Cynthia L. Mahoney (also known as Sister Cindy Mahoney) (November 15, 1951 – November 1, 2006) was an
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
nun and former
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
in
New York City who was present at "Ground Zero" following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
"She worked in the pit after 9/11 with the fatality team, and worked as an EMT and assisted the New York City Coroner's Office during and in the aftermath of the disaster. She spent six months at
New York City's Ground Zero site ... she blessed human remains pulled from the smoldering debris of Ground Zero, prayed with the workers who painstakingly combed the rubble each day and comforted relatives of the dead when they visited the site" (as per
and also her obituary in the
Associated Press).
Family
Cynthia L. Mahoney was born in
Camden, South Carolina, to Dallas John Mahoney Jr. and (the late) Elizabeth Jennings Mahoney.
In addition to her father, she is survived by a sister, Gaye Elizabeth Peebles of
North Dakota; a brother, Dallas John Mahoney, III, Camden; a nephew, Richard Allen Peebles and a niece, Elizabeth Anne McManus.
David Worby
Sister Cindy summoned
David Worby
David E. Worby is a trial lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases. As a lawyer, he is known for representing the largest number of clients experiencing Ground Zero illness. He is a published author in ''American Trial Lawyers Magazine ...
, the lawyer representing thousands of ailing "Ground Zero" workers, to her
Aiken, South Carolina, hospice and requested that he act as her guardian and fulfill her dying wish by overseeing her autopsy after she's gone ...
he sufferedpost-traumatic stress syndrome, Worby said. She had witnessed WTC victims burn or jump to their deaths, and prayed over countless human remains ... Mahoney asked that results of her autopsy be used in any class-action lawsuit filed by ground zero workers who say the air around the site has sickened them.
Death
Mahoney died, aged 54, on November 1, 2006, at her
Aiken, South Carolina, home. She had been suffering from
asthma,
reactive airways dysfunction syndrome
Reactive airway disease (RAD) is an informal label that physicians apply to patients with symptoms similar to those of asthma. An exact definition of the condition does not exist. Individuals who are typically labeled as having RAD generally have ...
,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and
gastroesophageal reflux disease; she believed that the cause of these ailments was her exposure to toxic substances at "Ground Zero".
References
External links
*
9/11 bloggerObituary
Obituary/Family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Cynthia L.
1951 births
2006 deaths
People from Camden, South Carolina
20th-century American Episcopalian nuns
People from Aiken, South Carolina
21st-century American Episcopalian nuns