Mary Theresa Gudonis, 89, a fun-loving mother

MARY THERESA Gudonis was an understanding mom almost to a fault.

There was the time her son Eddie, came home from a Saturday night out at 8 or 9 o'clock and she blew up.

"What are you doing home?" she demanded. "You're 17. What are you doing sitting here with me on a Saturday night?"

Then there was the time her son and some friends were thrown out of a rooming house in Wildwood, where they had gone for summer jobs, for noisy behavior.

When Mom came down, Edward expected to be bawled out. Instead, she wanted to know what was wrong with partying, and why would they be expected to be quiet?

Edward, now known as Big Daddy Graham, popular comedian and overnight host on WIP radio, said it was obvious that his mother had a good time when she was young.

"Hanging out at Steel Pier with the big bands, dancing all night," he said. "She really loved a good time and she made sure her kids had a good time."

Mary Theresa Gudonis, a woman with musical tastes that ranged from Pavarotti to the Rolling Stones, and a woman so honest she would pick up a nickel from the floor in a grocery store and turn it over to the man behind the counter, died Wednesday of complications of Alzheimer's disease. She was 89 and was living in a nursing home in Cherry Hill, N.J., but had lived most of her life in Southwest Philadelphia.

"She was a wonderful, self-taught woman," her son said. "She read, read, read; that's all she ever did."

And she made her children read some pretty hefty novels when they were just kids, like Orwell's "Animal Farm" and William Golding's grim "Lord of the Flies."

She thought nothing of exposing the kids to such movies as the equally dire "Midnight Cowboy."

"If she came home and saw us watching something stupid on TV, she would say, 'Why are you watching this crap? Read a book!" Eddie said.

"She was a stay-at-home mom when that was the thing to do. Every woman in our neighborhood did the same thing."

And she certainly had those old-fashioned ideals, like honesty and being responsible.

"You paid your bills, you paid your parking tickets," Eddie said. "She was very straight, very giving. She never complained about anything. She's responsible for everything I am."

After her children were grown, Mary took a job in the office of a roofing company in Delaware County.

Mary came from a talented family. Her kids played instruments and sang, and they would give mini-concerts for their mother.

Once, when a concert by Luciano Pavarotti was sold out, someone who knew someone who knew someone got her two seats on the stage.

"She never shut up about that the rest of her life," Eddie said.

Mary was born in Southwest Philadelphia to Wes and Katherine Broadbent. She graduated from West Catholic High School. She was married to Al Gudonis, who worked in shipping and receiving at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, for 37 years. He died in the mid-'70s.

Mary was a lover of language. She would read the dictionary for fun, and nobody ever beat her at "Jeopardy."

"She was very upset when the Archdiocese dropped Latin from the high school curriculums," Eddie said. "She felt that Latin was the basis of all Western languages."

Mary was a beloved grandmother. "We didn't have to call her to take the kids," Eddie said. "She would call us and say, 'When are you bringing the kids over?' "

Besides her son, she is survived by another son, Tony; two daughters, Janet and Liz; a sister, Betty; and five grandchildren.

Services: At her request, there will be no funeral service.