Marilyn Louise (Hennekens) Mahan
October 11, 1935 - May 11, 2021
Mary Lou, affectionately known by all as "Oma", passed away peacefully at home, with her three adult children by her side. She was predeceased by her husband, Wallace Harold Mahan Jr. and her son, Wallace Harold Mahan III. Brothers Unkt and Junie, sister Gin, and parents Freda and Bill, as well as the multiple generations of ancestors she captured in her genealogy, all contributed to the woman she became.
Malu, Chickadee, Oma was born at home in the Bronx, but she spent many summers in Marlboro. Her family eventually moved out of the city when she was 13, to Mount Zion, a beautiful rural part of the town of Marlborough in the Hudson Valley. Thus began her lifelong love of all things in nature.
Mary Lou graduated from Marlboro High School in 1953. As her classmates grew older, they started getting together again, meeting for several years for monthly "53ers" luncheons.
After high school, she attended Cornell University. The summer before her senior year at Cornell, while working as a waitress at Joe's Diner in Marlboro, she met a handsome and charming State Trooper who stopped in for coffee. After a whirlwind romance, they were married, she graduated, began her career in education, and they started their family. She went on to get her Masters degree from SUNY New Paltz and her Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.
She started as a teacher in the Newburgh School District at the Balmville Elementary School, and served as a director at Newburgh Head Start for a few years. Eventually she moved into school administration, where she was instrumental in establishing magnet schools within the Newburgh district. She finished her 30 year career as an innovative and revered school principal.
Oma was an adopter of all creatures great and small, including the occasional wayward friends of her children and grandchildren, offering safe haven when needed. She loved hosting large events (4th of July, New Years Eve, themed parties) and was simply EVERYONE'S Oma.
Mary Lou was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Marlboro, and served as a Deacon and an Elder; she was known for her punctuality and sober demeanor. She also served as the Town Historian of Marlborough for more than a decade and was a founding member of the Marlboro Historical Society.
An avid painter, Mary Lou spent many years as a charter member of the world-famous Bacalar "Art Rendezvous" in visually inspiring locations in the Hudson Valley, Montana, and Arizona, but especially in Mexico. The next session in Dzoyaxché, Merida will undoubtedly miss her.
A world traveller, she ensured her children saw the United States and much of Europe, introducing them and their children to their family roots in the USA and Germany. She had also adopted the small town of Mahahual, with its cast of characters, as her "other home".
She is reknowned as the woman who "shook the hand of the woman (Grandma Jones) who shook the hand of the famous John L. Sullivan."
Oma leaves behind her daughter, Jax and husband Dick of Florida, her sons, Matt of Marlboro, and Rich and wife Eileen of Connecticut. Her grandchildren, Allyson and husband Chris, Mac, Luke, Will, Kate, and Jackie, and her great-grandchildren Kayla, Colin, and Claire, will carry on her legacy.
The family respectfully requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a scholarship in her memory: https://gofund.me/4c3ef9b4