McNamara's Blog
A lawyer by profession, the first woman to be appointed Assistant District Attorney in Kings County and a leader in the fight for women’s suffrage, Helen P. McCormick (in private life Mrs. Patrick Toole) is identified with diocesan history as the founder of the Catholic Big Sisters. Born July 16, 1889, the daughter of Priscilla Egan and Peter F. McCormick, professor of mathematics at Manhattan College, she studied at Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn. In 1908 she received the bachelor of science degree from St. Lawrence University.
After special studies in the pedagogy of mentally defective children at Dartmouth, Miss McCormick taught ungraded children in the Bay Ridge public schools and conducted adult classes for immigrants in Brownsville. In addition, she studied at Brooklyn Law School, from which she received her law degree in 1912. Admitted to the bar in 1913, she was appointed a factory inspector for the State Department of Labor, in which capacity she is credited with achieving many improvements in factory conditions in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Her appointment to the District Attorney’s Office in 1917 brought her experience in dealing with the problems of women and girl delinquents. Out of this work Miss McCormick developed the Big Sisters group, which she founded in 1920. The society grew rapidly and performed a badly needed service. In one year, 1933, for example, the Big Sisters cared for a total of 8,000 new cases involving female delinquents.
She died February 21, 1937, and over 20,000 people visited her bier. The Requiem was offered by Auxiliary Bishop Kearney in Queen of All Saints Church, Brooklyn.
One Hundredth Anniversary, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, 1853-1953 (Brooklyn: The Tablet Publishing Co., 1953), 129.
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