Maureen K. Walsh

Maureen K. Walsh, Indomitable Advocate, Devoted Mother, and Defender of the Vulnerable, Dies at 88.
Maureen was a woman of remarkable strength, boundless compassion, and impressively sharp wit, whose life's work centered on protecting the most vulnerable. She was a devoted mother, a fierce advocate for victims' rights, and a tireless champion for those with disabilities. Maureen's life was both a testament to resilience and a beacon of hope for all who knew her story. Having faced unimaginable loss and hardship throughout her own life, Maureen never succumbed to despair. Instead, she made it her personal mission to provide guidance for others in need.
Born to Mr. J.P. Cawley and Mrs. Helen M. Cawley (née Tracey) of Kingston, PA., Maureen is preceded in death by both her beloved parents and her late, cherished husband, Mr. Edward F. Walsh (1938-2013), as well as all three of their adored children, Erin E. Walsh (1968-1988), Shawn E. Walsh (1963-2017) and Christopher M. Walsh (1961-2019).
A fast friend, a quick study, and a rare breed of perseverance, grit and determination, Maureen devoted herself to the service of others. A deeply compassionate mother, she became a relentless advocate for her two sons, Shawn and Christopher, both of whom were born with rare, congenital conditions that doctors in the early 1960s predicted would take their lives long before reaching adulthood. Unwilling to accept such a fate, Maureen dedicated decades to seeking medical advancements, traveling and researching for new treatments, all to ensure the best possible outcome. Mind you, this all being long before the days of internet or Google. Maureen had to be more than just their mother-she became their advocate, their nurse, their researcher, and, at times, their only hope. Maureen tirelessly sought out experimental treatments, cutting-edge clinical trials and unconventional therapies across the country, having research studies on her children published in The New England Journal of Medicine (formerly known as the Boston Medical Journal) and studies that can still be found today at The National Institutes of Health (NIH). By refusing to let a diagnosis dictate the course of their lives, Maureen's unwavering tenacity and commitment proved triumphant, as both of her sons would live decades longer than the dire predictions of their original prognoses, largely due in part to Maureen's heroic efforts.
When both her adult sons fell ill-respectively in 2017 and 2019-Maureen, now widowed and well into her 80s, was a force to be reckoned with as her fearless and unrelenting determination appeared yet again, making even the most seasoned professionals at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania take notice. Maureen relocated to Philadelphia, PA to be at her ill sons' hospital bedside, offering her own wisdom, research, experience and alternative treatment options to hospital care teams while fiercely advocating for her now-incapacitated sons' life. Bold and brazen, yet deeply compassionate, she became an expert in the medical field not through formal training but through sheer necessity-learning, challenging, and demanding more for those she loved. Maureen's presence commanded respect, and her persistence helped both change and greatly extend the lives of others.
Prior to motherhood, Maureen attended university and began her career of cost accounting in Teterboro, NJ, during the late 1950s-a time when women in corporate finance were considered to be a rarity. When Maureen met the love of her life, Edward, by chance while on leave from his Newport, RI US Naval base, the two embarked on a love story and partnership that spanned over five decades of love and life together.
Having traded corporate for matrimony, Maureen's devotion to her family truly knew no bounds. Later in life, when her daughter Erin expressed an interest in nursing and healthcare upon graduation from High School in 1986, Maureen then enrolled in college nursing and medical courses in support of Erin's ambition and returned to the workforce alongside her daughter-a testament to Maureen's ever-evolving dedication to her family. The two would go on to work in the healthcare industry together, finding a shared calling when working at AMIB (Association for the Multiple Impaired & Blind, Inc.), a group home setting dedicated to caring for blind and visually impaired individuals with multiple impairments and disabilities.
Together, Maureen and Erin guided and nurtured for those who simply could not care for themselves. Some of Maureen's fondest memories were the holidays, dances, and day trip outings she and Erin shared with groups of clients (clients who were often abandoned by their own families due to disabilities), giving their clients a newfound sense of joy, opportunity and dignity.
On a rain-soaked night after leaving a midnight shift at AMIB, Maureen and Erin were heading home together in separate vehicles when tragedy struck; Maureen devastatingly bore witness to her daughter be violently killed as Erin's vehicle was struck head-on by a drunk driver, who was operating a stolen vehicle, on a revoked license, and being actively chased by police at speeds over 95mph on a 35mph road. In an instant, Erin's life was stolen and Maureen was forced to witness it all unfold as Maureen was now trapped inside her own vehicle, having been hit immediately after Erin by the same drunk driver. With Maureen's vehicle engine on her lap, and in a state of shock, she broke both wrists while freeing herself from her vehicle to rush to her daughters side. Erin was gone, and in the depths of that unfathomable grief, Maureen's relentless spirit emerged. She would go on to become a steadfast warrior against drunken driving injustice, dedicating herself to the fight for victims' of violent crimes rights for decades to come. Through Maureen's unstoppable commitment, she ensured Erin's premature death was not in vain, and the senseless killing of her daughter would lead to New Jersey's first-ever 30-year sentence and conviction of aggravated manslaughter and death-by-auto for a drunken driving conviction during what became a widely covered and highly publicized trial in 1989. Erin's case would go on to set a nationwide example, thanks to the care, determination and righteous rulings by the Honorable Superior Court Judge Donald F. Campbell, Sr., who noted that the heinous and egregious act of drinking and driving is a crime that will not go unpunished in New Jersey.
Alongside her closest friend and confidante, Mrs. Eileen Verbeke, Maureen became a leading force in the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D., Inc.) organization, with Maureen moving up in rank from Secretary, to Vice President, and later as President, championing across the United States for legislative changes that would later reshape New Jersey's vehicular pursuit policies. From Montclair State to San Francisco, Maureen championed through her own personal tragedy while advocating for the rights of other Violent Crime Victims, as well as for the grieving families who are left behind. Maureen became a keynote speaker at dozens of advocacy and prevention events, M.A.D.D. state conferences and various news outlets, sharing her own story of tragedy and loss, in hopes of sparing other families from the same devastation by spreading awareness of what she and her family had to endure. Maureen often said "The pain never leaves -you just learn to make room for it."
Together, Maureen and Eileen relentlessly rallied against the U.S. Department of Justice and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, lobbying for and successfully enacting stricter New Jersey state laws surrounding law enforcement rules which governed police department guidelines with respect to the response and pursuit of reported stolen vehicles and suspected drunk drivers in New Jersey, better known as the New Jersey Vehicular Pursuit Policy of 1993. This change in law enforcement guidelines garnered nationwide attention during what was considered as the height of New Jersey's drunk driving epidemic, saving an inconceivable number of lives while shedding light on the cause that Maureen worked tirelessly for. Maureen would receive hundreds of letters, phone calls and messages from victims and victim's families across the country. They saw in Maureen both a voice for their pain and a guiding light towards change.
Despite the weight of all she endured, Maureen never lost her warmth, her humor, or her deep appreciation for life's simple joys. She found happiness in the small rituals: a trip to the ocean with her cup of coffee in hand, a quiet moment of reflection in the church pew dedicated to her late husband Edward at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, or the mischievous joys of filling her home with laughter by instructing her Alexa to tell jokes over the intercom whenever guests were in the next room. Maureen possessed an uncanny ability to find light even in the darkest of hours. Whether she was blasting her favorite song, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, scrolling her iPad for the latest Pinterest recipes and Tik Tok trends or posting to Facebook about her thoughts and travels, Maureen's focus was always making sure everyone around her was cared for, and her number one priority remained caring for those she loved, right down to her final day.
Maureen passed peacefully on Sunday, March 9, 2025, the first Sunday of Lent, after a very short but extremely courageous and valiant battle against Stage IV metastatic disease. She left this earth much how she lived on earth-on her own terms. Many thanks go out to her incredible oncology and care team at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City.
Maureen is survived by her devoted grandson, Ryan J. Walsh, his partner, Richard S. Gebbia II, both of Rumson, NJ and New York City; brother-in-law, William J. Walsh II and his wife, Joyce DeMayo-Walsh; as well as sister-in-law, Eileen Walsh-Barnes and her husband, Deacon Robert M. Barnes, all of Toms River, NJ. Maureen leaves behind a large, extended family-including cherished friends, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Cherished nieces include Donna Cawley-Maldonado, Kathleen Cawley-Viggiano, Kelly Cawley, Lisa Koempel-Cawley, Barbra Sullivan-Cawley, Jennifer Walsh, Laurie Walsh, Mary Barnes, Toni Kartikis-Barnes, Kathleen Corbliss-Albert, Allison Corbliss-Warren, Beth Corbliss-Gaffney, Ellen Censorio-Corbliss, and the late Deborah Cawley-Boyer.
Beloved nephews include David Cawley, Kevin Cawley, Robert Barnes, Brendan Barnes, Kevin Corbliss, John Corbliss, William Walsh III, Michael Viggiano, John Albert, Storme Warren and Peter Gaffney. In ever loving memory of late nephews Michael Cawley, Donald Cawley and Mark Cawley.
Maureen is also preceded in death by her late brothers Donald Cawley, Raymond Cawley (Allure), Gerald Cawley (Joan), brother-in-law, John "Jack" Corbliss, sister-in-law, Judith Walsh-Corbliss and Ryan's mother, daughter-in-law, Ms. Tammy Ellis-Walsh.
The Walsh Family will receive visitors on Sunday, March 16, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the John E. Day Funeral Home, 85 Riverside Avenue, Red Bank, New Jersey. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Maureen's honor by Rev. Michael Lankford-Stokes on Monday, March 17-Saint Patrick's Day-11:00 a.m., Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, located at 30 Ward Avenue, Rumson, New Jersey. Following Mass services, the Rite of Committal with Graveside Octet Choir, Harp and String Quartet tribute by Erin Hill & Orchestra will take place at the Walsh Family plot, 1:00 p.m., St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cemetery, 62 Cedar Grove Road, Toms River, New Jersey.
Following graveside services, friends and family are cordially invited to gather for a Commemorative Repast Reception at the Toms River Country Club, 419 Washington Street, Toms River, New Jersey.
In lieu of flowers or charitable donations, the family graciously invites all to honor the enduring spirit of Maureen and her beloved family through an act of kindness-in any way, shape, or form- offered in loving memory of Maureen, Edward, Christopher, Shawn, and Erin, a family whose legacy of love, courage, and unwavering strength is now eternally reunited, together at last, in everlasting peace.