Mary Ann Flack

A Memorial Mass for Mary Ann Flack, age 93, of San Jose, CA, formerly of Madison, Nebraska, will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at St. Leonard's Catholic Church in Madison. Reverend Brian Hula will be the celebrant, with burial at a later date in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be Monday from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the church, with a 6:00 p.m. Vigil Service.

Resseguie Funeral Home in Madison is in charge of arrangements.

Mary Ann Flack, daughter of Nicholas L. and Julia (Mikla) Wershing, passed away peacefully in her home in San Jose, California, on Friday, December 5, 2025.

She was born on June 26, 1932, in New York City. Mary Ann graduated from high school at the Academy of the Holy Angels in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 1949. She attended the University of Missouri, where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority, and received her BA in Journalism in 1953. Mary Ann worked for the Kansas City Press upon graduating from college.

She married Charles Lindsey Smith in 1954, and resided in Kansas City, Missouri, and Hackensack, New Jersey, until his passing in 1956.

Mary Ann returned to Kansas City, Missouri, where she worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. She met her second husband, Joseph Conrad Flack, a printer at the Star, and they were married in 1958.

They resided in the Kansas City area, where their three oldest children were born. After a brief stint in Norwood, New Jersey, they sought to purchase a weekly newspaper in a town with a healthy economy and elected to purchase the Madison Star-Mail in Madison, Nebraska.

In addition to publishing the Star-Mail, Mary Ann was the editor of Nebraska Pork Talk, the bi-monthly magazine of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association. This took her to all different corners of the state and led to close relationships with many of the state's pork producers, as well as with her journalistic counterparts from other farm states.

In addition to her career endeavors, Mary Ann was active in St. Leonard's church and the Madison community. She advocated for the development of low income and elderly housing in Madison, resulting in the construction of multiple apartment complexes in town and the Countryside Home. She sat on the nursing home board for several years and served multiple terms on the Madison school board. She was a playground supervisor and tutor at St. Leonard's school and created and served on the St. Leonard's endowment fund committee. She was a regular lector at St. Leonard's until she moved to Norfolk in 2012. She moved to San Jose, California, in 2022.

Mary Ann treasured her bridge club friends and golfing companions. While she would never acknowledge it in life, her survivors recognize that perhaps she was just as stubborn as her siblings, if not more so.

She is survived by her five children, William Flack of Kearney, Nebraska, John Flack of Lincoln, Nebraska, David (Beth) Flack of Malcolm, Nebraska, Julia (James) Wong of San Jose, California, and Andrew James Flack; and her five grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; siblings, Julia Wershing and Francis Wershing; her husband, Charles Smith; her ex-husband, Joseph Flack; and her infant children, Mary and Peter Flack.

Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.homeforfuneralsinc.com.