Abigail Quigley McCarthy (April 16, 1915 – February 1, 2001) was an American academic and writer, and the wife of politician and presidential contender

Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...

. She predeceased her estranged husband by almost five years.

Early life and education

Abigail Quigley was born in

Wabasha, Minnesota Wabasha is a city and the county seat of Wabasha County, Minnesota. The population was 2,559 at the time of the 2020 census. It is on the Mississippi River, near its confluence with the Zumbro River. Name Wabasha is named after the Mdewakanton ...

, April 16, 1915. She graduated as a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from the College of St. Catherine (now

St. Catherine University St. Catherine University (St. Kate's) is a private Catholic university in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was established as one of the first institutions of higher learning specifically for women in the Midwest and was known as the College of St. ...

) in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

in 1936. She received her M.A. from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1942 and did postgraduate work at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and the Middlebury School of English.

Career

McCarthy was a Catholic author, educator, and activist. She wrote several successful books and was a regular columnist for ''

Commonweal Commonweal or common weal may refer to: * Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community * Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group * ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...

'', a liberal Catholic magazine, from 1974 to 1999. She wrote reviews for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

''. She wrote a memoir entitled "Private Faces, Public Places", first published in 1972. She founded and was first president of "Church Women United", a lay Catholic group. In 1986 she co-authored a novel titled ''One Woman Lost'' with

Jane Muskie Jane Frances Muskie (''née'' Gray; February 12, 1927 – December 25, 2004) was an American civic leader and writer who, as the wife of Edmund Muskie, served as First Lady of Maine from 1955 to 1959. She was an active campaigner for her husband ...

Personal life

She met her future husband while working as a teacher in

Mandan, North Dakota Mandan is a city on the eastern border of Morton County and the eighth-largest city in North Dakota. Founded in 1879 on the west side of the upper Missouri River, it was designated in 1881 as the county seat of Morton County. The population was ...

. They married on June 5, 1945, in

. Their first home was in

Watkins, Minnesota Watkins is a city in Meeker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 962 at the 2010 census. History A post office has been in operation at Watkins since 1887. Watkins was named by railroad officials. Geography According to the Uni ...

, at an agriculture commune formed by Catholic couples. Following their separation, they lived separately, though they never divorced. They had five children: Christopher Joseph McCarthy (April 30, 1946 – April 30, 1946), Michael Benet McCarthy, Ellen McCarthy, Margaret Alice McCarthy, and Mary Abigail McCarthy (died July 28, 1990). McCarthy died in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

on February 1, 2001, at her home on

Connecticut Avenue Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was o ...

. The Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women was established at her alma mater, St. Catherine University, in her honor.

References

External links

*
Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women
', St Catherine University, Minnesota *

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Abigail 1915 births 2001 deaths People from Wabasha, Minnesota American columnists American religious writers Schoolteachers from North Dakota 20th-century American women educators St. Catherine University alumni University of Minnesota alumni Writers from Minnesota Journalists from Washington, D.C. American women columnists Women religious writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American politicians People from Meeker County, Minnesota American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Catholics from Minnesota 20th-century American educators