Memories of Lora: Teachers, friends, and family gather at Goose Bay Elementary School to honor teacher killed in car accident

WASILLA—The infamous Knik-Goose Bay road has taken many lives. One such life in particular, long time Mat-Su Borough School District teacher Lora Mahoney ended sooner than anyone she knew wanted. Goose Bay Elementary School’s Family Engagement Party was in honor of Mahoney on Thursday.

“She would sing every morning to her kids,” Mahoney’s surviving husband Mike said.

Goose Bay Elementary school psychologist Amy Parker met Mahoney through way of music, drawn to her singing across the hall from her. At the ceremony, Parker played a song she wrote shortly after Mahoney taught her how to play.

“Lora was my first guitar teacher,” Parker said. “She inspired me.”

The two struck up an instant friendship and played music together until Mahoney left this word. The song’s title: “Just be Free.”

“How appropriate,” Mike laughed as Parker told the story.

This event wasn’t a funeral. It was more like a celebration of life. Nearly everyone there was laughing, telling stories and giving hearty hugs. Mahoney’s long time friend, Gary Swan, said this is what she would have wanted. She helped him grieve when he lost his son some time ago.

“She always was looked and lived on the positive side of things,” Swan said.

What’s left in her wake? Many things, be it a funny story or her life’s work of music, playing in the background of the ceremony, most of all, “rays of sunshine.” Everyone there had their own story of Mahoney’s ever-present, brightly colored and positive personality.

“She was just a ray of sunshine,” Goose Bay Elementary principal Ayla Brown said.

“She was always wearing bright colors,” Brown said, looking down at her own bright, flowery dress. “I wore this today because it’s my ‘Lora-Dress’”

Mahoney was killed on KGB Road in 2016 during an automobile accident. She taught kindergarten, pre-school, and special education at several different schools during her more than 20 years as an educator in the MSBSD.

“With tender care over the summer, this garden is ready to offer its first harvest,” Nancy Blake wrote in an email describing the event.

Blake was another friend and fellow teacher of Mahoney. She was glad so many people showed up for this event, sharing their sunny stories about Mahoney. Several papers with “Memories of Lora Mahoney” were passed around during the event. The stories told how they met her, funny anecdotes, her acts of kindness and what she meant to them.

Here is the conclusion of Blake’s story: “When Lora died suddenly, the grief was strong for so many of us. Just as Lora did for others, all who loved her summoned her spirit of generosity and love... Lora lives within all of us, and the garden that nourishes us at Goose Bay, in memory of Lora, nourishes our spirit as much as our belly.”

As the event wrapped up, various small children were seen playing near the Goose Bay Elementary School’s garden, built by her husband. The sign in front of the newly planted garden reads: “Miss Lora’s Memorial Garden Est. July 2016.”