Frances (Gaeta) Kehoe

Fran Kehoe lived as she counseled: “life is all about relationships.” She was one of the most loving and loved people anyone who knew her had ever met.  She always told her daughters to leave the world a little better than they found it.  And she did just that.

Frances (Gaeta) Kehoe of Lexington, formerly of Boston, Concord, and Medford, died peacefully, surrounded by family, on April 4^th at Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln, at age 86.

Fran was born in Medford on January 2, 1938, a daughter of the late Frank and Raffaella “Raffie” (Penta) Gaeta. She was raised in Medford, educated in the Medford Public Schools and at Boston University, where she earned her B.S. and Master’s degree in Education.

 Fran first met her husband of 50 years, Ronald Kehoe at Medford High School, but they did not start dating until they worked on their first political campaign together.

Fran was an educator, housing advocate, and social justice activist.  She worked with children with disabilities in the Connecticut Public Schools, at the Perkins School for the Blind, and at Mass Bay Community College, where she co-pioneered a multi-college mental health counseling referral service in Boston.  As a Concord resident, she restructured a 10-town nonprofit multi-service hotline as President of CODE (Committee on Drug Education) and served as a long-time member and a two-term Chair of the Concord Housing Authority, where she worked with her close friends to develop affordable housing for low-income people.   

Fran was a force of nature, a warm, beautiful, vibrant, funny, kind, and engaging woman who was passionate about her family, friends, and everything she believed in.  She had the uncanny ability to connect with, see, and appreciate people from all walks of life. Her positive outlook and genuine concern for others was infectious. To meet her was to know her, and to know her was to love her.  

Fran loved cooking, decorating/moving furniture, listening to classical music and opera, playing the piano, gardening, and politics.  Above all, she loved being a mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.

In addition to her beloved parents and husband, Fran was pre-deceased by her sister Norma Barricelli (Jean-Pierre).

Fran leaves her daughters Julia E. Kehoe of Boston and Dr. Laura G. Kehoe and her husband Eric F. Maillis of Watertown; her grandchildren Cecelia, Oliver, and Isaac Maillis; her brothers Dr. Chuck Gaeta and his wife, Angela, of Concord, Dick Gaeta, and his wife Marilyn, of Salem; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Family and friends will honor and remember Frances’ life by gathering for calling hours in the Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rt. 20) Waltham, on Wednesday, April 10^th from 4 to 7 p.m. Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. at Saint Raphael Parish, 512 High Street, Medford. Please go directly to church. Burial will follow at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Sanctuary Place of Health Imperatives, 942 W. Chestnut Street, Brockton, Massachusetts 02301, or by visiting healthimperatives.app.neoncrm.com/forms/sanctuary-place