40 Years After Family's Murder, a Surviving Daughter Coordinates Tribute Event

Three members of the Mahoney family were murdered in their home in 1975, next month daughter Maureen Mahoney is hosting a tribute event with funds raised benefiting three Merrimack Valley nonprofits and the Tewksbury Police Department, as well as to sponsor a community-wide panel focusing on domestic violence.

On New Year’s Eve 1975, Dr. Hugh Mahoney, his wife Ruth, and their 15-year-old son John were murdered in their Tewksbury home during a robbery attempt. Over his career as an obstetrician in Middlesex County, Dr. Mahoney delivered hundreds of babies, Ruth was a nurse at St. John’s Hospital, and John was a freshman at Austin Prep. Family and friends found themselves helpless, disempowered, and bewildered. In many ways, this tragic event changed our community.

Maureen Mahoney, a surviving daughter, is passionate about addressing domestic violence in our community and has put together a volunteer committee to coordinate the Mahoney Tribute Event. Funds raised from the event will also be used to sponsor a community-wide panel focusing on domestic violence.

The event will be held on Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tewksbury Country Club. The keynote speaker will be Ed Davis, former Superintendent of the Lowell Police Department and former Commissioner of the Boston Police Department.

Funds raised from this event will benefit these three Merrimack Valley nonprofits and the Tewksbury Police Department:

• The Center for Hope and Healing (Lowell) for a part-time Youth Educator who will recruit teens; organize and deliver trauma-informed, evidence based training program on healthy relationships including domestic violence.

• The Michael Christensen Family Support Center (Lawrence) for their “I am a DAD” (Dedicated and Determined) Project, a 12-week program, that partners a low income, non-custodial father to a caseworker to complete a needs assessment plan addressing the issues of parental health, substance abuse, custody/child support and domestic violence.

• The United Teen Equality Center/UTEC (Lowell) for their Intergenerational Parenting Program. Part of the program is to identify, address and curtail the generational patterns of domestic violence in families.

• Tewksbury Police Department for emergency response services for victims and families experiencing domestic violence as well as violence education programs.

To purchase tickets, visit the Greater Lowell Community Foundation at www.glcfoundation.org or by calling the Foundation at 978-970-1600.