Virginia A. Buddish

BROOKLIN, MAINE – Virginia A. (Weber) Buddish, 94, of Brooklin, Maine passed away peacefully on October 31, 2025 in a Brewer nursing home. She was born June 16, 1931 in Homestead, Pennsylvania to Anna Hahn and Louis Weber Sr.

Virginia grew up during the Great Depression in a steel town outside of Pittsburgh, PA, where her father worked at the Homestead Steel Works, until his death at the early age of 50.

She graduated from Munhall High School in 1949. Her senior year she met her future husband, John "Smokey" Buddish, who was fresh out of the Navy and a tour in the Pacific following WWII, when he stopped to give her and a friend a ride home from school during a rainstorm. John became her ardent admirer and relentlessly pursued her affections. She always lovingly joked that, "I married Smokey Buddish because I couldn't get rid of him!" They married in 1952, after Virginia graduated as an RN from the Homestead Hospital School of Nursing. The two were inseparable for the next 46 years, until John's death in 1998.

She spent many years as a self-proclaimed "domestic engineer" while raising her daughter, Aimee. During this time, she helped nail shingles and drive a one-ton dump truck for her husband's construction business, cleaned the church and classrooms of their parish school, and cooked hundreds of her famous stuffed-cabbage rolls for countless picnics, weddings, and holiday gatherings. In 1978 she returned to nursing and worked for over 25 years in many Pittsburgh area nursing homes in various roles of floor nurse, charge nurse, assistant administrator, administrator, and Assessment Coordinator. She retired in 2006 at the age of 75 and moved to Maine to have an active part in the lives of her 2 grandchildren as they grew up, never missing a school concert, piano or dance recital or sporting event that they took part in.

A caregiver all her life, she was a friend to those she knew were struggling or needed a helping hand. An avid animal lover she took in a string of stray cats and dogs, starting back in her childhood, up to the present day.

Virginia spent the last 20 months of her life being cared for by the kind-hearted staff at Brewer Health & Rehabilitation Center and the nurses and volunteers of Gentiva Hospice. Her family could not be more grateful to each and every one of them.

She is survived by her daughter, Aimee and son-in-law Keith Claybaugh, grandchildren Genevieve and Jules (Juliette) Claybaugh, and her 2 cats Lucy and Desi. She is also survived by her special chosen daughter, Helen (Welsh) DiRenzo and her husband Joseph, 5 loving nieces and 1 nephew of the Weber family.

She was predeceased by her husband John Buddish, brother Louis Weber Jr., sister Anna Marie Bonay, and 6 nieces and nephews of the Bonay family.

To honor her life, please feed or shelter an animal who needs a family or find time to support the homeless and the hungry in your community.

A funeral mass will take place at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Ellsworth on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at 12 Noon. Interment will be at St. Mary Magdalene Cemetery, Munhall, PA, with her beloved husband.

Condolences may be expressed at www.acadiacremation.com