Maureen McCusker of Wakefield, RI passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Friday, November 25th at age 65 after a courageous battle with leukemia that took her much too quickly and much too young.

Born on August 6, 1957 to Frances and Richard Mullowney, Maureen would play with her sister Terese and the neighborhood kids outside of their Enfield, CT home in matching home-sheared bowl cuts. When she was fifteen, her family purchased a vacation home in Charlestown, RI where she met Bob. Maureen and Bob would eventually get married, build a house, raise three thriving daughters, and retire together back at the Rhode Island shore. After 49 years, they are still somehow silly in love. Maureen was a humble and private woman; she would not approve of this tribute.

She loved being active and outdoors and lived her best life on or near the ocean kayaking, beaching, and boating with family or as one of the “Three Amigas”, her closest friends. She liked to spend mornings at the gym or jogging around the neighborhood and afternoons at the beach or beautifying her home and yard. She was always competing with the toughest critic in the room – herself.

She also loved children and was fascinated by the human mind, making her uniquely suited for early childhood special ed, the subject of her education and her 25-year career. This internal drive for excellence propelled her academic and professional successes.

This passion also made her a loving and imaginative mom who hand-crafted costumes, decorations, and games for their kids Sarah, Amy, and Lisa. Her greatest joy was being Nana to grandson Zac – the light of her life and a beacon of hope in her fight against this disease.

In lieu of flowers or casseroles, we ask for donations to be made on Maureen’s behalf to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and that frustration with her passing be channeled into supporting research of rare and aggressive cancers that rudely interrupt good people’s lives. We love and miss you, Maureen/Mom/Nana. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.