Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-25
Death Stills Kindly Irish Wit
Of Kitty Calvin, D. c. Figure
Special Messenger
Had Many Friends in
>City's Business Life
By J. Woods Honsen

Kitty Calvin, like many Irish
people who come to America,
dreamed of going back home
some day.
Her dream was a little closer
to reality than most because she
and her sister owned a home
near the Lakes of Killarney.
But Kitty's dream will never
be realized. She died in Provi-
uence Hospital Wednesday of a
circulatory ailment. Nobody real
ly knew how old she was.
Enthusiastically Irish, Kitty had
a sharp wit and an ability to
leave any part of the world a
happier place for her having
passed by. She was known to
almost everyone in the advertis-
ing business and on Washington
newspapers.
Was Newspaper Messenger.
For almost a dozen years be-
fore it was sold, she was a Spe-
cial messenger for the Times
Herald advertising department..
1t was her job to get around the
city.
Editors and copy boys, bank
presidents and elevator operators
were all the same to her. And
she never passed anyone she
knew without a CHEEKY word or
joke.
Kitty was born in Sheen,
County Kerry, Ireland. While she
was studying there to be a school
teacher, she met George Ber-
nard Shaw in a typical way.
Mr.. Shaw often spent vaca-
tons at a hotel on the Killarney
Lakes and used the same post
office in Sheen that Kitty did.
One day she passed him a re-
mark in her characteristic I'M
inhibited fashion. Mr.. Shaw
answered her in a rhymed
couplet.
Then she told him she'd write
him a poem. After receiving the
poem, he invited her to tea with
him at the hotel.
Kitty taught school for only
short time before coming to
the United States at about the
turn of the century. She worked
as a bookkeeper in Newport,
R. l., until World War I when
she came to Washington.
Visited Many Offices.
From that time until the mid
die 1930s she worked as mani
curiSt in the Old House Office
Building, going from Office to
Office to take care of her Gus
toners.
She returned to Ireland in
1885 to care for her mother I'M
til her death two years later
While there she became i'll her.
self and returned to this coun-
try still quite sick. She was un-
able to work until about 1943
when she joined the Times
Herald.
When snow was on the ground
Kitty always wore a little rib
bon of bells around her ankle.
She said the bells would keer
her from getting lost if the storm
got really bad.
One sluShy day a policeman
got carried away with the
warmth Of her greeting to him
at Fourteenth and H streets NV
He escorted her across the street
in such a friendly fashion thai
a passerby reported him to his
SuperiorS.
Hearing of it, Kitty went tt
see the authorities in the Police
Department, treated them to
little barney, and the whole
complaint was dismissed in
barrage Of chuckleS.
Worked for Charity.
Kitty was a devout Catholic
She daily attended mass at st
Francis Xavier Church and wa
one of that church'S staunches
! workers for the cause Of. charity
OF the many people who knew
her, few knew that during tn
last two years she worked TO
the Times Herald she was undel
regular treatment for a seriou
vascular condition.
Kitty is survived by two sis
tiers, Miss Margaret Calvin, o