Jane Kavanaugh

Jane Kavanaugh passed away with her two children by her side on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at the age of 80. Her spirit lives on in the family, friends, and places she treasured. 

Jane was born amid WWII in Dover, NH on April 3, 1944, to Margaret and Laurence Cavanaugh, lifelong Dover residents. Margaret was a feminist before her time, a career woman with Prudential Insurance Company. Laurence, a first-generation Irish American, was a 43-year veteran of the US Postal Service. Jane lived her first sixteen years in her maternal grandparents, John and Margaret Carroll Grimes’ home on Park Street in Dover. She shared that home with her grandparents, her parents, her Aunt Helen Grimes and her Uncle Eddie Grimes. Her Aunt Marion Grimes Casey came for the noon time meal each day and her Uncle John Grimes, her Aunt Phyllis Grimes, and cousin, Margaret Ann Grimes lived a block away. It was an extended Irish family at its best. 

Jane loved family, enumerable friends, the ocean, learning, writing, photography, music, travel, and adventure. 

She graduated from Saint Mary High School in Dover in 1962 and from UNH in 1966, with honors and with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She stayed in touch with and treasured her lifelong friends and relatives, Patty Duffy Edwards, Margaret Grimes Avery Mary Cavanaugh Ulinski and Tony McManus, Diane Fioto Lardieri. She loved helping to plan her high school and college reunions. 

In 1966, Jane moved to Scituate, MA to begin her career in Education. She loved teaching and loved living by the sea. In 1967, she married Wayne Murray and continued to live by and to teach by the sea. While Wayne completed law school, Jane lived in Portland, ME. Her beloved children, Brian Joseph Murray and Brigid Katherine Murray were born on the NH Seacoast. Motherhood was a role she cherished above all others. 

Jane prized her Irish Citizenship by Descent. All her ancestors emigrated from Ireland. She visited the birthplaces of her paternal grandmother, Julia Murphy Cavanaugh in Drimolegue, County Cork and that of her paternal grandfather, Edward Cavanaugh’s family in Blackwater and Enniscorthy, County Wexford. 

In 1992, while working at the Whittemore School of Business at UNH, Jane completed her master’s degree in counseling, with honors and became a school counselor in Hampton, Milton, and Barrington, NH. Jane was also a champion for those living with mental illness.

The women of the 200-member chorus, Voices from the Heart, became extended family. Not only did Jane sing with them for 20 years, she also traveled and performed with her Voices sisters to Ireland in 2001 and Croatia and Slovenia in 2007. 

In addition, she traveled across the United States and to Belize, the islands of the southern Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Ireland, France, Austria, Germany, and most recently, Italy. She trained with the international organization, The Coaches Training Institute, and completed a year-long certification. Life Coaching became one of her life’s greatest passions. 

In the late 1980’s, Jane became a member of the community at South Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation. She loved singing with Folk Group, participating in Fall and Summer retreats and serving as a Worship Associate. She particularly loved her experiences in the Small Group Ministry. 

In 2013, Jane moved from her home in Dover, NH to an incredible place by the sea at the Drake House in Rye Beach, NH. With her children, Brian and Brigid and her grandson, Gus, nearby, Jane walked the beaches, swam in the Atlantic Ocean, and delighted in the sounds, sights and fragrances of the ocean once more. It was from here that she continued her Life Coaching. 

She loves and is loved by her many friends and her family, her son, Brian Joseph Murray, and his partner, Denise Johannesson, her daughter, Brigid Katherine Murray, and her husband, Michael Coty, her treasured grandson, August (Gus) Hansen Murray, and step-grandson’s, Liam and Conall Johannesson, and her very, very dear friend, Laurie Bilby. 

Here’s to a life well lived! 

ARRANGEMENTS: The family is planning a Memorial Celebration of Life at South Church Unitarian Universalist Church in Portsmouth, NH on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 10:30AM. Please make memorial donations to ACLU and Pathways Portsmouth. Assisting the family with arrangements is the Cremation Society of NH, Hampton. To view Jane's Online Tribute, send condolences to the family, or for more information, visit https://obits.csnh.com/jane-kavanaugh-2024.