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Show aqnisn i" nie. 3 [Didnt Have [ir i¢ ForAnger’ DOTSON Y RADER Carolyn McCarthy, 53, and began working with patientsin intensive care. Then, in 1965, when Carolyn was 20, she met Dennis McCarthy, a stockbroker. They married in 1967. A yearlater their only child, Kevin, was born. “We were bestfriends who did every- When she won her race for her weddingring. “There was nothing wedidn’t talk about.It left a very big ULTIMATE goal is to try to 3 stop gun violence in this country,” Carolyn Mc- Carthy said. “I should have gotten involved a long time ago. ButI did not, as most of us don’t,until it touched me.” McCarthy, 53, entered Congresslast January after winning an upsetvictory in herfirst race for public office, defeating an incumbentto represent New York’s Fourth District on suburban Long Island. It is where she grew up,in a small house in a neighborhood of working families in Mineola. The daughter of parents whostruggled to make ends meet, Carolyn McCarthy wentto public schools and worked for 30 years as a registered nurse. Shefell in love, married andraised a son,living quietly until almost four years ago, when her husband was killed and her son paralyzed by. a crazed gunmanonthe LongIsland Rail Road, a tragedy that transformed herlife and propelled herinto politics. at ieraieny, thing together,” she recalled, twisting lest youn" says Carolyn McCarthy.“It’s about education, room: You never know what's going to come through the door. I know I'm an oddity, because I actually like going to my committee meetings. People say my being on the education committee isn’t good for campaign fund-raising,andit’s prob- commutertrain on Dec.7, 1993. In the carnage, 19 passengers were wounded, six killed. Dennis, 52, died instantly. Kevin,then 26, wascritically injured. “T.can’t blame God for what on that train,” McCarthy stated. “We haveto deal with what comesour way. I didn’t havetime for anger.” handgun on a LongIsland Rail Road © AUS.-made Sinm semiautomatic handgun was stopping drugs, health care, our sense of community.” Washington to being in an emergency to a positive Purpose. The Long Island Rail Road Shootings,Guns and Gun Laws “T don’t want an- wentthrough,” Representative McCarthy stated. “Ending violence is about more than just gun control. It's about education, stopping drugs, health care, our sense of community. I don’t expect instantresults. But I havetotry.” I spoke with Carolyn McCarthyin her Washingtonoffice, a block from the Capitol, where she sits on the House Small Business Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee.“I had no idea whatit would be like before I came here,” she told me. “I compare Dennis and Kevin McCarthy were shot throughthe head by anassailant who openedfire with a semiautomatic tragedy other family to ever “Ending violence is about more than just gun control,” go through what we void when he was killed.” roth ‘the first time she had turned ably not. But I love my committee, because education has always been mypriority. It is the key componentto ending violence.If we could educate our young people well, make sure our schools are safe and drug-free, they wouldn't be going downthepath of violence anymore.” Carolyn McCarthy was bom in Brooklyn in 1944,one offive childrenof IrishAmerican parents, now deceased. Her father, Tom Cook, worked asa boilermaker. Her mother, Irene, worked in Woolworth’s after the family moved to LongIsland and money wastight. “Myparents were gentle, hardwork- ing people,” McCarthy recalled, “My father was a quiet manwith a deep,re- ligiousbelief that you could get through anything through yourfaith.” In 1962, McCarthy graduated from Mineola High, uncertain what she wanted to do. Then tragedy intervened. Her boyfriend, Artie, was critically injured in a car ota notamant tr the Long foland Rall Rood shootings @ More then 40 million handguns were produced in theUS. trom #975to OBS, annording tothe Buren e Tos tani ned a, the Long en al oe mec was purchased from Aeris! seclaeree Calit., and brought to New Y: oe, 2 sata haeal mn t-crey” allowing authorities isaue concealed weapons alts toquaiified applicants. (n (208, lust nine states had such taws.) @ The Long tetand Rail Road shooter picked up his handgun after « state-mandated 2-day waiting pert- crash, In her response to his need, she found purpose in herlife. “Artie did not survive,” she said quietly. “The nurse working with him asked meto help care for him. It made me want to go into nursing.” She trained at Glen Cove Nursing School tuta of dustios. MoCarthy with her eo cenpeuentis seanagags PAGE 12 - SEPTEMBER 7, 1907 PARADE MAGAZINE |
