Maria E. Kane, M.D. of Wellesley (known as Kenia to her friends and family) passed away peacefully at her home, with her husband at her side, on October 18, 2026.
She was an only child, born on October 8, 1932, in Le Havre, France. This port, located on the English Channel, was severely destroyed during WWII. After being resurrected from its ashes with modern construction, it was designated a heritage site by UNESCO, but the quaint and charming place that she left as a child would never be back in her eyes.
Her father was Jorge Caro Putnam, Colombian member of the Diplomatic Corps in Le Havre. Her mother, Andrée Jacq, was born into a large family in Le Havre.
The happy childhood she had was interrupted in 1940, when the NAZI invasion finally occupied Le Havre and her family joined the general exodus. Some months later they sailed to Colombia, S.A., from Portugal, leaving behind the destruction and the horrors of that war.
At the age of 8, she and her parents settled on a farm in the Colombian countryside, where she had to learn horseback riding, the Spanish language and the basics of French grammar, from her mother. who had been a teacher. She thoroughly enjoyed those peaceful days.
When her family moved to the city Bogotá, she attended the French Lyceum, where she excelled in her studies, obtained a Baccalaureate and was chosen the Valedictorian of her class. She gained admission to Medical School and graduated as an M.D. in 1956. During those years of medical education she wrote numerous articles in the field of Public Health that were published in the major newspapers of Bogotá, where she created a column called “El Correo de la Salud,” under the penname of “Kenia.”
With a year-long scholarship from the French Government, she began her medical specialty in Pediatrics in Paris, at the Children’s Hospital. Later, she pursued her training in Bogota, Colombia, and finally in the United States, in Boston, where she finished her Residency in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital. Soon after, she met James Patrick Kane M.D. at Salem Hospital. After a few years of professional and military duties passed, they were very happily married for 57 years.
During her career she earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health at Harvard University, while she remained dedicated to her work in Pediatrics, for more than 50 years, in private practice as well as in Health Clinics, and all the major Boston Hospitals, until she retired at the age of 85. In all those years she was able to admirably maintain an optimistic, happy manner with her coworkers and patients. Her last ten years as a Pediatrician were dedicated to the healthcare of the students at the Rotenberg Education Center, in Canton, Massachusetts.
In addition to her professional activities, she enjoyed widespread traveling throughout Europe with her husband, competitive tennis that she played for more than 30 years, photography, baking, literature, poetry, classical music (joining the Wellesley Choral Society many years ago) and Symphony Hall concerts.
She is survived by her husband, James P. Kane, M.D.; her daughter, Joëlle Kane Arnott in France, her husband, John Arnott, their children, Sol and Alexander; by her son, Ian, in Pittsburgh, his wife, Lori, their children, Johnny and Artie; by her daughter, Patricia Kane, in Tucson, and Martha Kane, in Maine, the widow of our deceased son, Andrew, and their children, Rebecca, Sarah, Adam and Daniel.
Visitation at the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington St. Wellesley on Tuesday, October 27, from 4-7pm. Funeral from the funeral home on Wednesday, October 28, at 9am followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Paul Church, 502 Washington St. Wellesley at 10am. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Interment in Woodlawn Cemetery, Wellesley.