AUGUSTA – The caring and strong-willed 86-year-old heart of Audrey Kurz Solloway stopped June 20, 2011, at MaineGeneral Rehabilitation and Nursing Care at Gray Birch after a stroke. She leaves memories of a woman of uncommon strength and independence. She was born May 9, 1925, in the New York City borough of the Bronx to Florence and Carl Kurz.
She was a resident of Sunbury Village independent living community, Bangor, and previously lived at Kennebec Plaza apartments, Augusta. A child of the Great Depression, she could remember walking to possibly the last working farm in the Bronx for milk and eggs. As recently as this Mothers Day, she took her cane and walked the rough path through a field to a Bangor supermarket. She called herself a country girl. Audrey was a career registered nurse, completing her training at Lutheran Norwegian Deaconess Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., and with the U.S. Army Nurse Corps with the rank of 2nd lieutenant, after World War II. She was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, and later at Fitzsimons Army Hospital, Denver. She spent much of the rest of her career at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y., while raising five children with her husband of 50 years, Joseph A. Solloway Jr.
She is survived by sons, Steven and his wife, Christine, of Hallowell, Roy of Laguna Hills, Calif., and Paul and his wife, Diane, of Winthrop. A daughter, Nancy Hales of Highland Falls, N.Y., and her fiance, Joseph Benitez of New Windsor, N.Y. Audrey was blessed with grandchildren, Jennifer Zerbe Wilson and her husband, Marcus, of Stafford, Va., Ethan Solloway of Hallowell and Chloe Solloway of Winthrop; two great-grandchildren, Olivia and Derek Wilson of Stafford, Va. She was predeceased by her husband in 2000 and son, Dennis in 1976.
A practical, forthright and spiritual woman who had conversations with God daily, she enjoyed music and sewing her own clothes, she also dabbled in writing. In a lesson to her children, she had the steely nerve to get her driver’s license for the first time at age 65 when her husband became ill.
There will be no visiting hours. A service to remember her life will be held 2 p.m. Friday in the chapel at Sunbury Village, 922 Ohio St., Bangor. Those wishing to remember Audrey can make a donation in her name to your local chapter of the American Red Cross. Arrangements are under the direction of Plummer Funeral Home, 16 Pleasant St., Augusta. Condolences may be expressed at
www.plummerfh.com.