Kevin Mahoney was thrilled about becoming a grandfather this summer, his wife said, a natural role because he had always been a supportive and present parent.
He also had taken on all of the grocery shopping during the pandemic, Ellen Mahoney told The Denver Post on Wednesday. Before he left for King Soopers, she said they were talking and laughing as they cleaned their grill.
Mahoney, 61, was one of the 10 people killed in the shooting in Boulder on Monday.
His daughter, Erika Mahoney, told NPR’s Morning Edition that she thinks about how her dad will “never be able to hold” the daughter she is expecting. She recalled how he was a dad for all of the neighborhood kids growing up, and how he would break into song at the mere mention of a related word.
She also explained to NPR why she shared a photo of her dad on Twitter on Tuesday morning. She and her husband had planned a big wedding at a local winery in California, where they live. Because of the pandemic, they considered delaying a year, but instead held a small one in their backyard.
“… (A)nd now, I’m so grateful,” Mahoney told NPR, “because if we had waited, I don’t know if he would have been here to walk me down the aisle.”
I am heartbroken to announce that my Dad, my hero, Kevin Mahoney, was killed in the King Soopers shooting in my hometown of Boulder, CO. My dad represents all things Love. I'm so thankful he could walk me down the aisle last summer. pic.twitter.com/SLS2bdm5Hc
— Erika Mahoney (@MahoneyEb) March 23, 2021
The father of two was born in Winnipeg, Canada. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, for schooling for his brother. Kevin and Ellen were married in 1987 and they moved to Boulder in 1995.
Kevin Mahoney retired a couple of years ago from a career in hospitality development. Since then, Ellen Mahoney said, he volunteered for Meals on Wheels in Boulder and they traveled together.
He loved national parks, especially Yellowstone. And he always made Ellen laugh.
“Kevin was such a kind person, a great friend,” she said. “He also had a great sense of humor. … He will be really, truly, dearly missed.”
During the past year, being mostly stuck at home, the couple worked together, took hikes and just spent time with one another. They were a good team, she said.
“It brought us closer together, and I’m glad for the past year for that very reason,” Ellen said.
In response to Erika Mahoney’s post, copied to Facebook, a man who worked with Kevin Mahoney on hotel development projects described him as “such a good man.”
“He was a kind, smart, articulate professional who loved his family so very much,” Chuck Tomb wrote. “I, and we in the hotel industry, are simply heartbroken for you and your family. God bless you all during the difficult time. He was such a good man.”
Another wrote about working with the Mahoneys in Pasadena, Calif., and previously shared an apartment with Kevin, saying he had many fond memories.
