Jessica Salisbury Maher

Friday, Jan. 27, 2017

April 2, 1941 – Jan. 1, 2017

Jessica Salisbury Maher passed away peacefully on Jan. 1, 2017.  

The only child of Carrie and John Thomas Salisbury, she was born on April 2, 1941 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

She left Brooklyn at the age of 21 to go to medical school in Miami. Just six months from completing medical school she got a blood clot and they wouldn’t let her be a doctor. She married John Paul Maher on June 10, 1978 in Miami. She held four master’s degrees: in theology, philosophy, chemistry and health services.  

Jessica worked as a laboratory technician at Intermountain Healthcare. She was also a medical technical scientist at ARUP for 20 years.

She was a devout Catholic and a parishioner at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. Jessica was responsible for two major projects for the Catholic Church: the hospital ministry program, with which she visited hospital patients for more than 20 years, and she also started a Christmas project. In 2010 she became a lay ecclesiastical minister.

Jessica will be remembered as someone who loved all people and for her faith in God. She was a dear friend and neighbor, and will be dearly missed.

She is survived by stepchildren Kenneth Eugene Maher of Salt Lake City and Paula Maher of Maryland; and cousin Margaret O’Donnell. She was preceded in death by her husband.

A funeral Mass was celebrated on Jan. 12 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

Online condolences may be offered at www.starksfuneral.com.