Mary Leahy, 81, loved Capitol Hill kids

Tho Mom was not a doctor with a medical degree.

She spent so many sleepless nights with children on her knee.

She didn't wear a stethoscope, a gown or sterile glove.

But nursed us with the healing balm of sympathy and love.

This excerpt from a eulogy to Mary Theresa Leahy was written by her husband, Kevin Leahy, as his love letter to his wife of 52 years.

"This was Dad's way of showing her his thanks and appreciation," said Mrs. Leahy's daughter, Marie Stark, one of 12 children the Leahys raised on Capitol Hill.

Mrs. Leahy died Sunday of kidney failure in an adult family home in Shoreline. She was 81.

For years Mrs. Leahy ran a day-care center out of her home, always making time to attend daily Mass at St. Joseph Church.

"She raised a number of kids on the hill," said her son Terry, of Kirkland. "A number of the two-income households gravitated to Mama Leahy's, which is how everyone referred to it."

The family was struck by tragedy on Christmas Eve 1967, when son Frank was killed by a drunken driver.

Mrs. Leahy was ill for a number of years, said her son. "She kept fighting death. We knew her kidneys would fail and she decided not to do dialysis."

Growing up in a family of 12 didn't seem unusual, said Terry Leahy, because there were a lot of large Catholic families living on Capitol Hill. At one time, he said, there were 114 kids on his block on 17th Avenue East.

He said even after his mother closed her day-care center, children that she'd taken care of would show up on her doorstep during Christmas to greet her.

Seattle City Council President Nick Licata's daughter, E.B., went to the Leahys' for day care.

"When I dropped her off, she would run to Mary Leahy and give her the biggest hug," Licata said. "She was like the neighborhood mother. It was always Mama Leahy's house and more an institution than anything else. In our neighborhood there was St. Joseph and the Mary Leahy house. She was like a woman who lived in a shoe."

"Her family and her church were her life," said Marie Stark, who lives in Bellevue. After she retired, she and her husband took three trips to Ireland, where she visited relatives. "Her life was about service. She gave and gave."

Nancy Rustad, a neighbor for 27 years, marveled that while Mrs. Leahy was taking care of all her children, she still had time to make sandwiches for the St. Martin de Porres shelter for the homeless.

She said a half-dozen neighbors kept their house keys at the Leahy home, and once when her husband was flying to Germany, he was at the airport and realized he'd left his passport at home. Rustad called Mrs. Leahy, who found the passport and met her at her front door with it.

"She was always there for you," Rustad said. "One of her favorite expressions was "God love you.' "

In addition to her son and daughter, Mrs. Leahy is survived by her children, Kathleen Leahy, Theresa Leahy, Kevin Leahy and Patti Leahy, all of Seattle; Margy Bunes of Shoreline; Daniel Leahy of Woodinville; Josie Leahy of Arlington; Nora Leahy and Eileen Leahy of Salem, Ore.; and sister Kathleen Keene of Arizona.

Funeral services were held Friday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Seattle.

The family asks that remembrances be made to the St. Martin de Porres Shelter or The Baby Corner at St. Joseph Church, 732 18th Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98112.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com