This holiday season, we lost a remarkable colleague and friend, Kerry Mahoney. It happened all too soon and all too quickly.
Kerry epitomized The Arc’s mission to “enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism.” Over the course of her decades-long career, Kerry directly helped countless individuals with IDD live fuller lives in the community. Kerry had worked with The Arc of Massachusetts since 2008, at first as a consulting SUPPORTbroker and, since 2015, as Director of Education and Outreach.
She worked with several chapters of The Arc in Massachusetts, including Northeast Arc, Communitas, and The Arc of Greater Haverhill-Newburyport and oversaw two major family support centers. She also worked with AANE to advance employment outcomes for adults with autism. Her broad knowledge of the state, federal, and private resources available to support people with IDD qualified her a “person in the know.”
Kerry has received training in person-centered planning and approaches from the Institute for Community Inclusion, Michael Smull, University of Maryland, Beth Mount, and University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability.
There is so much more to say. We will share some tributes to Kerry in the next issue of Advocate.
We will hold a commemoration and reception in February at Charles River Center to celebrate her lifelong work and her many contributions to the field. Please email staff@arcmass.org if you would like to receive an invitation.
If you knew Kerry and would like to share how she had an impact on your life or that of a loved one, please send it to staff@arcmass.org. We will compile tributes and share them with family members.
Kerry was my husband’s sister -in -law and when he owned Circle Insurance he donated to the Arc. We didn’t expect to lose Kerry so soon, but feel she’s with her husband Steve who died in August. It was hard watching them battle cancer for years, but harder for their only son Danny. Kerry was always optomistic but private and she was organized ahead in her plans. We will greatly miss her and her wonderful cooking. We will be away in February but would like to hear about the Open House and anything else pertaining to Kerry. Thank you.