Dietitian helped many at Northwest hospitals
Long before the Alexian Brothers formed their expansive hospital network comprised of four hospitals with up to 2,000 affiliated physicians, they turned to a Northwest suburban dietitian for her expertise.
Ada Evelyn Mahoney was working full time at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge as a clinical dietitian, but she moonlighted to help the Alexian Brothers set up a dietary department in their new Alexian Brothers Medical Center when it opened in Elk Grove Village in 1966.
Mrs. Mahoney started her career working at the Alexian Brothers' first medical center, Alexian Brothers Hospital in Chicago, just after World War II, and she remained loyal to the hospital's mission.
Now officials at both hospitals, as well as family and friends, are mourning her passing. Mrs. Mahoney died March 17. The former Rolling Meadows and 20-year Arlington Heights resident, recently of Rockford, was 87.
Celia Pappas, a dietitian at Lutheran General, worked with Mrs. Mahoney during her 20 years on staff, remembered her as an "excellent and caring dietitian," who worked with long-term patients undergoing rehabilitation.
"Mostly she worked with stroke patients, trying to get them to eat after their stroke and making sure their nutritional needs were met," Pappas said. "She also was very concerned that they have an adequate zinc intake, for its ability to stimulate the sense of taste and smell."
Mrs. Mahoney came from a humble background, having grown up in bayous of Louisiana, where her father had died when she was 6 and her mother ran a roadside gas station and store.
"It's pretty amazing, when I think of all my mother accomplished," said her daughter, Mary Hoyer of Rolling Meadows, "coming from the back country of Louisiana and then going on to earn a master's degree and have research articles published in the American Dietetics Journal."
Mrs. Mahoney's keen intellect and hard work earned her a scholarship to attend Louisiana Polytech University where she majored in nutrition. An internship at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, led her to meet her husband, George Mahoney, who was stationed with the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Field.
The couple married in 1945 in Ada, Okla., which was a small town founded by Mrs. Mahoney's family members, including her grandmother and for whom she was named.
They lived first in Chicago, where her husband worked for Motorola before they moved to Rolling Meadows in 1953, one of the first residents in the village. Together, the couple stepped up to help the community grow.
They helped with fundraisers to build St. Colette Church, while George Mahoney ran the campaign for the city's first mayor. By 1960, they moved to Arlington Heights, where their children could attend St. James Catholic School.
In 1980, Motorola transferred her husband to Florida, where Mrs. Mahoney volunteered as a nutritional counselor for young pregnant women at the Respect Life organization.
Besides her daughter and husband, Mrs. Mahoney is survived by another daughter, Maureen (William) Cook of Rockton, Ill., as well as six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will take place at 10 a.m. today at Holy Family Catholic Church, 4401 Highcrest Road in Rockford.