued to reside in their home in Orlando. There she was happy, active socially and the companion and good friend to many of all ages, who will now miss her. She remained entirely independent until an injury sent her to the hospital, where she died of complications five weeks later. Her cremated remains and those of her second husband will rest in the town where she grew up.
Jean was survived by her three children: Geoffrey George Gorsuch of Springville, New York; Gregory Mark Gorsuch (Captain, U. S. Navy, retired) of North Charleston, South Carolina; and Gretchen Jean Voorhess, of San Francisco, California. She is also survived by four grandchildren: Calvin B. Gorsuch of Summerville, South Carolina; Katherine Fu of Owings Mills, Maryland; and Alex and Eric Voorhees of San Francisco, California; her brother John (of Lebanon, Ohio), sister Sandra Study (of Oxford); and her first husband, George E. Gorsuch, (Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy retired) of Las Vegas, Nevada, who has since died, age 96.
