The Valley music scene lost a well-respected voice last weekend with the death of Kevin O’Hare, a long-time music writer for the Springfield Republican.
The Republican has published several pieces about O’Hare by his friends and colleagues, including this one by Ray Kelly, who calls O’Hare “a gifted writer, loving family man and loyal friend,” and this one, by Tommy Shea, who writes that O’Hare “was one of those rare people who, the better you get to know them, the more you like them. He had this innate generosity that assured there was no mistaking where he came from: Holyoke.”
Shea also thanks O’Hare for a musical tip he gave him back in the mid-’70s: “Telling me about Bruce Springsteen was the first of many gifts Kevin O’Hare gave me.”
The 55-year-old O’Hare is survived by his wife and three sons.
He will be waked this evening, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Barry J. Farrell Funeral Home, 2049 Northampton St., Holyoke, and buried after a funeral mass tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at Our Lady of the Valley Church, 33 Adams St., Easthampton.
An education fund for O’Hare’s sons has been established. Donations can be sent to Freedom Credit Union, 422B Main St., Easthampton, MA 01027 or Holyoke Medical Center, 575 Beech St., Holyoke, MA 01040.
