With empathy and a sense of adventure - plus a touch of mischief - Molly McGovern, 23, collected friends and left behind a raft of memories
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Diagnosed with a rare cancer 5
½
years ago, just after turning 18, Ms. McGovern found ways to manage her medical treatment so she could resume a vigorous life that took her from Worcester to Washington, D.C., and from Boston to Australia and Italy. She flew to Rome Easter Sunday and died April 23 in Assisi, a place of special meaning.
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'Her everyday necklace was a St. Francis medallion,' her mother, Lisa McGovern, said Saturday in a eulogy at a funeral Mass in St. Bernard's Church in Worcester.
'She had a great 23 years, but who would have thought the last five years would be the best,' her mother said. 'There were little miracles everywhere.'
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Those who knew Ms. McGovern best say her presence in their lives had always been its own small miracle.
Her singular focus on those she spoke with was as intense with a stranger on an Australian bus ride, when she was studying abroad, as it was with those she befriended roaming the halls of Congress.
In April, she was vacationing in Italy while finishing a bachelor's degree in political science and international affairs at Northeastern University.
On the day Ms. McGovern died, she exchanged texts with
Long a friend of the Pelosis, Ms. McGovern became even closer to them after Paul Pelosi was assaulted at home in 2022, sending him cards and what she called 'a box of sunshine' filled with items to lift his spirits.
By phone last week, Nancy Pelosi recalled that when she learned Molly had died a few hours after their text exchange, she reached out to her father to say: 'I think his holiness, who was so saintly, decided he wanted another angel in heaven. And that would be Molly, because she was so good.'
'To be honest, my first thought was: 'Oh my God, poor Pope Francis,' ' Jim McGovern joked in his eulogy, adding his daughter would be a livelier angel than the pontiff expected.
A few days before the funeral Mass, he had said in a phone interview that while his daughter would have praised the pope's attentiveness to the marginalized, 'she'd also be saying, 'What's the deal? Why can't women be cardinals?' '
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When Ms. McGovern was a girl, he recalled, a priest asked what she wanted to do when she grew up, 'and she said, 'I want to be a cardinal.' '
Molly McGovern was very close to her parents and brother, US Representative James McGovern, Lisa McGovern, and Patrick McGovern, pictured here on Chatham's beach in December 2023.
Courtesy McGovern Family
Her own life mission, family and friends said, was standing up for anyone who needed a friend, especially if they were being picked on.
'She hated bullies, she hated cruelty, and she wanted everyone to love each other,' said her father, a 15-term Democrat from Worcester.
'The empathy piece — that really sticks out,' said Madeleine Gearan, who is Kathleen's sister and Ms. McGovern's other roommate. 'She cared so much about people: just unconditional love.'
Molly Ginette McGovern, whose middle name was her maternal grandmother's Ukrainian birth name, was born in Washington on July 25, 2001.
Ms. McGovern's mother is executive director of the
Throughout her life, Ms. McGovern was very close to her parents and her brother, Patrick.
'We loved to be together and we were cozy like puppies,' Lisa said. 'I never took that for granted, and I never stopped being surprised by it. What a gift that is.'
Patrick, who is three years older, said by phone that his sister 'is truly is my best friend. She's my favorite person.'
In his eulogy, he said that 'Molly's heart is so big, and she went out of her way every single day to share that love with everybody she met. I've never met such contagious, inclusive love and she had so much of it. For those on the receiving end of it, it was the best feeling in the world.'
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They spoke daily by FaceTime or phone. And they streamed movies simultaneously so they could watch together, even when they were in different cities, counting down '3, 2, 1' before pressing play.
A multi-sport athlete, Ms. McGovern joined the girls' hockey team at St. John's College High School in Washington.
'She was such a passionate sports fan,' her mother said. 'We would go to fund-raisers and she'd be sitting there with a bunch of 50-year-old men and could talk sports with them at their level or beyond.'
For Ms. McGovern, though, the Bruins reigned supreme among Boston teams. She had planned to work for the team this summer, her father said.
When the family traveled to Italy after she died, and retraced her final days, they toasted her memory with what her friends called 'Molly Aperol spritzes' — prosecco and Aperol aperitif, hold the soda water.
'I'm going to honor her by living life the way she did — spreading positivity, friendship, and love,' Patrick said in his eulogy. 'Go visit that friend. Call that family member. Pet that dog. Drink that second aperol spritz.'
Most who met Ms. McGovern had no idea she had cancer.
'She always looked great,' her father said in his eulogy. 'She decided to treat her cancer as merely a nuisance.'
And if a health matter emerged in a social setting, her self-effacing humor put others at ease. Now and then a prosthetic tooth, which she needed after a cancer treatment side effect, slipped out. As her brother or friends searched for it on the floor or in a car, Ms. McGovern entertained them by making goofy, missing-tooth faces.
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'She loved creating a funny moment for people,' Madeleine said, 'and she knew how to do it like no one else.'
In addition to her parents and brother, Ms. McGovern leaves her paternal grandmother, Mindy Konopka McGovern of Worcester.
Ms. McGovern, her father recalled, 'ended every conversation and every text with, 'Love ya.' '
Democratic presidential hopeful US Sen. Hillary Clinton greeted Molly McGovern, daughter of US Rep. Jim McGovern during a rally at Clark University Feb, 4, 2008 in Worcester.Those who had loved her back and attended her funeral Mass included Pelosi, a long list of current and former US senators and representatives, and Bill Clinton. In 2008, 6-year-old Molly was photographed on stage with Hillary Clinton as Representative McGovern endorsed Clinton's presidential primary bid.
'This was for all of us a death in the family,' Pelosi said in the interview. 'Molly was a ray of light on earth like none other.'
The outpouring from those whose lives Ms. McGovern touched has been gratifying, her parents said.
'She was unbelievably inspiring because of her courage and her ability to deal with life, with all she was going through. Her presence always brought joy into the world, and that's what I miss right now,' her father said.
'I feel Molly every day,' her mother said. 'I know she's with us.'
Bryan Marquard can be reached at
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