WESTERLO — “Maureen Hoey Duffy, 74, entered Eternal Life on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025 at home,” her family wrote in a tribute.

She was born on April 11, 1951, and grew up in Maspeth, Queens, New York. Thomas Hoey, who was born in Co. Leitrim, Ireland, and Mary Kelly Hoey, who was born in County Mayo, Ireland, were her parents.

“Maureen joins her husband Martin G. Duffy, who died on June 6, 2021, and will always remain forever loved and missed by her surviving three children: Bernard John Duffy (Molly), Maureen Emily Strode (Ray), and Martin Joseph Duffy (Danielle) and six grandchildren: Bernard Francis, Caitlin, Margaret, Rose, and Martin Aurelien, and Angelina. She is also survived by her sister Margaret Rose McGlynn (Tom) and her brothers Thomas Hoey (Leah) and Peter Hoey (Geraldine.)

“Maureen was a deeply intelligent and strong woman who lived an inspiring life of service to others,” her family wrote. “She completed two degrees in nursing, an undergraduate degree at Hunter College and a graduate degree at New York University, and was an accomplished registered nurse dedicated to the practice of nursing and public health.

“She was one of the youngest head nurses on the floor at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Her care and advocacy for her patients was extraordinary — for example, she bravely cared for and held the hands of AIDS patients during the early AIDS crisis in New York City, before the disease had a name or was fully understood.

“This all while raising a young family. Later, the family moved upstate and she worked as an RN at Albany Medical Center, taught students at Albany Memorial Hospital, and served New York State as an administrator at the Department of Health for many years.

“Her dedication to public health continued into her retirement; she volunteered at the Schoharie County vaccination clinics in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, and she served as a contact tracer in the Albany County Medical Reserve Corps during the darkest days of the COVID pandemic.

“Maureen was a voracious reader, a prolific and talented knitter and crocheter, a brilliant and well-reasoned thinker with a strong sense of justice and morals, and a deeply caring and loving mother, friend, sister, and daughter.”