Editor’s note: Readers often comment that there should be more good news in the paper. While it’s true that there’s more than enough bad news to go around, on Mondays on the editorial page we will highlight some of the many good news stories that appear on our pages on a regular basis.
While many Americans last week were proudly marveling at the historic appointment of Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic on the nation’s highest court, the South Shore quietly marked the passing of our own judicial trailblazer.
The “wise Latina” who on Saturday became the Supreme Court’s 111th justice was only 2 when Abington native and longtime Hingham District Court Judge Martha Ware became the first female judge in Plymouth County.
Ware died last week at 91 and was a legend in her time.
Just as Hispanics around the country spoke of how much Sotomayor’s appointment meant to them, women in this area who knew Ware were last week reflecting on her impact.
“I always admired her, and when I heard she had become a judge, I thought, ‘Oh, that is awesome!’ said Nancy Reed, a retired assistant librarian in Abington.
As the first female judge in Plymouth County, she made younger women think of new possibilities for themselves, Reed said. Ware, then 38, was appointed by Gov. Christian Herter in 1956.
The courts weren’t the only frontier for the Abington High School graduate (Class of 1935).
In 1947, she became the first woman to be elected a selectman in Plymouth County. She later became a state representative.
Gender, it should also be noted, wasn’t the only challenge she faced. During her campaign for the Legislature in 1950, she was stricken with polio. She was confined to bed for three months but won the seat by 13 votes after a recount. Sitting in a wheelchair, she was sworn into office in January 1951.
“She was a woman who had become a judge at a time when that was unusual, and she also was a selectman, and no one had heard of a woman being a selectman, either,” Reed said.
So as Sotomayor assumes her new role, we think it’s fair to say that in some ways she owes a small debt of gratitude to our own Martha Ware.
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Editor’s note: Readers often comment that there should be more good news in the paper. While it’s true that there’s more than enough bad news to go around, on Mondays on the editorial page we will highlight some of the many good news stories that appear on our pages on a regular basis.
While many Americans last week were proudly marveling at the historic appointment of Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic on the nation’s highest court, the South Shore quietly marked the passing of our own judicial trailblazer.
The “wise Latina” who on Saturday became the Supreme Court’s 111th justice was only 2 when Abington native and longtime Hingham District Court Judge Martha Ware became the first female judge in Plymouth County.
Ware died last week at 91 and was a legend in her time.
Just as Hispanics around the country spoke of how much Sotomayor’s appointment meant to them, women in this area who knew Ware were last week reflecting on her impact.
“I always admired her, and when I heard she had become a judge, I thought, ‘Oh, that is awesome!’ said Nancy Reed, a retired assistant librarian in Abington.
As the first female judge in Plymouth County, she made younger women think of new possibilities for themselves, Reed said. Ware, then 38, was appointed by Gov. Christian Herter in 1956.
The courts weren’t the only frontier for the Abington High School graduate (Class of 1935).
In 1947, she became the first woman to be elected a selectman in Plymouth County. She later became a state representative.
Gender, it should also be noted, wasn’t the only challenge she faced. During her campaign for the Legislature in 1950, she was stricken with polio. She was confined to bed for three months but won the seat by 13 votes after a recount. Sitting in a wheelchair, she was sworn into office in January 1951.
“She was a woman who had become a judge at a time when that was unusual, and she also was a selectman, and no one had heard of a woman being a selectman, either,” Reed said.
So as Sotomayor assumes her new role, we think it’s fair to say that in some ways she owes a small debt of gratitude to our own Martha Ware.
