A lifelong public servant and a friend to all of those she served. The Honorable Karen McCarthy demonstrated compassion for those who felt they had no voice or ability to create positive change. She was renowned in her devotion to education, the environment, and the arts which served as a signature to her public life. This remarkable woman left her earthly body this week so her spirit could soar to rejoin the energy of the eternal. Karen Patricia McCarthy after having for many years quietly coped with a debilitating disease died on October 5. She passed in the same manner she had brought to so many of the causes she had championed: with integrity, dignity, and grace. She was 63. A baby boomer who came of political age in the 1960s, Karen McCarthy would come to shape her times as much as-in her earlier life-the times shaped her. An ardent advocate of full services and rights for Vietnam veterans; she demonstrated uncommon political character when she took the unpopular stand as a Member of Congress to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq. She pioneered the world of politics for women in the Missouri General Assembly and represented all citizens of the state, rising responsibly to the powerful position of Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. She represented the United States at the Kyoto Conference on the global environment, where she continued her work as an early and strong voice warning against global warming and advocating for international collaboration on remedies to fix it. Always an unabashed liberal and never willing to abandon the ideas expressed by the "idealism" of the generation she was proud to represent, Karen McCarthy above all else fought against any barrier that would deny anyone the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential. Always a teacher, ever a friend, perpetually animated about the possibilities of a better tomorrow, Karen McCarthy lived her life in appreciation of each day as though it were her last. Sadly, that day came all too soon.
She leaves behind her sisters Lauren McCarthy, Pamela McCarthy, Barbara Strauss, her nephews Ryan Tucker, Scott Tucker and her devoted friend Tim Colley. Ms. McCarthy was preceded in death by her parents Lawrence A. McCarthy and Veronica B. McCarthy.
A memorial service will be held for Karen McCarthy on Sunday, November 7th 2010 at 2 p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza. Donations can be made to The Karen McCarthy Fund (Through the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation www.gkccf.org), Wayside Waifs, The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, The American Jazz Museum, Landon Center on Aging at the University of Kansas Medical Center. For information about the service contact Unity Temple at 816- 561-4466 or Tim Colley at [email protected].
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