Miriam Ann O'Hare

Miriam Perkins O'Hare was born August 13, 1941, in Erlanger, KY, to Raymond and Clare Perkins, revered and loving parents whose generous and outgoing traits she embodied throughout her life. She married Michael O'Hare on April 11, 1966, and her sons Kieran and Sean, and their wives Liz Knowles and Kathleen McCarthy, were the completion of her family.

She began teaching grade school immediately out of high school, and inspired students in Kentucky, the Bronx, and Kansas City. Her most rewarding professional work, though, was the decades she spent in the library at Benedictine College, where she managed the Government Documents collection and was dedicated to assisting students in using it.

Appalled at the lack of adequate provision for the Library's Special Collection, she enlisted the assistance of Fr. Denis Meade and Abbot Owen Purcell in caring for it. Miriam led efforts to obtain valuation of the collection and have it moved to a safe, climate-controlled rare book room, and she designed an arrangement that helped make it a recognized and accessible part of the library.

Miriam delighted in people and formed lasting relationships, enlivening those relationships in recent years with her daily e-mails of family, the many things that caught her eye, road trip photos, and knowing comments. She was quick of mind, word-wise, and spoke her thoughts freely, to the delight of those fortunate to know her.

Kansas road trips, and the maps that guided her navigation (avoiding the GPS that never quite won her over), were a particularly enjoyable part of her life, as were longer trips to Ireland, Cape Breton, and Québec with family. She loved genealogy, and discovered cousins who appreciated her extensive communications and family knowledge. She lived marvelously, and she generously shared her life.

From March, Miriam's health declined precipitously. In May, she began to receive skilled and dedicated care at Amberwell Hospital in Atchison, KU Medical Center, and finally at the Mount's Dooley Center.

In her memory, contributions may be made to the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica ( Make a Donation – Mount St. Scholastica (mountosb.org) . This was the community she loved, and in the midst of which she died on June 21.

The Memorial Mass for Miriam will be Monday, June 28, at Mount St. Scholastica, 801 S. 8th Street, at 11:00 a.m.