Today’s Women’s History Month profile looks to a woman devoted to the Town of Wakefield.

Described as “one of the most active women since World War II,” Catherine E. Simpson was a native and life-long resident of Wakefield. For more than two decades, she played a vital role in Wakefield’s civic and social life. A remarkable woman, she was a leader in local government and administration, in the business life of the community, in social and church organizations in town and in a variety of activities reaching far beyond the borders of Wakefield.

Born in Wakefield on October 29, 1912, she lived her whole life in the family homestead at 534 Salem Street. A graduate of Wakefield High in 1930, and of Bryant and Stratton Business College in 1931, for many years, she was the assistant treasurer of the National Mat and Matting Company, a subsidiary of the Heywood-Wakefield Company that continued in town after the firm moved its rattan furniture division to Gardner in the early 1930s.

Elected to the Board of Selectmen in 1952, she was the first woman to serve on that board since Rena Colson in 1932. During her several years of service as a member and chairman of the board, she was active in county and state selectmen’s associations and was a past president of the Middlesex County Selectmen’s Association. While serving on the board, she was instrumental in forming the Wakefield Industrial Development Commission, which worked to develop the Wakefield Industrial Park on Route 128, bringing several industries in town.

From 1960 until 1971, she served as the town’s Tax Collector.

A communicant of St. Florence’s Church and an officer of the Wakefield Catholic Club, she was also an active member of the Wakefield Business and Professional Women’s Club, and a familiar worker and organizer on many fund-raising charity campaigns.

One of her most cherished activities, however, was her long service of the Citizen’s Scholarship Foundation, which she helped to found. She was serving as the Foundation’s president at her death in 1971. The report of her passing had hardly been heard when a group of her fellow employees in the town hall and her fellow foundation members had organized a memorial fund in her name to be used for scholarships to local boys and girls and administered through the foundation. It was a fitting tribute, and one that Miss Simpson would have liked.

Women in Wakefield is a feature of the Wakefield Historical Society, which, every day in March looks at the biography of a woman who has helped to shape the town and its character. All profiles are shared on our social media pages, and will also be posted on our blog at wakefieldhistory.org. Many are also shared through the courtesy of the Wakefield Daily Item.