BOSTON — After 94-year-old Rev. Daniel J. Mahoney passed away this week, members of the Boston Fire community remembered the chaplain of the department for nearly six decades.
Rev. Mahoney passed away Wednesday alongside friends and family. While serving as chaplain for roughly 58 years, he was also a pastor at St. Francis De Sales Church in Charlestown.
“He always had peoples’ back,” said Richard Paris, former President of Local 718 and member of the Boston Fire Department for 38 years. “He was there for everyone.”
Paris told Boston 25 that Mahoney offered spiritual guidance to firefighters and their families during several tragedies over his time as chaplain from 1964-to 2022.
Paris continued, “He was always listening to the radio. ‘What do you got? Who’s going to the hospital?’ He’d go over and visit firefighters in the hospital all the time.
Mahoney was often on scene at some of Boston’s deadliest and most destructive fires.
“He’d stand there and he’d be praying for the brothers and sisters inside that building that they’d come home safe,” Paris added.
Paris told Boston 25 he’ll mostly remember Mahoney for his help during the Beacon Street fires of 2014 – where two Boston firefighters died battling the blaze.
Paris and Mahoney had to break the tragic news to the families.
“We rode together over to the houses of the mother and a wife … their loved one wasn’t coming home,” said Paris. “I said, ‘Father, what are you going to say?’ And he goes, ‘You’ll know what to say when you get there.’”
The Charlestown resident is known as “Father Dan” to many
Remembering Mahoney’s words to distressed families, Paris continued, “‘He’s with God right now.’ He always would say, ‘Thank you for their service. They’re heroes.’ He always knew how to say that to the family.”
Paris finished, “He led with his heart. He cared about firefighters. He cared about Charlestown. He cared about people throughout the state.”
Dozens from the Boston Fire Department are expected to honor his life Wednesday during a funeral service at St. Francis De Sales Church in Charlestown Thursday.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2024 Cox Media Group
