Mary Alyce Ann Bender, 71, of Clearwater, Florida, passed away peacefully on January 6, 2025, in Carmel, Indiana, after a brief battle with cancer. She was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, on August 4, 1953, the fourth of John and Rita (née McDonald) Nugent's eight children, and was raised on the South Side of Chicago. She went to Christ the King School and graduated from Mother McAuley High School in 1971. After living in Southern California for several years, she returned to Chicago to attend nursing school at Illinois Masonic.

She worked as a registered nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago for 22 years and was a longtime resident of Riverside, Illinois. After living in Zionsville, Indiana, she moved to Clearwater in 2010. She was preceded in death by her parents, daughter Laura and siblings Maureen, Stephen, Mary Christine Murray, and Mary Patricia Pryor. She is survived by her children, Jacquelyn and Brandon, sisters Mary Ann (Matt) Schultheis and Mary Catherine Buckie, brother Michael (Joyce) Nugent, and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, February 14, 2025, 11:00 a.m., at the First Presbyterian Church, 701 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg, Florida. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society. Interment was private.