Obituary: Acitivist for old lesbians dies

Off Our Backs, May/Jun 2002 by Douglas, Carol Anne, Heart, Dehony, Ruby, Jennie, Mantilla, Karla

Shevy Healy

January 29, 1922-December 8, 2001

Shevy Healy, one of the founding members of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC), died last

December 8 in her home in California.

Healy was born in Russia and game to the United States as an infant. From her mother, a Communist, Healy learned about politics. When she was only five years old, she saw the police attack a picket line: of striking workers. During the McCarthy years of anti-Communist witch hunts, Healy openly supported the Communist Party.

She married and had a child, then came out as a lesbian at age 50. After her daughter went to college, Healy went back to school and became a clinical psychologist.

Healy became a leader of old lesbians in the 1980s. She helped to organize the West Coast Conference of Old Lesbians in 1987. At the Second West Coast Conference of Old Lesbians, she helped found OLOC, with which she remained active until her death.

Her work with OLOC focused on ensuring that old lesbians are represented in all institutions that have power over them and on combating ageism in the LGBT community and in society as a whole.

Mealy is survived by her daughter, Donna; her grandson, Alexander; her life partner, Ruth Silver; and her daughter, Bari.

-info from a memorial web site for Shevy Healy, www.impactvr.com/shevy