Richard J. Maher, 97

June 12, 2018

Richard James (“Dick”) Maher entered into eternal rest on Tuesday, June 12, at Homestead Village, in his ninety-eighth year and less than five months after the passing of his beloved wife Virginia.
Dick was born on September 29, 1920 in Lancaster to James and Helen Heverly Maher. He lost his father to an accident when Dick was only six, and was raised from that point solely by his mother. He attended Sacred Heart grade school and Lancaster Catholic High School, where he starred on both the football and basketball teams, and was named to the All County team in football in both his junior and senior years. He was also an outstanding baseball player, winning the American Legion batting title—and his first wristwatch, a Hamilton—with an average just over .400. In 2002, he became one of the earliest inductees into Lancaster Catholic’s Athletic Hall of Fame, for his achievements in football and basketball.
He graduated from Catholic High in the spring of 1939, and matriculated to St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe on a football scholarship, but a knee injury prematurely ended his career there.
When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the United States Navy and became a Radioman First Class. After his discharge, he married his first wife, Genevieve S. Maher, and went to mortuary school in Philadelphia, where he worked in that business until he and Genevieve returned to Lancaster in 1953, when Dick began work at Service Supply Corporation, a construction equipment contractor. He spent thirty-two years at Service Supply, rising to the position of president in 1973, which he held until his retirement twelve years later, in 1985. During his career at Service Supply, he was on the Board of the Keystone Chapter of the Builders and Contractors Association, and the National Board of the Equipment Manufacturers Association. He also belonged to the Lancaster Country Club, the Serra Club of Lancaster, and the Lancaster Sertoma Club.
In May 1973, Genevieve passed away, and three years later, on May 8, 1976, Dick married Mary Virginia Roda, herself a widow of three years. It was the start of a devoted forty-one years together, until Virginia’s passing on January 18, 2018.
Dick was a lifelong Roman Catholic and a member of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church for all but his last few years, when he and Virginia became members of St. Leo the Great by virtue of their move to Homestead Village. He was an active volunteer for decades at Sacred Heart, as well as a volunteer reader at the Blind Association during his retirement.
He enjoyed playing golf: in high school, he had been a caddy master, and the game came easily to him, as did all sports. His partners joked that he was so straight off the tee that he had the same ball at the end of the season that he had at the beginning. He also enjoyed tennis and bridge, and was an avid reader, with a particular interest in history.
He had three children by his first marriage, Thomas, Virginia, and Edward (Leslie); seven stepchildren (and their spouses), Joseph (Elizabeth); Frank (Susan); David (Mary Kay); Stephen (Sherri); John (Ann); Teresa (Kevin); and Paul; twenty-three grandchildren, Joshua (Cindy), Luke, Nick, Lisa, Lewie, Frank (Aleksandra), Andrew, Michael, Daniel, Joseph, Joshua (Laura); Anastasia, David, Karen (Sebastian), Stevie, Abbie, Tyler, John, Brian, Matthew, Mary Katharine, Emma, Dominic, Gregory (Jacqueline), and Lauren (Daniel); and eight great-grandchildren, Olivia, Ava, Elowyn, Camryn, Linden, Nicolas, Christian, and Luca.
He loved his family, and they knew it. They will always remember the broad smile and hearty welcome with which he greeted them at the door, his kind ear and patience, and his genuine interest in everything that they did and that mattered to them. And they will remember him especially for the devotion and courage that he showed in his wife Virginia’s, and his own, very difficult last months. He was so kind, so loved, and so admired, and will be so very sorely missed.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday, June 16th 2018 at 11AM at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, 558 W. Walnut St, Lancaster, PA. The family will receive friends from 9:30-11AM at the church on Saturday. Interment will be in St. Joseph’s New Catholic Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions would be appreciated to the Dominican Monastery, 1834 Lititz Pike, Lancaster, PA 17601, and to the church at the above address.