Margaret Marge WUKOVICH

6 AUG 1935 - 13 JAN 2021

• BIRTH: 6 AUG 1935, South Bend, St Joseph, IN
• DEATH: 13 JAN 2021, South Bend, St Joseph, IN

• MARRIAGE: 6 AUG 1955, St Joseph County, IN
• DIVORCE: 17 JAN 1973, St Joseph County, IN

INDEX

[N27129] Margaret Marge Dudeck
nee Wukovich
Aug. 6, 1935 - Jan. 13, 2021

SOUTH BEND, IN - When Marge Dudeck rolled peacefully into heaven in the wee hours of January 13, 2021, she likely did it the way she lived: with style, sass, a great big smile and, most characteristically, giving a whole lotta love to everyone who was there to greet her. It's no exaggeration to say that Marge was a local music legend. The 1950s show, “Hoosier Favorite” gave Marge a big break alongside Joe Kelly and Bruce Saunders as they lip-synced to the days' top hits. She then went on to perform in local piano bars and supper clubs. It was her celebrated stint at downtown South Bend's Club Lido where she acquired the name Fabulous Marge, a moniker she claimed to dislike, but amusingly embraced. She performed with many local talents, including legendary drummer Billy “Stix” Nix, Bryan Barr, Larry Brucker, and Conner Stigner. She was the featured performer with Paul Jones at the Round Oak in Dowagiac, Michigan until her retirement a few years ago. Marge also served as the organist at Our Lady of Hungary Church, her life-long parish, a special place where, as a young girl, the nuns nurtured her musical talents. Facebook posts mentioning Marge are replete with accounts of devoted followers driving through blizzards to see her perform, of fond stories of her playing weddings and funerals, and of memories of loyal fans who became friends. Indeed, Marge was something special. She could play hundreds of songs from memory upon request and entertain and engage a crowd with quick-witted banter. She had impromptu parties on her porch with neighbors, where she held court from her wooden swing. Even at 85, she continued to embrace people of all ages and backgrounds as friends. She was the type of person you could totally be yourself around. Marge would not only listen to you, but she could most often find a way to relate to and even celebrate you. She'd straight-up tell you (usually in colorful but enduring language) if she disagreed with you. Then, in the next breath, she'd tell you that she loved you, whatever your quirks.

Marge's journey through this life began on August 6, 1935 when she was born in South Bend to Michael and Victoria (Slavist) Wukovich. They, along with her brother, Fred Wukovich, preceded her to heaven. She graduated from Our Lady of Hungary School and South Bend Catholic High School. Her great loves and prides were her family: daughters Kristi (Tom) Richard and Victoria “Tori” Dudeck (Rob Markovich); sons Michael Dudeck and Thomas (Debbie) Dudeck; eight grandchildren: Andrea, Julia, Vanessa, Adam, Cassidy, Nicole, Vince, and Brett; along with five great-grandchildren: Julius, Lola, Kai, Alex and King. She also loved her daughter-in-law, Gina Dudeck. Consummate performer that she was, Marge continued to entertain with performances at St. Paul's in South Bend, where she lived the last few years. She brought joy to residents who delighted in hearing the songs they recalled from their youth. In her later years, she gabbed on the phone daily with her buddies Angie and Mary and enjoyed outings with friends Carol and Larry. The lyrics of Billy Joel's “Piano Man” perfectly summarize the joy she shared as a music professional. But describing her as a beloved mom, grandma, and friend...well, we tried to convey that here, but her love, her uniqueness, really just defies words. We are all so grateful to have had this strong, vibrant, smart, hilarious, and loving woman in our lives. She leaves an indelible mark on our community and, more importantly, our hearts. You had a fabulous run, dear Marge! Join us in celebrating a Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00am on Monday, January 18, 2021 at Our Lady of Hungary Church. Burial will follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery. Viewing will take place from 2pm to 6pm Sunday in Zahoran Funeral Home, 1826 Kemble Avenue. Masks and physical distancing guidelines will be enforced. Viewing is possible through our webcast. Please visit Zoom.com. Click on “join a meeting”. The meeting ID# is 574-287-7125, then enter passcode 0000. Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer's/Dementia Services. To leave a condolence, please visit our website, www.zahoran.com or our Facebook page, Zahoran Funeral Home.Published in South Bend Tribune on Jan. 15, 202

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Marge Dudeck celebrates her 80th birthday with concert
By Jeff Harrell | South Bend Tribune
Jul 26, 2015

Marge Dudeck plays the piano in her home in South Bend on Wednesday. On Saturday, she celebrates her 80th birthday with a concert at Our Lady of Hungary School, where she began playing piano at age 5.
Shown performing at a piano bar in this undated photo, Marge Dudeck celebrates her 80th birthday Saturday with a performance at Our Lady of Hungary School in South Bend.Photo provided Shown performing at a piano bar in this undated photo, Marge Dudeck said she never had trouble getting a job. “Whatever they wanted to hear, I could do,” she said.Photo provided Marge Dudeck, sits at the piano in her home in South Bend on Wednesday. On Saturday, she celebrates her 80th birthday with a concert at Our Lady of Hungary School, where she began playing piano at age 5. She takes the stage in front of a roomful of mostly musicians and sits down behind the keyboards as if it’s another one of those piano-bar gigs she did six nights per week for 60 of her nearly 80 years. “Whadda you wanna hear?” Marge Dudeck asks the crowd gathered inside Roseland’s Clay Democratic Club for a bring-your-own-dish get-together and jam session on a recent Sunday afternoon. Requests are shouted two, three at a time. Dudeck knows each one by heart, could probably sing the most obscure song in her sleep and launches into “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” a tune from a bygone era she admits to playing “since 1945.” If the price of knowing every song that’s ever been written is paying her dues, those dues owe Marge Dudeck change.
“That’s why I never had trouble getting a job,” she says over the phone the day after the Clay Democratic Club gathering hosted by a couple of Dudeck’s local pals, among them fellow keyboardist and jazz musician Mike Vaszari. “Whatever they wanted to hear, I could do.”She’ll be doing her thing again Saturday night at Our Lady of Hungary School for her 80th birthday, this time with the help of special guests Bryan Barr and Bob Lux. “I told them, if you only get 50 people in there, don’t blame me,” Dudeck says of her upcoming birthday party, which, according to daughter Tori Dudeck, is “sold out.” Appropriately, Dudeck’s 80-year birthday celebration will be held at the spot where it all began, Our Lady of Hungary, where nuns first noticed a talented 5-year-old girl playing piano who would go on to study with music professor Carl Mathes at the University of Notre Dame and then embark on a performing career of taking requests and defining the joyful soul of the working musician through her piano and that undeniable voice. “I never sang in my life until I got my job playing piano at Eddie’s Restaurant on Ironwood,” Dudeck says with a laugh, fudging her performing timeline by a few years. After all, the gig at Eddie’s in 1965 came 13 years after Dudeck began her career at the age of 17 lip-syncing songs on WSBT-TV’s “Hoosier Favorite” program, a job she performed live on the air without getting paid. She would marry Tom Dudeck and follow her husband’s job path to Green Bay, Wis., where she wound up playing at Tudy’s, a Green Bay piano bar and hangout for members of the Green Bay Packers. Her two biggest fans at Tudy’s were none other than legendary coach Vince Lombardi and his wife, Marie, both of whom were regulars at the nightspot. “He would sit at the end of the bar right in front of my piano,” Dudeck says, suddenly breaking out in the lyric, “ ‘I’ll be down to get you in a taxi, honey …’ That was his favorite song, ‘The Dark Town Strutter’s Ball’ was the name of the song. I had to play that as soon as I saw him come in the door.” Not that Dudeck’s a football fan. “I could care less about football,” she says, “but I am a Green Bay Packers fan.” Dudeck is also a fan of local drumming icon Billy “Stix” Nicks. Before Nicks returned to South Bend in 1976 from Los Angeles - where he worked and recorded with his old Central High School friend and All-Stars bandmate Junior Walker and with Motown singer Mary Wells - Dudeck had been taking requests and working the crowd six nights per week at The Club Lido with a 45 RPM Christmas record under her belt, “Prancer’s Got The Red Spots,” coupled with a B-side version of “Silver Bells.” Nicks backed Dudeck on drums, working live gigs at the Lincoln Highway Inn on Lincoln Way West and at the American Hotel in downtown South Bend - and laid all the drum tracks for Dudeck’s 1977 album, “Forever and Always.” “Marge was such a talent and a joyful individual to perform with,” Nicks says a few minutes before his next drum-lesson student shows up at The South Bend Music Exchange and Drum Company. “Her stage personality, and the way she would handle her audiences, was phenomenal.” Nicks gets a wide-eyed smile when asked if Dudeck knows every song that’s ever been written. If she doesn’t, she’s 99 percent close to it,” he says. “I worked five nights a week, sometimes six nights since 1962. That’s a lot of requests,” Dudeck says. “I was just good with that. People can’t understand how I knew all that music, but I just knew it. I played it at home when I was little and I grew into it. Then I started playing (professionally) at 20 years old and just asked people what they wanted to hear. That’s what I did. It helped me raise my kids, too, because my husband was gone.” It’s now been two years since Dudeck’s last regular gig at Round Oak Restaurant ended after 20 years of working the Dowagiac piano bar, taking requests and charming her audience with an uncanny knack for stopping in the middle of a tune to carry on a conversation then picking right back up where she left off without missing a note. There’s still plenty left in the music vault to pick up another gig, as evidenced by her impromptu, energetic Sunday afternoon performance at the Clay Democratic Club. But does she want to? “I could play now,” Dudeck says, “but the music today is not something I could do. The stuff I do is kind of gone. The piano bars were wonderful to me, and for people 40 and up … that was great in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I know I could do it, but I don’t know, that’s not what people go out for anymore. “So,” she says with a perpetual smile in her voice, “whadda you wanna hear”

MARRIED
DudeckTom .... Wukovich Margaret .... 8/6/1955