Mary Jo (Duffy) Cashman
CUMBERLAND – Mary Jo (Duffy) Cashman, 79, with family beside her or in spirit, passed away in the home she loved on Feb. 14, 2024 after a long illness. With her two horses nearby and the spirits of her beloved dogs playing close at hand, she slipped quietly away.
Born July 10, 1944, in Binghamton, New York, the second of the twins born to Ortense (Potter) and Joseph Duffy. As a young girl, she fell in love with horses – a passion that continued throughout her life. She loved all animals especially dogs like her treasured childhood boxer Sandy. At Vestal Senior High School in New York, she enjoyed many activities including class officerships and marching band. She and her beloved fraternal twin brother and lifelong friend, Ralph Duffy, went on together to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan for college. For her junior year, she went to German Language School at the Goethe-Institut in Staufen Germany before studying German language and psychology at the University of Vienna. She returned back to Michigan for her senior year and fell in love with classmate John Cashman, an aerospace engineering student. They were married a few days after her graduation in 1966 and built their lives together for 57 years until her passing.
Mary Jo and John moved to Washington State where she began working at the Law Library at the University of Washington and was accepted to the University of Washington School of Law. At the same time, she began teaching horseback riding to young adults and children while she also competed in riding and jumping in the Northwest. This activity became a lifelong passion supported through her work in complementary careers including: public affairs and news broadcasting with several Seattle radio stations; support programs for troubled youth; community education and counseling with Planned Parenthood; and, in recent years, therapeutic riding instruction.
In her own words, Mary Jo’s “greatest joy and pride in life” was her family. She and John welcomed their first son, Jonathan Andrew Cashman, in 1980, followed, in 1984, by identical twin sons, Timothy James Cashman and Christopher Robert Cashman. Mary Jo fully dedicated herself to motherhood and family. She loved talking to her boys, driving on field trips, volunteering for school events, helping with homework, laughing together, and supporting them in every endeavor from old time radio to the saxophone and drums. She was joyful and funny, loving and caring, and made holidays (especially Thanksgiving and Christmas) unforgettable.
Starting in 1994 she fell in love with Maine, specifically Peaks Island. Here she enjoyed many summers and falls with her family together at the family cottage, Threadright. In time, all three sons would go to school in Maine and settle in and around Maine and New England. Mary Jo and John retired to Common Thread Farm in Cumberland. There she welcomed her family home and watched it grow with three daughters-in-law: Emily (Atwood) Cashman (wife to Jonathan), Jessica (Fox) Cashman (wife to Timothy Cashman) and Jackie (Brosnan) Brosnan-Cashman (wife to Christopher) and four beloved grandchildren: William (son of Emily and Jonathan), Danny (son of Jackie and Christopher), Charlie and Lilly (son and daughter of Jessica and Timothy). She treasured her expanded family and her new role as a grandmother – savoring every moment talking to her grandchildren and attending every birthday party and little league game she could even as her health began to fail her.
As she left her last family Christmas, together with John, all her boys, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren, her words captured her feelings that evening and throughout her life: “I treasure these times together. I am so grateful to have this time and that we can do this together. This was just wonderful.”
She will be deeply missed and forever a part of the family she so dearly loved.
She was predeceased by her beloved twin brother, Ralph Duffy, in Seattle, and her parents in Basel Switzerland.
To offer sympathies and share caring memories please visit http://www.brackettfh.com to view Mary Jo’s online memorial.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to:
Riding to the Top
14 Lilac Dr.
Windham ME 04062
Peaks Island Health Center
PO Box 52
Peaks Island, ME 04108
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