Marsha Ann Hughes

1939 - 2020

Marsha Ann Hughes

Oshkosh - Marsha Ann Hughes, nee Magnusen, died peacefully surrounded by family and her husband, Dr. Richard Hughes, at the Evergreen Assisted Living Facility in Oshkosh on March 25, 2020.

Born on November 18, 1939 to parents Lewis and Delores Magnusen, Marsha was raised in Oshkosh, graduating from Oshkosh High School (1957)(she was May Queen!), then receiving her RN at University of Wisconsin-Madison (1962). She later earned two additional degrees, Masters of Nursing and Professional Counseling at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

In a professional career spanning forty-five years, Marsha initially practiced and taught nursing at Mercy Hospital and its associated School of Nursing, in Oshkosh, WI. She went on to become an early and nationally-recognized leader of the Hospice and Palliative Care movements. She founded the Mercy Medical Center Hospice and later served as the director of St. Agnes Hospital Hospice Hope and Oxygen Service in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She was instrumental at St. Agnes in proposing and building Hospice Home of Hope.

Marsha published extensively in medical, nursing and hospice journals, served on local and national organizational boards, including the editorial board of Briefings on JCAHO Home Care, The Newsletter for Accreditation in Home Care. She received numerous awards, including the 1993 National Hospice Organization President's Award for Hospice Staff Training and Development. She lectured extensively on ethics and competency throughout the United States.

Marsha did all this while being a devoted wife for 59 years to husband Dick, who she first met in college. She raised four boys, ensuring each in turn graduated from college, married well --Bob and Richard, Chris and Mary, Peter and SzePui, and Michael and Sarah-- and remained committed to community service (like she was). She particularly relished her five grandchildren: Sam, Noah, Nathaniel, Rylie Bae and Benjamin.

Marsha was loving, fierce and matchless-- giving her all to everything she did. No problem was too hard to fix. No bike ride was too long or hilly. No recipe too complicated. No patient too undeserving of her total commitment. She loved her friends, tennis, skiing, biking, garlic salt, and lemons. With Dick, she visited 44 countries on five continents, enjoying the people, flavors and complexity of Africa the most.

Marsha once said of hospice work's challenge and toll: " doing something well means that you come to lose your best friend, you miss them and it always hurts." To those who loved and knew Marsha, the meaning of her words have never been clearer. A memorial fund will be established at St. Agnes Hospice Hope Foundation.