Kathleen F. Hurley

MARBLEHEAD — Mrs. Kathleen F. Hurley, known as Kay to her friends, age 90, of Marblehead, died Friday, June 6, 2008, at Devereux House Skilled Care Residence in Marblehead, due to complications attributed to Alzheimer's disease.

Her husband of 64 years, Richard R. Hurley, died in 2004. She was also predeceased by her close brother, Thomas L. Lawler, of Salem, who died in 2003.

Born in Beverly as Kathleen F. Lawler, she was the daughter of the late Thomas and Abigail (Morse) Lawler, also of Beverly. She received her education in Salem at St. Mary Grammar School and St. Mary Girls' High School, and graduated valedictorian of her class. Kay continued her education at Secretarial School and became a legal secretary in Salem. In later years, after raising her family, she was a bookkeeper for the town of Marblehead in the Tax Collector's office at Abbott Hall.

Kay moved to Marblehead in 1940 to raise a family of five children, who all but the first were born at the Mary Alley Hospital in Marblehead. Kay was keen on education, enrolling all of her children at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parochial School and Marblehead High School, with strong encouragement to continue on and pursue advanced degrees at Boston College, Merrimack College, Wentworth Institute of Technology and other specialized education. Kay was also a proud Army mom with one of her sons serving in combat as a decorated U.S. Army officer.

As a young woman, she was an outstanding athlete and was active at the Lynn YMCA, where she was a member of the 1952 ladies championship basketball team. Following her years in basketball, she turned to Y league volleyball, playing once again for the Lynn YMCA. She was an avid skier, including travel over the years to ski in Europe. While in her 60s and 70s, Kay was a regular at Marblehead tennis courts and could always be seen walking early mornings on the Marblehead Rail Trail and over to Devereux Beach for exercise. In more recent times, she enjoyed weekly visits with her friends to the senior center for yoga classes, theater in Beverly, dinner out with the girls, vacations in Hawaii with her daughters and other activities that kept life fun and exciting.

Kay is survived by her three daughters, Patricia A. Hurley of San Francisco, Calif., Kathleen Hurley-Simonson and her husband, Don, of Piedmont, Calif., and Barbara J. Hurley of Taylors, S.C.; her two sons, Richard F. Hurley and his wife, Priscilla, of Dennisport, and Stephen T. Hurley and his wife, Diane, of Peabody; seven grandchildren, Timothy R. Hurley and his wife, Jennifer, of South Dennis, Laura K. Hurley and her husband, Ryan McCullough, of Somerville, Kristin Simonson of San Francisco, Calif., Justin Hurley of Peabody, Meghan Hurley of Peabody, Ryan Lawler Hurley and Cali Alyson Emory, both of Taylors, S.C.; two adored great-grandchildren, Andrew James and Richard Timothy Hurley of South Dennis; sister-in-law, Evelyn Hurley, of Chapel Hill, N.C.; two close nephews, Thomas Lawler and Dennis Lawler of Salem; and five surviving nieces and nephews.

Her funeral will be held at the O'Donnell Funeral Home, 46 Washington Square (at Salem Common), Salem, Friday, June 13, 2008, at 11:15 a.m., followed by her funeral Mass in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Marblehead, at noon. Relatives and friends are invited. Burial is in Waterside Cemetery, Marblehead. Visiting hours are on Thursday, June 12, 2008, from 4 to 8 p.m.

For more information and online guest book, inquire at 978-744-2350 and www.legacy.com.

Expressions of sympathy may be made in Kay's memory to Hospice of the North Shore, 10 Elm St., Danvers, MA 01923, or Alzheimer's Association, Massachusetts Chapter, 311 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA 02472.