29-04-2025
Mass. teen killed in crash was an 'undefeated' athlete, giving and kind to others
Maisey O'Donnell, one of three Concord-Carlisle High School seniors who died in a crash in Florida, was remembered as a gifted athlete, an honors student and led by example, her family said in her obituary.
At around 9:28 p.m. on April 21, James McIntosh, Hannah Wasserman, O'Donnell and a third teenage girl were in an SUV driving west on Route 98 in Walton County, near Panama City Beach, Florida, when they were struck by a tractor-trailer trying to make a U-turn in a paved median, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report obtained by MassLive.
The SUV crossed the median and the highway's eastbound side before stopping along the woodline, police said. Wasserman and McIntosh died, while O'Donnell later died at the hospital, Concord-Carlisle Regional School District Superintendent Dr. Laurie Hunter said in a statement obtained by WCVB-TV. The third teenage girl was last reported in critical condition.
Born Catherine Mason O'Donnell on Oct. 16, 2006, in Nashville, Tennessee, she was raised in Concord, her family wrote.
As a student, she was a two-time Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I State Diving champion, 'undefeated in her junior and senior seasons,' her family continued.
'She was the three-time North Sectionals Champion and Dual County League Champion and a four-year varsity letter winner,' her obituary read. 'In club diving, as a four-year member of Boston Area Diving, she earned [Amateur Athletic Union] All-American honors her junior year and competed at USA Diving Nationals and Red, White, and Blue Nationals.'
O'Donnell was an honors student and a member of the National Honor Society and a National Merit Commended Scholar, her family wrote. She planned to attend Williams College and 'was eagerly looking forward to diving for the Ephs.'
'Maisey was beautiful, inside and out,' her family wrote. 'She was humble, ethical, and highly intelligent. She could perform under pressure and rise to the occasion. She was a tremendous friend, sister, and daughter. She was giving and kind, especially with the many younger divers in the diving community.'
With other divers, she led by example and celebrated others, her family wrote. O'Donnell was a fan of Taylor Swift, loved Crumbl cookies 'and her daily iced coffee,' the obituary read.
'She made sure her hair was done, regardless of how little she had slept,' her family wrote. 'She was a self-described optimist.'
O'Donnell is survived by her parents, Elizabeth O'Donnell and Christoph O'Donnell; her sister Emery 'Emmy' C. O'Donnell; her great-grandfather Thomas L.P. O'Donnell Sr. of Hingham; her grandparents R. Keating Hagmann and Ann R. Hagmann of Cos Cob, Connecticut; her aunts Caroline R. Hagmann of Stamford, Connecticut and Anna C. O'Donnell and her husband Bulent Ceylon of Bangkok, Thailand; her uncle Tilman J. O'Donnell and his wife Melinda Kinnaman of Stockholm, Sweden; and her four cousins.
Visitation hours for family and friends will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 2, at Dee Funeral Home, 27 Bedford St. The funeral Mass will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 3, at St. Bernard's Church at Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square.
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