Esme Cahill

Esme MacKinnon Cahill, spouse of the late Reverend Edward Cahill, died 8 July 2018.

Born in Nova Scotia in January 1927 to Herbert and Marie MacKinnon, she grew up in North Easton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Boston University.

She married the Reverend Edward Cahill in 1955, and became the full-time stepmother of his daughter Linda. He was serving a UU church in Charlotte, North Carolina, before moving to churches in Atlanta, Georgia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1969 he came to serve the UU church of Concord, New Hampshire.

Esme was an active minister’s spouse. She wrote and spoke of her experiences with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s church and the turbulent civil rights era. She served in many capacities, especially in the UU Church of Concord. She was Chair of the Prudential Committee, and actively worked on the Finance, Caring, and Long Term Planning committees.

She worked professionally her entire life. She did significant public health research with the Survey Research Center, U of Michigan, and co-authored an early study useful in the evolution of managed care. She worked with the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta and the School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. In Concord, she was a freelance contractor to survey research companies before working for the Digital Equipment Corporation. She retired in 1992.

Esme had a passionate interest in arts and crafts. She became an accomplished silver jewelry maker and taught classes as well as served on the board of the Arts Council of Greater Concord and the Concord Arts & Crafts Council. Her other community service activities included serving on the Board of the N.H. Mental Health Association and as a consumer representative at the United Health System Agency. In her later years, Esme most enjoyed her volunteer work and friends with the Hopkinton Town Library.

Ms. Cahill leaves her stepdaughter and son-in law, Linda and Dennis Brunn, her granddaughter Jennifer and her husband Ecco Adler, her great grandson, Nico Adler, and her nieces Beth Hemmert, Ellen Muehlenberger and their families.

The family suggests memorial donations to the ACLU or to the Hopkinton Town Library.