I was deeply saddened to read of Margaret Heckler’s death (“Lawmaker, diplomat, breaker of barriers,” Page A1, Aug. 7). Her life was a study in greatness among 20th-century women. Your obituary chronicled her many firsts and highlighted her profound achievements on behalf of society’s forgotten. A tough Irish Catholic girl who scrapped her way to the top, Peg Heckler, née Margaret Mary O’Shaughnessy, was one of a kind.
I had the great privilege of serving as a campaign aide to Mrs. Heckler in 1978, a congressional election in which she demolished her male Democrat challenger by 2 to 1. Neither before nor since have I come to know a more inspiring woman. Mrs. Heckler was a tiger, all 5 feet 6 inches of her (in spike heels).
Margaret Heckler lived her Catholic faith. She used her hard-won success to help the less fortunate. It is disappointing that the so-called women’s movement turned its back on her. But the last thing Margaret Mary O’Shaughnessy ever needed was some faux feminist group’s approval. She showed what a determined woman could do against daunting odds. Margaret Heckler’s story deserves a place in textbooks among America’s finest.
Peter J. Cotch
Rockport