Mary Catherine McCarthy

Mary Catherine McCarthy and family (summer 2008)

Mary Catherine, 1950 (daughter of Don and Bonnie McCarthy)

Her father’s favourite… Mary Catherine married Skip McCarthy (nee Fruechtenicht), with whom she lived in British Columbia during the early 1970s, before moving to Ottawa and Toronto.  She worked for many years as a laboratory technologist at the Ottawa Civic Hospital, here she became a union activist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). She has been on staff with CUPE since 1998.  She has a keen interest in art and gardening and currently lives in Ottawa with her partner Jim Stewart and their two feline friends Ali and Mouche.

She and Skip have two children:

1. Krista, 1970, is married to Charles Devine, with whom she lives in Ottawa.  After completing a BA (Honours, Political Science), MA (Public Policy and Administration) and LLB, Krista joined the “family business” (labour unions) and currently works for the Public Service Alliance of Canada as a Grievance and Adjudication Officer.
2. Liam, 1973, also works for Public Service Alliance of Canada. He ran for the Ontario provincial legislature in the riding of Windsor West in 1999 and travelled throughout the USA, Scotland, Greece and South Africa as president of the University of Windsor’s debating society.  He lives in Ottawa with his wife Melissa Ferland and their three children:
   • Abigael Dora Catherine, 2005
   • Agnes Veronica Grace, 2008
   • Emmett Augustin Blaise, 2010