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Hornell, New York<\/p>\nHornell, New York<\/p>\n
Margaret A. “Sissy” Mahoney lived a life defined by compassion, creativity, and an unwavering commitment to nurturing others. Whether caring for the sick, inspiring the minds in young students, or crafting works of art, Sissy approached everything with purpose and grace.\u00a0 She died Sunday morning, December 7, 2025, at the Vincent House in Wayland, after a furious battle with cancer.<\/p>\n
Born in Hornell on April 22, 1950, to Mark and Eleanor (Gould) O’Neil, The family lived in Hornell until she was 10, then Buffalo, and finally Geneseo, where she graduated from Geneseo Central School in 1968.\u00a0 She pursued her calling to care for others, earning her Associate’s Degree in Science and Nursing from Alfred State College and later her Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Nursing from Alfred University.<\/p>\n
From 1971 to 1978, Sissy worked as a registered nurse at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, primarily in the Medical Surgical Department.\u00a0 In 1978, she became an ICU nurse at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell.\u00a0 In 1986, she was asked by Father Elmer Schmidt to become a teacher at St. Ann School in Hornell.<\/p>\n
For 19 years, Sissy was a beloved third-grade teacher at St. Ann\u2019s.\u00a0 Sissy had an extraordinary gift for recognizing an individual\u2019s talent and fostering the growth of that talent.\u00a0 She was especially great at discovering a student\u2019s \u201cartistic side.\u201d<\/p>\n
After retiring from teaching in 2005, Sissy returned to nursing at Hornell Gardens.\u00a0 There, she resumed caring for patients including her Mother, Eleanor, until her retirement in 2010.<\/p>\n
She was a devoted member of Our Lady of the Valley Parish and a communicant of St. Ann’s Church, where she served as a Eucharistic Minister and member of the Parish Council.\u00a0 She worked with adult converts through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) program, welcoming newcomers to the faith.\u00a0 As a member of the RENEW Program, she helped increase participation in daily and weekly Masses.<\/p>\n
With her husband, \u201cMony,\u201d she worked with Worldwide Marriage Encounter of Rochester.\u00a0 There they helped to further strengthen good marriages.<\/p>\n
An accomplished artist, Sissy enjoyed painting & sketching along with general crafting.\u00a0 She especially enjoyed creating \u201cbeaded flowers\u201d along with beautiful stained glass wall hangings.<\/p>\n
In addition to her parents, Sissy was preceded in death by her son, Thomas John Mahoney; her sister, Brigid Martusewicz; and her brother-in-law, Jimmy Mahoney.<\/p>\n
Sissy was married on March 10, 1973, and is survived by her husband Daniel (Mony) Mahoney.\u00a0 Also surviving are her daughter, Sheila (Zachary) Stephenson of Fernandina Beach, FL; two sons, Daniel (Vanessa) Mahoney of Superior, CO and James (Kristine) Mahoney of Charlotte, NC; three sisters, Beth “Honey” (Craig) Ohlhorst of Newport News, VA, Patty (Roger) Dodington of England, and Kathryn “Kitty” (Eric) Hepler of Richmond, VA; three brothers, Mark “Bucky” (Ann) O’Neil of Philadelphia, PA, Timothy (Linda) O’Neil of Canandaigua, NY, and Brian (Julie) O’Neil of Victor, NY; six grandchildren, Kayla Mahoney, Phineas Mahoney, Loretta Stephenson, Sara Mahoney, Delilah Stephenson, and Celia “Oona” Mahoney; along with several nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n
Sissy\u2019s family will receive friends on Thursday from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM at the Dagon Funeral Home, 38 Church St., Hornell, NY.\u00a0 A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.<\/p>\n
Sissy\u2019s family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in her name be made to The Vincent House, PO Box 566, 310 Second Ave., Wayland, NY 14572 or by visiting https:\/\/vincenthouseny.org\/sponsor .\u00a0 Memorial forms will be available at the Dagon Funeral Home.<\/p>\n
To leave an online condolence or share a memory, visit www.dagonfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hornell, New York Margaret A. “Sissy” Mahoney lived a life defined by compassion, creativity, and an unwavering commitment to nurturing others. Whether caring for the sick, inspiring the minds in young students, or crafting works of art, Sissy approached everything with purpose and grace.\u00a0 She died Sunday morning, December 7, 2025, at the Vincent House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7916"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7920,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7916\/revisions\/7920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}