Letetia Broderick

Letetia Margaret Broderick was born March 15, 1934 and died July 22, 2023. She lived a fulllife.

“Toots” was the youngest of five children born to Helen and Russel Dickey in Loretto,Minnesota. She recalled an early childhood helping her mother with canning, baking, cleaning and laundry, gathering with family around the radio, and attending mass at Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church across the lane from her home. She recalled her father’s pride in his family andhis hardware store, after his own difficult childhood riding the rails and working at farms inexchange for room and board. Major family events included the installation of an indoor bathroom and the family’s first television. Toots adored her three older brothers and her sister, all of whom preceded her in death. During a recent trip back to Loretto, she visited Lake Independence and reminisced about riding bikes with her brothers to swim there in the summer, and later attending dances as a teen.

Toots was an indifferent student in High School and failed her first driver’s exam. She preferred dancing and socializing. During the summer of her sixteenth year, she found her calling while caring for newborn infants during the night shift at a maternity home. After she graduated fromHigh School, her mother persuaded the nuns at St. Catherine’s nursing school to admit Toots by promising that she would work hard and be successful despite her academic history. Toots did not disappoint and the Mayor of Loretto attended when she graduated as a Registered Nurse.

“Lee” moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with her cousin Mary Beth, and found work as an operating room nurse. She liked the challenge of anticipating the instruments the surgeons would need before they asked. The cousins also enjoyed the shows, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the rest of the Rat Pack and the glamorous scene of 1950’s Las Vegas. Soon after moving to San Diego, California with Mary Beth, she met a dashing young Marine CorpsCaptain, Richard S. Broderick. They married within three months and remained married fornearly 60 years. Lee and Dick had four children: Richard, Russel, Shannon and John. The death of Russel soon after his birth was the most difficult experience of Lee’s life, which she revisited during her last months. Her surviving children were Lee’s greatest love and the main purpose of her life.

Lee became a master at moving her young family, initially moving to Hawaii with the military and later moving across the country from California to Missouri to Connecticut as Dick was promotedin his work for the federal government. Lee worked night nursing shifts so that she could behome when the kids got home from school. In the late 1970’s, while working as a private duty home care nurse, she discovered the teachings of Elizabeth Kubler Ross and became a strong advocate for her patients being allowed to die peacefully at home. She continued to work as a Hospice nurse for the remainder of her career and used her experience as an AIDs outreach volunteer nurse in Flagstaff.

Lee’s favorite homes were on Table Mountain in Sonora, California and later her homes in Flagstaff and Wickenburg, Arizona. In retirement, she loved setting out for long hikes with Dick and the dogs from their home in Flagstaff. Lee had great retirement adventures traveling around the world with Dick, numerous trips to Las Vegas with dear friends Renee and Diana, and a memorable trip to China to help bring home Jessa, her youngest grandchild.

Lee moved to Santa Fe in 2019 to live closer to family. In her final years, she enjoyed spending time with family, the camaraderie of her friends at Brookdale and her apartment overlooking the foothills of Santa Fe. She was in hospice care during the last month of her life due to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Family was by her side full-time during her last eleven days.

Lee is survived by her children: Richard and Kim Broderick, Shannon and Chris Bulman, and John Broderick; her grandchildren: RJ and Gemma Broderick, Josh and Megan Broderick, Zakand Anna Broderick, Colin Bulman and Jessa Bulman; and four sweet great-grandchildren,Liam, Hannah, Olivia and Abigail. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Elaine, many beloved nieces and nephews and dear friends. Private services will take place in the fall whenher remains will be interred at the National Cemetery in Phoenix with those of her husband.