Elaine Marie Mahoney

Elaine Marie (Newsome) Mahoney

March 1, 1930 – August 9, 2023

Elaine Marie (nee’ Newsome) Mahoney, 93, treasured wife, daughter, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed peacefully Wednesday, August 9, at the Hospice of Hamilton, after a brief illness.

A talented musician, university administrator and matriarch for a family that spans the country, Elaine had a perfect sense of melody, pitch and time, and a wonderful ear for the written word as a reader, writer and editor.

Elaine met the love of her life, James. A. Mahoney, at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, and they married on May 10, 1952, moving to Cleveland four years later. They were married nearly 46 years when he died in March 1998 at 67, and together they leave a legacy of music, faith, learning and love.

Elaine was the oldest child of Ralph J. and Elsie (Lavin) Newsome, of Youngstown. She is survived by her brother, Ralph T. (Alice) Newsome, of Westlake, Mary Kay (Newsome) Knechtges, of Elyria, and Carol A. (Gerald) Rosovitz, of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and many nieces and nephews.

Elaine is survived by sons Michael L. (Theresa), Westerville; Thomas J. (Judy), Jacksonville, Florida; and James P. Mahoney, Lebanon; and daughters Kathleen T. (James) Gubser, West Chester; and Mary Beth (Chris) Hegedus, Kirtland, Ohio; twelve grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Kathy and Jim Gubser shared their welcoming home with Elaine for several years.

Elaine played piano and sang with talent, style, and reverence for the Christmas favorites, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and many other selections from the American Songbook. She had developed a repertoire of challenging classical keyboard pieces, learning her instrument and mastering it from the age of five. As recently as last Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day, she played for residents at the Landing of Long Cove in Mason and led their sing-alongs.

Many recorded pieces of her piano work survive, from early recitals to a living room session in early 2022. She contributed her voice and musicianship to the St. Margaret Mary choir in South Euclid, Ohio, recordings of which the family also treasures. Later, she joined the choir of St. Clare’s Church in Lyndhurst, Ohio. When traveling for her husband’s conventions, Elaine frequently played informally at small gatherings after work. Her husband said she was at her best when she just “played the table of contents,” mostly by memory, from any music book at hand. Several of her children and grandchildren have become amateur musicians, and some pursue music and music teaching as professional careers.

For many years, Elaine worked at home to raise five children, as well as be with her mother, Elsie Newsome, who came to live with her in the late 1950s. In 1974, for the first time since an Ohio Bell job in the 1950s, Elaine returned to the working world as a public relations assistant at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, where all three sons graduated. She continued her work for 22 years there until retiring in 1996 as Director of Prospect Research in the university’s development office, where she helped obtain support for many development campaigns.

Friends may call on the family at the Mueller Funeral Home, 6791 Tylersville Road, Mason, Ohio, on Sunday, August 20, from 2:30-4:30 p.m. On Monday, August 21, visitation will be at St. John the Evangelist Church, 9080 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, West Chester, Ohio, 45069 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. A Mass of the Resurrection will follow at the church, with a luncheon taking place after Mass. Burial will be at Calvary Cemetery in Youngstown at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests gifts in Elaine’s name to the Carroll Fund of John Carroll University, or to the Hospice of Cincinnati, 4360 Cooper Road Cincinnati, OH 45242.

Mueller Funeral Home is honored to serve the Mahoney family. 513-398-9100