A Monroeville woman who died after she was hit by a shuttle bus in Oakland Thursday was a retired Air Force officer, according to family members.
Retired Lt. Col. Mary “Jeanne” Flaherty, 76, was struck in the 3400 block of Terrace Street around 3:30 p.m., the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said Friday.
Lt. Col. Flaherty served in Korea and in various military posts throughout the U.S. during her 27-year career, providing services in logistics, supply, and communications. She retired in 1997, her family said.
According to her sister, attorney Susan L.Q. Flaherty, of Washington, D.C., the Pittsburgh native served honorably in the military. It was one of her "greatest prides," she said.
"She was born on D-Day, the day of the invasion of Europe, so we always joked in the family that she was destined to be in the military," Ms. Flaherty said during a phone interview Friday. "[Mary] always wanted to serve early on. As number four of nine daughters, she was one of the sweetest of us all. She's always been in the Pittsburgh area unless she was commissioned elsewhere.”
Ms. Flaherty said her sister achieved specialties in administration, public affairs, communications and logistics in the Air Force.
“We really would like everyone to know that Jeanne is not some elderly lady who fell under a bus,” Ms. Flaherty said. “She was quite active and a solid citizen. She spent her entire career in the military. She was first commissioned in 1970 and retired in July 1997. She served very honorably and she was very proud.”
Lt. Col. Flaherty graduated in 1962 from Turtle Creek High School, and was instrumental in helping stop a proposed demolition of the former high school building in 2005. She joined a committee that successfully had the school placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“She had a remarkable ability to digest complex federal regulations,” Ms. Flaherty said. Her “knowledge in that area helped to save the high school building. She was very proud to have been involved in that.”
Ms. Flaherty said one of her sister’s hobbies was researching the history of women pilots from the WWII era. “After her retirement, she would go around the country to interview the former pilots. Following her military career, she also served at Meals on Wheels for a number of years. She always kept busy with things she liked in the community and she chose not to take on a second career.”
Lacretia Wimbley: 412-263-1510, lwimbley@post-gazette.com or follow @Wimbleyjourno on Twitter.
First Published: September 19, 2020, 4:00 a.m.
