Laura Jean Mahar

Laura Jean Mahar, 60, of Worcester, Massachusetts, passed away on Tuesday, June 23rd. She leaves behind enough makeup, clothes, and cans of hairspray to supply a small Midwestern beauty pageant. She left this world before she ever had the chance to wrinkle, which would have pleased her greatly.

She is survived by her mother, Jean Mahar; her sisters Michele and Kelley; her brothers Joey, Artie, and Tommy; the father of her children, David Brunell; and her children, Ryan and Kaleigh, along with countless friends and family who will carry her memory forward. Laura is welcomed into Heaven by her father, Arthur Mahar.

Born in Skowhegan, Maine on July 31st, 1965, Laura spent her youth looking after her younger siblings, a role that would come to define so much of who she was. She attended Husson College and graduated with her associate degree in 1984. After getting married in 1985, she moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where she began to cultivate the garden of friendships that would become one of the greatest gifts of her life.

She is remembered by family and friends as the “cool big sister,” regardless of actual relation. Laura always had her hair and nails done, her hands and wrists adorned with her favorite jewelry, and maintained a closet filled to the brim with the coolest styles of each season. She loved the beach, Steve Madden shoes, Thierry Mugler Angel perfume, and driving her Jeep with the windows rolled down, blasting Sheryl Crow or a U2 CD. She was the person you could call after a late night out when you didn’t want your parents to know, always keeping an extra toothbrush for unexpected guests, and never turning away a stray, because in Laura’s world, there was always room for one more. The only thing she was careful to ration was her M&Ms, though her nieces and nephews knew persistence could eventually win her over.

Laura loved to dote on everyone, especially the children in her family. She sat them on her hip and bounced them, sang “You Are My Sunshine” to lull them to sleep, and if a knee was scraped or a head was bumped, she always found a way to make them laugh before they could cry.

She spent her life believing in beauty, not only in herself, but in the world around her. It showed in the hand-stenciled apples around her kitchen, the roses and hostas she tended in her garden, and the relationships she nurtured throughout her life. She never forgot a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion, always making sure a card, call, or letter found its way to the people she loved.

She was the person whose love created a kind of gravity, pulling us back toward one another with a warmth that reminded us we always had a place to belong with her. We will still see her in the black-eyed-susans that dot New England fields, in the dragonflies that skim across them, in the sunlight that blooms freckles across our skin. She will remain in the small, ordinary moments that we find peace in.

Like the sun does not disappear when it sets, but only slips beyond the horizon, still shining, still warming places we cannot see. And when our paths eventually bring us to that same place, Laura will be waiting, making it feel a little more like home.

In keeping with Laura’s love of bringing people together, a memorial gathering to celebrate her life will be planned at a later date. Details will be shared with friends and family when arrangements are finalized