Obituary of Eileen Mahoney Hoban

Eileen Mahoney Hoban, 93, beloved mother, friend, aunt and grandmother, graduate of St. Joseph’s College (class of 1950), set sail on that most challenging and wondrous journey when she died on October 11 in the hospice unit at the Good Shepherd Hospice unit at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre.

Eileen’s death came only a few days after the 70th anniversary of her marriage to the love of her life, Jack Hoban. She was a luminous bride, with a 1,000 watt smile and they embraced life together. Eileen provided Jack with a flourishing home life, the vital base of support, the loving home (with restaurant-quality meals) and companionship that allowed his career as an internationally known public transit engineer and thinker to flourish. Together, they raised their children to become lovers of good food, literature and history, family, classical music and opera, gardens, sailing and travel. She and Jack loved life, loved each other fully and loved their life together. 

After Jack’s all-too-early passing, Eileen rallied. She returned to school to become a paralegal and built a career managing the office of a busy insurance brokerage. She created for herself an active, productive and satisfying home life filled with friends, meals where there was always a plate for an unexpected guest, adventurous trips with children, sisters-in-law and girlfriends (nicknamed “the Blondes”), knitting elaborate sweaters for her grandchildren and keeping her mind sharp with frequent bridge games. She was engaged in civic life as an election worker, serving on the zoning board for the Village of Plandome, as treasurer of the Plandome Women’s Club, on the Manhasset Scholarship Committee and more lately on the board of Port Harbor where she encouraged the community to plant more gardens. She was the class secretary for her college class from St. Joe’s for several decades. 

Her departure leaves a void in the lives of her many friends and her son John Hoban, 67, his daughter Maggie Hoban Dean and her husband Ray Dean, his daughter Catherine Hoban and his wife Joanna Breen; her son Thomas, 63, his wife Eileen and their children Patricia and T.J.; and daughter Rosemary, 58, and her husband Steve Tell. 

In lieu of flowers, her family would appreciate donations to the John F Hoban Memorial Scholarship fund at Manhattan College (DETAILS HERE), or to the Eileen M. Hoban Memorial Scholarship at St. Joseph’s College (245 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205).

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Rose Hoban, RN, MPH
Founder/ Editor, North Carolina Health News
www.northcarolinahealthnews.org