Felecia Mahaffie was small, but her impact on children was huge.
Mahaffie, a longtime counselor to troubled youth, died unexpectedly July 26 of constrictive pulmonary disease. She was 49.
Mahaffie, who worked at Mount St. Vincent Home for 18 years, had just arrived home from work when she collapsed, said her sister Deon, of Lakewood.
Felecia Mahaffie was born with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and had several back surgeries in order “to live a relatively normal life, which she did,” said her sister. She was 4-feet-7 — often the size of children she counseled and shorter than some.
“There was a lot of toughness packed into every inch of her little body,” Erica Stetson said in her eulogy for Mahaffie. Stetson is a school psychologist who formerly worked at Mount St. Vincent, a Denver home for children who are victims of child abuse, neglect or trauma, or kids with mental illnesses.
Mahaffie had the idea of bringing in trained therapy dogs to work with the children.
“There’s something about animals that is uplifting,” said Deon Mahaffie. “They are always happy to see you.”
Felecia Mahaffie was just beginning a program to use trained horses in therapy.
“Kids find relationships with animals easier to navigate,” said Kirk Ward, clinical director at Mount St. Vincent.
“The kids loved her,” said Sister Amy Willcott, executive director of the home. “She was a great spirit, was upbeat, and she delighted in life,” she said.
“She was a mommy to hundreds of children” who had been at Mount St. Vincent, Stetson said in her eulogy.
Stetson said in an interview that most people who work with troubled youth can’t do it for long periods “because it is emotionally draining. The kids have been bounced around and had a lot of chaos and craziness in their lives.” But Mahaffie never seemed to lose her ability to keep going.
A fund for the support of animal-assisted therapy has been set up in her honor, said Mount St. Vincent communications director Dennis Kennedy.
Felecia Mahaffie was born in Denver on Feb. 18, 1962. After high school, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Northern Colorado and a master’s in social work at the University of Denver. She earned a certificate in animal-assisted therapy.
She worked as a counselor at Samaritan House, a homeless shelter in downtown Denver, and worked in Japan teaching English before going to Mount St. Vincent Home 18 years ago.
In addition to her sister, she is survived by her mother, Norma Bolen of Lakewood, and another sister, Marsha McKay of Joyce, Wash.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
Other Deaths
Charles L. Gittens, 82, who in 1956 became the first black Secret Service agent, died July 27 in Maryland.
According to an obituary in the Herald-Sun of Durham, N.C., Gittens joined the agency in 1956 and was assigned to the Charlotte, N.C., office. He also worked in the New York City office, investigating counterfeiting and bank fraud.
Fluent in Spanish, Gittens also worked in the San Juan, Puerto Rico, bureau and was assigned to the D.C. office in 1969. He retired in 1979. He then worked for the Department of Justice, where he investigated war criminals who were living in the U.S.
Paid obituaries 8B
