Maureen Kennedy

Maureen Elizabeth Kennedy

(February 5, 1952 – December 31, 2022)

Dear Maureen passed away Dec. 31 at the Queensway Carleton ICU at the age of 70. She had struggled bravely for over a year with complications following open heart surgery. Maureen will be missed most, and for the rest of our lives, by her loving husband, Brian, her devoted son, Liam Kennedy, Liam’s wonderful wife, Kerri Carisse, their beautiful, new son, Keir Kennedy, and of course by Maureen’s twin brother, Jack Tierney. She also leaves behind many relatives by birth and marriage and friends who will mourn her passing.

Maureen was tirelessly thoughtful and caring to all she knew, drawing upon endless resources of patience, empathy, and compassion. Her life can be broadly summarized as one of perennial dedication to the wellbeing of humanity, which she pursued throughout her career and within her personal relationships.

Maureen was born in Deep River, Ontario, earned her Nursing degree at Ottawa’s Civic Hospital, then a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Western University in 1975. She then worked as a Public Health Nurse (PHN) for Ottawa Public Health (OPH) until retirement in 2007. Her study of the benefits of breastfeeding newborns began as a passion that became public policy.  Her contribution was recognized by the City with an Award for Innovation in 1990. Inspired, she went back to university at the age of 54 to obtain a Master of Science in Nursing and was soon hired by Ottawa University as a Clinical Instructor in their School of Nursing. Maureen’s new degree also motivated her to research Ottawa public health policy history. She spent hours interviewing both Marion Dewar (a PHN for the City before becoming its mayor) and Katie Keys, a retired director at OPH, as a part of Maureen’s project to document the establishment and early work of OPH. This research was accepted as part of the permanent collection at the City of Ottawa Archives in 2022.

Maureen loved to garden at home and travel abroad, to France and Ireland especially. The latter resulted in a lifelong passion for the Irish flute, an instrument she practised with pleasure and proficiency. More recently, she sang with the Village Voices, a local choir. Maureen also took up golf with the same obsession she pursued all her passions. There is no indication of how good she was at golf, since she refused to play with schoolteacher Brian; he tends to be a little too directive, apparently.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Maureen on her birthday, Sunday, February 5, 2023 from 11am to 2pm at Orchardview Wedding and Event Centre, 6346 Deermeadow Dr, Greely, ON. Please attend if you can. Help us recall and celebrate her precious spirit and the time we were fortunate enough to have spent with her.  For those who wish, donations in Maureen's memory may be made to the University of Ottawa Hearth Institute.