Ardis Dennis Hojem

1922 - 2021

Ardis Dennis Hojem
August 31, 2021
Olympia, Washington - Ardis Bernelda (Busek) Dennis née Hojem, R.N., went home to that "Big Dispensary in the Sky" on August 31, 2021 in Kona-Kailua, HI, having attained the venerable age of 99 and a half years. Upon being admitted to the hospital a few days earlier for what was to be her final illness, she characteristically insisted, "No Code Blue!"
"The Dreamer dies, but never dies the Dream!"
(Dana Burnet)
Ardis was born at the family farm about one and a half miles from Deering, North Dakota, at 9:30 p.m. on the dark and rainy night of March 16, 1922 – though publicly she chose always to celebrate her birthday with much fanfare a day later, on St. Patrick's Day, upon which occasion she routinely dyed a lock of her hair green, to the delight of her family and friends.
Ardis was the fourth child of Gustav Adolph "Pinkie" Hojem and his wife Christiana Frederika "Rekka" Hojem née Jensen. She was of pure Norwegian extraction on her paternal side and pure Danish descent on her maternal side. She was preceded in death by her parents, her three older brothers (John – who died in childhood – Dale, and Glenn) and one younger brother (Lyle).
Ardis grew up in Olympia, WA, graduating in 1940 from William Winlock High School. At age 19, she left home and began a three-year course of training at the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing at Tacoma, graduating on Jan. 19, 1944.
From Jan. of 1944 to Sept. of 1944, Ardis worked at the Kaiser Shipyard Hospital in Vancouver, WA as assistant supervisor of gynecology and obstetrics, giving medications and treatments and assisting in the delivery room and the nursery.
Ardis was then selected to go "back East" and work as a staff nurse at the NY State Psychiatric Institute, Medical Center, from Sept. of 1944 to Feb. of 1945, where she assisted with shock therapy and attended classes in deviant psychology.
Moved by a rousing recruitment speech, she volunteered for the ASF Army Nurse Corps on Feb. 01, 1945 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. She underwent four weeks of Basic Training at Fort Dix, becoming intimately acquainted with the frozen cranberry bogs of New Jersey. She completed courses in ward and clinic management, first aid, army organization, communicable diseases, malaria, chemical warfare, map reading, drill, and physical training.
A tall, skinny-footed, broad-shouldered Scandinavian, Ardis didn't fit easily into the standard uniform, and the chicken-yard high-topped boots the recruits were issued proved unwearable for her. Fortunately, some special-made quadruple-A narrow footwear was eventually procured.
Pre-overseas, Ardis was temporarily assigned to the Bronx Area Station Hospital at the corner of 173rd St. and the Grand Concourse in New York City.
In May of 1945, she boarded the S.S. Île de France, a luxury ocean liner converted into a troop ship, and proceeded in convoy across the Atlantic, where "wolf packs" of German submarines still prowled. The ship docked in Guroc, Scotland, on V.E. Day (May 08).
Soon after that, U.S. military hospitals in England began closing down their wards and sending the wounded back to the States. To avoid being relegated to the Zone of the Interior, Ardis daringly transferred to a posting in occupied Germany.
After receiving additional special training, Ardis squeezed into a bucket-seater and was flown to the Continent. As the lone female passenger, with a gas mask strapped to her body and lugging a footlocker and bedroll behind her, she endured a bumpy midnight landing on an unlit Berlin airfield. Assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, she had many thrilling experiences as a member of the Occupying Forces and as a scrub nurse at the 279th Station Hospital. She accrued twelve months of overseas service, and was separated on May 26, 1946.
DECORATIONS & CITATIONS: European African Middle Eastern Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
Upon completion of her tour of duty in Europe, Ardis returned to the Olympic Peninsula and civilian life, where she met Frank W. Busek of Chehalis, who had served as a captain in the Army Air Corps, flying men and matériel "Over the Hump" between India and China. They wedded on May 10, 1947 in Olympia. The marriage produced seven children: a daughter, Dena, and six sons: "Big Al" (who predeceased her), J.B., G.-H., Andy, Alex, and Adam. Frank resumed his military career, and so the family was frequently on the move between various military installations around the globe, including in Turkey, Arizona, Texas, Oahu, and Georgia. Upon Frank's retirement in 1967, the family settled in northern California.
With her youngest in school, Ardis returned to the nursing profession, working in various wards and ICUs, and was ultimately sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Dept., in charge of the Jail Dispensary. She also began dabbling in real estate, for which she displayed real acumen. Ardis fell in love with the flamboyant beauty of the Redwood Empire, the Wine Country, and especially the Valley of the Moon, and through shrewd investments was able to fulfill her dream of owning some of it.
Frank and Ardis divorced in 1973, whereafter she married Roger L. Dennis. Her enthusiasm for learning knew no bounds. In the 1970s and 80s, she attended numerous college-level classes in anthropology, economics, foreign languages, etc. – for the sheer fun of it. Roger died in 1995. Soon after, she relocated to the Big Island, establishing herself in the Puna District. There, she opened up a workshop and created many fine works of art in the medium of leaded glass.
Ardis was a voracious reader, loved Scrabble and crossword puzzles, was an afficionado of the poets Robert Service and Edmund Vance Cooke, and also penned verse for her own amusement.
"But is this really all there is?
Does humor play a rôle?
Are Love and Joke and Beer and Folk
Just someone's hyperbole?"
She was a prolific correspondent, dashing off lengthy missives casually littered with an eclectic mix of odd Latin phrases and medical symbols, as well as bits of German slang and kitchen Turkish, as it suited her purpose.
Ardis did not suffer fools gladly. She could be quite clinical in her assessment of others, but was also acutely aware of her own personal shortcomings. She was recognized as a great conversationalist with a keen wit and a cosmopolitan Weltanschauung, a "grand ol' dame who passed the marks on looks, brains, and brawn," as one daughter-in-law proudly described her.
Healer, warrior, mother, investor, wordsmith, epistolarian, artisan – Ardis did it all.
Ardis is survived by six of her seven children, twelve grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren; one son-in-law and numerous daughters-in-law; a plethora of nieces and nephews, chiefly in Washington State.
In accordance with her expressed wishes, no funeral services or memorials will be held.
Güle-güle, Aloha, and Auf Wiedersehen, Ardis!
Friends and relatives wishing to contact the bereaved are invited to address their letters to Alexander F. BUSEK, Dettenhausen, Germany.