Patricia Bolger McMahon

Patricia Bolger McMahon of Stoddard, NH, died at home of natural causes in the early hours of September 16, 2026, at the age of 95. She was alert and comfortable to the end, surrounded by the love and attention of her many friends and neighbors.

Patricia was born in Escanaba, Michigan, the eldest of four children. Nicknamed "Patsy" as a small child, she insisted on "Pat" once she was old enough to know what the word meant. Her mother called her the most quietly stubborn person she knew — never contentious, but incapable of leaving a task unfinished.

Pat graduated high school as valedictorian with a partial scholarship to a state university, but declined it, knowing her family could not afford the rest, and went to work instead to support herself and send money home. She built a career in accounting at a time when few such jobs were open to women, all while volunteering with the League of Women Voters, the USO, her church choir, and youth programs. And still found time for recreation, such as bowling and golf.

When her father's health failed, she bought a home large enough to accommodate her parents, grandmother, and younger brother, and paid her brother's way through high school. Decades later, when her brother was disabled by a stroke, Pat, then 70, personally oversaw and participated in renovating his home to accommodate his disability, and negotiated his retirement settlement to make sure he was cared for.

Pat approached marriage the way she approached everything: putting others first. Early in their courtship she urged her future husband, Terry, to find someone else, believing she couldn't have children — a prognosis she happily discovered had been incorrect. She remained active in her community for the rest of her life, once speaking so persuasively at a contentious school board hearing that the chairman let her run well over her allotted time rather than cut her off, and later co-organizing a privately funded, interfaith baccalaureate service after the public high school was disallowed from holding it.

In retirement, Pat took up cross-country skiing at 70 and kept at it for a decade, alongside ice skating, hiking, and swimming. She served three terms as Trustee of Trust Funds for the town of Stoddard, played in a county-wide bridge club, and volunteered for years at the Cathedral of the Pines, where she turned around the struggling gift shop so successfully that it remains open today.

Pat is survived by her husband of 56 years, Terry McMahon of Stoddard, NH; son Stacy McMahon, daughter-in-law Louise and grandchildren Alex and Daniel of Chantilly, Virginia; niece Cheryl Eder, her husband John and grand-niece Claire of Dallas, Texas; brothers-in-law Lewis McMahon and his wife Deborah of Keene, New Hampshire, and Keith McMahon and his wife Cheryl of Arlington, Washington; niece Leslie Braun and her husband Karnig of Twentynine Palms, California; and extended family throughout the country.

A memorial service for Pat will be held at the Stoddard Congregational Church, 1549 NH-123, Stoddard, NH 03464 on Sunday, October 25, at 3 PM.