Joan Agnes McMahon, age 85, of Hamden, passed away on January 9, 2023. She was born in New Haven on Feb. 17, 1937. She was predeceased by her parents Patrick Lawrence McKenna and Mary Early McKenna, grandparents Mary and Dennis Early, uncle Francis Earl, former husband Gerard McMahon, cousins Sr. Mary Felix of the Franciscans, Graymoor, NY, Emma and Helen Early, August Laub and Cecil Terrell, and her sister in-law Helen Hootsmans. She is survived by her sister in-law Clare Bernard of Cheshire, many cousins in Ireland and America, including Sr. Susan Early of Our Lady of Grace Monastery, Guilford where a Mass was celebrated on Thursday, nieces Megan Bernard of Brooklyn, NY and Dr. Helen Hootsmans and her husband Robert Shea of Williamsburg, VA, nephew Dr. Norbert Hootsmans and his wife Alice of Boston, MA and grandnephews Dr. Norbert Hootsmans of VA, James Hootsmans of OR and Philip Hootsmans of CA. Joan was a proud graduate of St. Mary's Dominican High School in New Haven. She worked at WELI Radio Station, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co, and then was a long time employee of H.B. Ives Co. in New Haven. Joan will be remembered by all whose lives she touched with her quiet wisdom, ever present humor, her strong faith, and especially her predilection for reading, her fascination with wild animals, and her long caring for rescued dogs and cats.
Friends may attend her Mass of Christian Burial that will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. in St. Bridget of Sweden Parish Church, 175 Main St., Cheshire, CT. Burial will be private in St. Bernard's Cemetery, New Haven. Arrangements are in care of Beecher & Bennett Funeral Home, Hamden.