Katherine A. Foley
Katherine A. Foley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 3rd Essex district | |
| In office 1935–1938 | |
| Preceded by | Louis J. Scanlon |
| Succeeded by | Thomas A. Barry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Katherine Alena Carr May 10, 1889 Ireland |
| Died | February 20, 1981 (aged 91) Andover, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Democratic |
Katherine Alena (née Carr) Foley (May 10, 1889 – February 20, 1981) was an Irish-American politician who represented the 3rd Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1935–1938.[1][2] She was the first woman to receive a major party's nomination for statewide office in Massachusetts.
Personal life[edit]
Born in Ireland, she emigrated to Lawrence, Massachusetts as a child.[2] She attended the Lawrence Public Schools and then Cannon's Commercial College.[2] Her husband, Mark Foley, died just before she took her seat in the Massachusetts House.[2] They had three daughters together.[2]
Foley was a member of the St. Clare League of Catholic Women.[2] She died February 20, 1981.[2] Her funeral was held at St. Augustne's Church in Andover, Massachusetts and she was buried at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Lawrence.[2]
Career[edit]
Foley was introduced to politics by her brother Peter Carr, who was a Lawrence alderman, state representative, and state boxing commissioner. During her husband's illness, Foley decided to enter politics as a way to bring in money while her husband was out of work.[3] She ran for, and lost, a seat in the Massachusetts House in 1932, but was victorious in 1934 and reelected in 1936.
In 1938, she sponsored a bill which eliminated breach of promise or "heart balm" suits.[2] That same year she became the first foreign-born woman to preside over a session of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.[4] In 1938 and 1940 she was the Democratic nominee for Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, becoming the first woman to ever win a major party's nomination for statewide office.[2][5] She then served 12 years as directory of the Massachusetts Division of Minimum Wages.[2]
Governor Paul Dever then appointed Foley as the assistant director of labor and industry in 1950.[2] Foley retired in 1953.[2]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "History of Women in the Massachusetts Legislature 1923 – 2015" (PDF). Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Katherine Foley, retired official, two-term legislator in Bay State". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. February 22, 1981. p. 55. Retrieved July 6, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Chocolate Cake Maker for Secretary of State". The Boston Daily Globe. September 25, 1938.
- ^ "Lawrence Woman Legislator Presides During House Debate". The Boston Daily Globe. February 16, 1938.
- ^ Frederic W. Cook, Secretary of the Commonwealth (1941). Election Statistics, 1940. Boston, MA.
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