Meet the fabulous Anne McCormack:
democrat, feminist, activist, wife, and MOM
As a young woman in the 1960s, Anne turned her frustration with the status quo
into a decades-long career in politics.
She continues to serve her community with passion and dedication, even after retiring!
Read more about Anne's journey -
written by her formerly-ungrateful and now-humbled eldest child.
This is Anne Mccormack, my mother.
She has been an activist for women's rights her entire adult life. Recently, I went through an album of pictures and speeches from all her political stuff and realized she'd done a lot more than I was even aware of.
Things I do remember:
- going to women's lib meetings with her (smoky rooms, lots of women);
- working on her school committee campaigns;
- all the other politicians being men;
- sending in an absentee ballot to vote for her for state senate (so exciting!!!).
So I decided to ask her about all her work. Here's what I found out:
Positions Held
- School Committee, Ward 4, City of Brockton, Mass. (elected and re-elected!);
- Member, Cultural Affairs Committee, City of Brockton;
- Water Resources Officer, City of Brockton;
- Planner for Old Colony Planning Council;
- School-to-Career Advisor, State of Massachusetts;
- Cultural Affairs Director, Brockton Mayor’s Office;
- Director, Brockton Council on Aging (COA).
Key Accomplishments
- Facilitated a gender-balanced curriculum in the Brockton School System;
- Was one of the first women elected to office in Brockton;
- Was invited by a state congresswoman to speak about the ERA at "women's lib" meetings;
- Researched and helped implement Project Grad, a childcare program at the high school so teen moms could stay in school and get their diplomas;
- Under her leadership, the formerly-dismal annual Brockton Summerfest became a huge event with performances by local and national artists, music, dance, crafts, food, and thousands of attendees;
- Enrolled in, moved into a dorm at, and graduated from Smith College, class of 1988;
- Ran for Massachusetts State Senate, 1994;
- Developed and directed the COA Senior Center;
- Was at the center of a bonafide political scandal!!! (she was the hero)
To say I am humbled is an understatement. Through her work, Anne has positively impacted hundreds, if not thousands of kids who went through the Brockton School System in a very real way. As one of the city's first female elected officials, she was (and remains) a role model for every woman in the city of Brockton. As interim director of the city's Council on Aging, she enriched the lives of countless seniors.
She never asked permission. She was never deterred. She moved gracefully through every door, always looking smart and capable in her beautiful suits.
Anne's Childhood and Education
Anne was born in 1938, to Howard and Mae (Crowley) McViney in Jamaica Plain (just outside Boston). Her dad was a Boston police officer and mum was a homemaker. Sister Penny was born 17 months later. Sister Ginny came along in 1947.
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| Anne and Penny on the left, Mae on her wedding day on the right. |
I had a fairly normal childhood. Lots of kids in the neighborhood. The 2nd world war was going on but, as kids, we did not think about it. Occasionally, military bombers used to fly over our house. Once, a fake bomb was dropped on Gail Martin’s house. I was learning how to read, so I tried to read the headlines in the newspaper, "BABOOOMBS OVER GERMANY." My mother talked about it for years.
Elementary school was around the corner, the Ellis Mendell till 6th grade. Theodore Roosevelt Junior High.
I went to Jamaica Plain High School, where my typing teacher, Mr Bond, was also my law teacher. He told me I was the best law student he ever had, but the worst typist. He suggested I might want to become a legal secretary.
Hmmmmm. I hated high school.
While in high school I worked at Jordan Marsh making $13.00 a week. Half went to mum. I met your father while in my senior year. He took me to my prom. Upon graduation I went to work for the telephone company.
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| Anne sewed her wedding dress - and all its tiny little pearl beads - by hand. NO MACHINE! |
With three very small children at home, Anne took one class per semester at the local community college. It took ten years to earn her associate's degree. In 1986, she moved out of the house and into a dorm room at Smith College. She graduated with her bachelor's degree in 1988 with her daughter, Suzanne.
Feminism and Politics
It seems as if my mother has always been surrounded by girls and women. She grew up with two sisters and her mother in the home, with a dad who worked nights and slept days. Then she gave birth to three daughters of her own. By the time she had us, her sister Penny had already had two daughters (later followed by more girls and boys).She loved us girls. Every day (it seems) she would tell us, "you don't need a man to be complete. You are complete just as you are."
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| grandmothers, aunts, mothers, sisters, nieces, and daughters Anne made her coat and our coats and dresses in that left photo. |
We knew that this was not a reminder of our limitations, but a silent manifesto.
She showed us HOW to rise above those limitations - ignore them - march right through them until they no longer existed.
And we all did. Without ever questioning it.
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| This ad was created by Anne Tolstoi Wallach, then of the J. Walter Thompson Ad Agency. Anne sewed this awesome pink coat AND all of our dresses. I wore that Red Sox cap for five years, apparently. |
When did you first become aware of gender inequality?
I think I became aware of the gender inequality when I worked for New England Telephone Company in the late 1950s - early 1960s. There were two things:
- First, there was a woman (Grace) who had at least 30 years experience in our office. A new manager, a man, was brought in and Grace had to train him to be her boss.
- Second, I wanted to buy a house in Marshfield (Massachusetts) for $23,000. I went to the telephone credit union. Even though I had worked for the company for 5 years and made a good salary, I was denied because I was a single woman.
I remember going to several "women's lib" meetings with you in the 1970s, when i was pretty young (8-10 years old, i think?). What was that about? I remember smoky rooms and lots and lots of women.
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| 1960s Anne and 1970s Anne She made the pink ensemble in the left photo and Suzanne and Kara's dresses in the right photo. I remember Mum's granny dress (right photo) vividly. They were very popular then. I thought it was so glamourous. |
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| all the family and neighborhood kids were nvolved in the school committee campaigns. she won by a lot, both times she ran! |
You ran for state senate at one point, almost beating a conservative democrat incumbent. When was that?
1994. 19 candidates thru out the state ran against supporters of billy bugler. I ran against mike creedon.
Anne's Very Own Political Scandal
There was a bit of a kerfuffle when you took over as Director for the Council on Aging. What was all that about?
I was the interim director of the Council on Aging and instituted a lot of popular programs. The mayor announced his intention to appoint a family member of a local politician to the permanent position. The seniors on the board didn't like this and organized a protest that i didn't know about until later.
The board was adamant they would accept no one but your mum.
The board was adamant they would accept no one but your mum.
The event was actually quite spicy, meriting THREE articles in the Brockton Enterprise. The following account was paraphrased from these three articles. The articles (with the greatest headlines ever) are:
Brockton seniors walk out in protest!
Brockton elderly blast hiring process!
Seniors take charge of COA!
All written by Elaine Allegrini, Enterprise staff writer
Anne served as interim director of the Council on Aging (COA) for several months after the former director retired. She applied for the permanent position. A five-member screening committee (selected by COA Chairman Ralph Tamalonis) was to select one candidate to recommend to the COA board of directors at a Monday morning meeting. The board would then vote to accept or reject the recommendation.
While attending a COA volunteer luncheon the week prior, Anne received (unsolicited) advance word that she was NOT to be recommended for the post. Instead, the committee was recommending the husband of a city councilwoman. As news spread through the room, the seniors became enraged and more than half walked out in protest. Because they all loved my mother!
"It was the best volunteer luncheon that I have been to until a black cloud came over the room," said 20-year volunteer Lucy Low.
Seniors and senior center employees said she “brought new life to the Senior Center. Since Anne has been here, we feel we have a senior center that is ours, to come and socialize, to be informed on different issues that affect our lives, to be heard and included in some decisions. Since Anne can give all of this to us in such a very short time, we want her for our director. Don't give us a taste of something real good and then take it away from us to go back to the old ways."
An emergency COA meeting was called for the next evening. At least 60 seniors showed up to speak to the board, charging that a politically-connected person was being maneuvered into the position, possibly by COA Chairman Ralph Tamolonis! Some said the candidate was promised the job even before former director retired. The board suggested that they would not accept this candidate, and the whole group decided to attend the Monday morning meeting, en masse, to keep an eye on things.
Ralph Tamolonis was extremely surprised to see 100 elders show up to the Monday morning board meeting. As the seniors watched, four of the board members, allegedly hand picked by Tamolonis, voted in favor of the recommended candidate, while the other seven voted against.
The board voted to give Anne the job.
Tamalonis resigned.
Anne served as director for many years until her retirement. She continues to volunteer at the senior center.
Wow, indeed.
In a Nutshell:
A Woman's Ticket to Freedom
Anne's main focus was equal rights for women.
Her strategy for rising above the limitations of gender was to use ALL resources at her disposal, mainly education, fashion, and the arts. And her mission was to make sure ALL children had access to these resources.
Education
Anne sees education as the great equalizer, enabling anyone to rise above the limitations of gender or economic status. Education remains a fundamental right.She signed us up for music and ballet lessons, always classical. She taught us that you must have an understanding of fundamental rules and techniques before you could cleverly break them. We learned how to sew and cook at a very young age and did these things all throughout our childhoods.
Where she saw inequality in the curriculum, she took action to correct it. She served in the PTA and was elected twice to the school committee, speaking frequently about gender issues. She was not fooling around. She was not asking permission.
Fashion
Fashion was a very important tool for my mother. She would save for months and then take us with her to the Rendezvous Boutique to pick out a beautiful wool suit or a silk blouse (ALWAYS natural fibers). She taught me that a well-tailored suit elicited respect and trust.Her suits all had skirts and she would wear a beautiful, feminine blouse with them. She wrote these items off as business expenses on her taxes, which was common for men at that time (not sure if you can still do this). I remember feeling that this was a rare validation by the powers-that-be of women in the workplace.
She made a lot of her own clothes, including her wedding dress, and she made most of our clothes, especially when we were very little. They were beautiful. She was very proud of this and taught us to say, "thank you, my mother made it" to every compliment on our outfits.
All of this taught me that woman don't have to try to look like men or be like men to be successful. Woman are capable of anything AS WOMEN. And womanly things are valuable and worthy of being elevated.
The Arts
Because the arts were considered to be a feminine realm at that time, there was great opportunity for leadership, upward mobility, and facilitating positive change.
Anne recognized this and jumped right in, first as a member of the cultural affairs committee for the city, and later as director. Hundreds of artists, performers, musicians, chefs, and service people, the majority of whom were women, also reaped the benefits of Anne's leadership, finding a venue for their arts and services within their own communities.
Life lessons from mum:
- men and women have equal intellectual capacities;
- education is the ticket to freedom;
- woman's work is valuable work;
- you are complete all on your own;
- you don't need permission;
- never question if you are capable of something - just find a way to do it;
- money is NEVER a limiting factor;
- If you can't afford it, find another way;
- If you can't buy it, make it;
- Use every resource at your disposal;
- fashion is an important strategic tool;
- it's better to have a few high-quality pieces in your closet than a bunch of cheap stuff;
- natural fibers are the only reasonable fibers;
- Don't mess with the seniors.
end note:
the dnc has recently decided that they would support pro-life democratic candidates.
after a lifetime of hard work, activism, and service as a democrat, my mother is informed by her party that she is a second-class citizen.
this is a betrayal. and this is appalling.
the dnc has recently decided that they would support pro-life democratic candidates.
after a lifetime of hard work, activism, and service as a democrat, my mother is informed by her party that she is a second-class citizen.
this is a betrayal. and this is appalling.
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