FCAM extends its deepest sympathies to Chief Flaherty and his family, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Visiting hours will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Curran-Jones Funeral Home, 109 Main Street, West Springfield, MA. Liturgy of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 63 Pine Street, West Springfield, MA.
Obituary
Mary Joan (Lynch) Flaherty passed away peacefully on May 11, 2025 with her loving family by her side. Mary, a daughter of James B., Sr. and Mary C. (O’Connell) Lynch, was born on March 24, 1939. A graduate of Sacred Heart High School, Our Lady of the Elms College, and Westfield State College, Mary was a teacher at Duggan Junior High School in Springfield, MA where she taught math. She married John J. Flaherty in 1964 and they shared 47 loving years together raising their family of six children. Mary was a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Church; a member of the St. Thomas Women’s Club; West Springfield Youth Soccer Association serving as a Treasurer for many years; a Den Mother for Cub Scout Pack 87; a Eucharistic Minister and CCD Teacher at St. Thomas Church, receiving the Pope Pius X Award; and a long-time Voting Warden for Precincts 7 & 8 for the Town of West Springfield. The West Springfield Rotary Club honored Mary and her husband, John, in 2003 with the Paul Harris Fellow Award. In 2014 Mary was chosen to be the West Springfield St. Patrick’s Parade Committee’s inaugural ‘Senior’ Colleen. She was proud of her Irish heritage and enjoyed sharing her love of Irish music and culture with her family. Mary loved spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren, and enjoyed summers together at the family’s beach house in Wells, Maine. In addition to her parents and her husband, John, Mary was predeceased by her twin sister, Anne P. Lynch, her brothers, James B. Lynch, Jr., and Robert J. Lynch and his wife Catherine; Margaret M. Flaherty, Mary E. (Maureen) Hogan and her husband Tom; Michael J. Flaherty, and James F. Flaherty; and several nieces and nephews. Mary is survived by her loving children, Mary Anne Flaherty and Eileen Flaherty both of West Springfield; John (Jack) Flaherty, Jr. and his wife Andrea (Westford, MA), and their children Brendan and Lauren; William Flaherty and his wife Nancy (West Springfield), and their children William, Jr. and Aidan; Joseph Flaherty and his wife Blakleigh (Bedford, NH), and their children Benjamin and Connor; and Thomas Flaherty, Sr. and his wife Maureen (Westfield, MA) and their children, Katelyn, Patrick, Nora, and Thomas and his wife Nicole and Mary’s expected first great grandchild. She also leaves her sisters-in-law Barbara Lynch Scheper of Dover, DE, and Jan Flaherty of Westfield, MA; as well as many nieces and nephews. Visiting hours will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Curran-Jones Funeral Home, 109 Main Street, West Springfield, MA. Liturgy of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 63 Pine Street, West Springfield, MA. Memorial contributions in Mary’s memory may be made to: Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, 577 Carew Street, Springfield, MA 01104, and West Springfield Boys and Girls Club, 615 Main Street, West Springfield, MA 01089.