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Father Robert LaSalle Mackesy, M.M., who was a missioner to Hawaii, died July 24 at St. Teresa's Residence in Ossining. He was 90. In 1956, Father Mackesy received his first overseas assignment to Hawaii. He worked at various parishes in Honolulu, Kona, Papaaloa and Honokaa during his 25 years there. While at Honokaa, he supervised the construction of a multiuse building that included classrooms for religious education and instituted a chartered school bus service to shuttle elementary and high school children to the facility. With the help of sugar plantation workers and other volunteers, he ran the annual Honokaa Fair as a fundraiser to maintain several parish facilities and to help support the sisters working in the parish. Returning to the United States in 1975 for health reasons, Father Mackesy served at a parish in Pepperell, Mass. In 1978, he was reassigned to Hawaii where he worked at a parish in Kamuela until 1985. Earlier, he served in Massachusetts, California and Chicago doing mission promotion and vocation work. He served as Maryknoll's director of vocations from 1949 until 1951. Born in Lynn, Mass., Father Mackesy entered Maryknoll in 1938 and was ordained in 1947. He held a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining. He is survived by two sisters, Claire Mackesy and Ursula Saulnier. A Funeral Mass was offered July 31 at Queen of Apostles chapel with burial at Maryknoll cemetery.
