Mary Margaret Hartigan 1914-2003

HARTIGAN, KAVANAGH

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/8/2008 at 00:32:27

Sioux City Journal
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

UTE, Iowa -- Mary Margaret Hartigan, 89, of Ute died Saturday, Nov. 8, 2003, at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa.

Services will be 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ute, with the Rev. Richard Ball officiating. Burial will be in St. Clair Cemetery, Ute. Visitation will begin at 3 p.m. today, with a vigil wake service at 7:30 p.m. with the Rev. Edward Murray officiating, at Armstrong Funeral Home in Ute.

Mary Margaret Hartigan was born June 25, 1914, in Ute, the daughter of James S. and Mamie (Kavanagh) Hartigan. She was baptized and confirmed at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ute. She attended Ute Public School and graduated with the class of 1931. She continued with post-graduate courses the following year.
Mary Margaret taught rural school at District 1, five miles south of Ute, for two years while attending the summer sessions for teacher training. She attended Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and graduated with a degree in social studies. She was a member of the Kappa Zetta Kappa Sorority while there. She received a fellowship to attend Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., earning a master's degree in administration.

She recently recalled how her journey from Ute when her father drove her to Denison to board the Greyhound bus to continue her trip for a couple of days when she arrived in Syracuse.

She went to Washington, D.C., and was employed by Sears Roebuck and Company as personnel manager for five years. She then moved to New York City and was employed with American Airlines for five years as personnel manager. While there, she prepared its personnel manual which raised the level of the women on its staff.

For several years Mary Margaret was employed by the Rueben H. Donnelly Advertising Company. While in New York, she attended Fordham University and graduated with a master's degree in social service. She continued working in the social service field as a family counselor and with the Catholic Archdiocese of New York until her retirement.

At that time, she moved to Omaha where she lived for two years and then returned to Maryland to be near her two sisters in Washington, D.C. In 1998 she moved to Ute with her sisters and was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Mary Margaret was active in civil rights programs and belonged to the Pax Christi Movement for peace.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James S. and Mamie (Kavanagh) Hartigan; and her brother, Jimmie. Her two sisters, Elizabeth Ann and Catherine Rose Hartigan, remain living in Ute.

Mary Margaret has said she "had a wonderful life" and it was a rewarding one!