May 30, 1948 – June 6, 2025
Kathy was born in Oakland, California, on May 30, 1948, to Steve and Lois Mahoney. She was the sixth of nine children and graduated high school from Bishop O’Dowd in Oakland.
She married Randy Mack, also from the Oakland area, and had her first son, Nathan, while living there. Eventually the family moved to the Quincy, California, area where her second son Isaiah was born.
Kathy had been learning mid-wifery with a doctor and elected, with the doctor’s support, to birth Isaiah in her teepee.
Kathy loved her years in those Northern California mountains. She waitressed, made tofu by cracking the beans on a bicycle-powered device and selling the tofu, and, as a mid-wife, attended dozens of births.
As time passed she moved to Ashland, pursued a teaching degree and graduated with honors from Southern Oregon University. She was certified for K-12 but her passion was in Special Ed.
Over her career teaching in Ashland she taught in four different elementary schools and spent a year at the Southern Oregon Child Study and Treatment Center (SOSTIC). She loved teaching and possessed a kindness and empathy for children, especially those with special needs.
Kathy married Ted Loftus in 1996, raised flowers and veggies on Beach Street, built a beautiful beach home in Bandon and lived her life out on Neil Creek Road. Her passion for gardening (mostly from seed) and raising flowers, especially peonies, was amazing. She was instrumental in raising wine grapes, crushing, making the wine and eventually drinking some pretty good Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Kathy loved people and made friends everywhere she ventured. She also loved cooking, canning, crafting, traveling and camping. But holding and loving her seven grandchildren from birth was heaven for her.
Her endless and positive outlook of life was how she lived every day. She made it just barely to 77 years of age, all with grace and love to the very end. Even though dementia slowed her desire to socialize over the last few years, she talked many times of getting together with friends … she just couldn’t process how to do it. Heart issues took her from us, but she was at home with family, her golden retriever and her favorite view of the surrounding mountains. A private service is planned for late October with family and close friends.
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