It is with great sadness that I inform you that Past President Charles F. “Charlie” Mahoney has passed away. Charlie joined Rotary in November of 1959, served the Rotary Club of Winchester as president during the 1979-1980 year and received the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow recognition in 1985. Charlie’s classification was Dentist – Prosthodontist at a time when classifications were coveted and guarded. There were 3 dentists in the presidential succession for the years 1978-1981, Sullivan, Mahoney and Murray. It sounded like an Irish law firm. The club secretary was also a dentist, Seymour Russell. That was a “Superfecta”. The monthly board meetings were like a gathering of the Yankee Dental Congress.
Charlie was a Winchester Rotarian until he retired to the Cape Cod in 1993.
Charlie was a great leader, displaying the highest ethics, respect and integrity during his presidency. He mapped the course and steered the club to impressive accomplishments. Rotary’s Four Way Test, a moral code for personal and business relationships, asks the following questions:
Of the things we think, say or do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Charlie saw to it that all of the tenets in the test were adhered to. He believed in them, practiced them and promoted them.
Charlie was easy going, a charmer with that Irish twinkle in his eye. Always ready for a little mischief. He enjoyed the camaraderie and friendships that go along with being a Rotarian. Charlie enjoyed those assignments at the “Rotary Barn” on Elmwood Avenue where Rotarians would collect and store items for the annual auction, the club’s major fund raiser. It was a time for fellowship and hard work. Charlie never shirked his duty or commitment to Rotary.
Charlie was a dedicated, determined and dependable member. He embraced the ideals of what it means to be a Rotarian. Charlie was inspired and willing to accept the challenges that Rotary confronted even to the point of accepting the leadership role as president with the encouragement and support of his fellow Rotarians.
The "ideal of service" is the significant axiom in the Object of Rotary. Charlie not only accepted that, he lived it in his Rotary life, his private life and his professional life. He offered his services locally to the Medical Missionaries of Mary on Arlington Street and internationally to rural residents of Honduras as part of Cape Cares Central American Relief Efforts. Always aware of the Rotary motto “Service Above Self” Charlie strove to live that ideal to the fullest. While sharing his special medical expertise he shared the responsibility for the advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace.
The following poem is taken from a sermon written by Henry Scott Holland and delivered in St. Paul's (London) on 15 May 1910, at which time the body of King Edward VII was lying in state at Westminster.
An Irish Funeral Prayer
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Everything remains as it was.
The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no sorrow in your tone.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Everything remains as it was.
The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no sorrow in your tone.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort
Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.
H. L. Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist and cultural critic. On one occasion he sarcastically remarked: “The first Rotarian was the first man to call John the Baptist Jack. I can imagine Charlie arriving at the pearly gates where St Peter is there waiting for him and Charlie remarking;
“Hi St. Pete I’m here.
It was my honor and privilege to have served with Charlie in Rotary and the double honor of having been selected to serve on his Board of Directors.
Rest in peace dear friend.
Respectfully,
Jack Kean
