Passing of Eileen Gavin
Christopher Green
Begin forwarded message:
It’s with sadness that I share news of the passing of Eileen Gavin, historian of women in psychology and emeritus professor in the psychology department of the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota. Eileen died on May 2 2024, at age 92, after a brief illness. Eileen was a deeply thoughtful and gracious mentor, teacher, and historian. Among her contributions is an edited volume, published in 2007: Women of Vision : Their Psychology, Circumstances, and Success. It includes several psychologists but also collects biographical essays on influential 20th century women from a variety of professions who made an impact. One of the women documented there is Sr. Annette Walters, who created the psychology program at St. Catherine and served as an important mentor as Eileen pursued her training. Eileen also published biographical accounts of Charlotte Buhler, who taught at St. Catherine in the early 1940s. She had a keen eye for the ways that individual women navigated around the gender-based constraints of their time and profession to express their particular vision.
Eileen was born in Chicago in 1931; her family moved to Minneapolis when she was just a year old. Her parents were Catholics who demonstrated, in her words “marked religious tolerance.” They were both teachers and higher education was a natural expectation. Eileen entered the (then) College of St. Catherine with a full tuition scholarship, and soon followed her mentor, Sr. Annette Walters, by joining the religious order there – the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. She completed an MA in psychology at University of Minnesota in 1960 and PhD at Loyola University, Chicago in 1964. Returning to teach at St. Catherine in 1956, she served as department chair in the 60s and 70s. Around that time, she left the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph to pursue an independent life. Eileen was active in Cheiron and in Div. 26. She contributed meaningfully to other divisions as well, serving in office, presenting papers, and organizing symposia regularly. She retired from St. Catherine in 2000 and continued her research for many years after.
Eileen was generous in sharing her stories and recollections; she visited my History of Psychology classroom several times. When one of my students, Jeff Harrington, proposed a videotaped oral history interview in 2004, she readily agreed; these recordings are housed in the archives at the University of St. Catherine. Several generations of women psychology majors were touched by Eileen’s spirit and influence, which lives on in their lives and work.
Ann Johnson
Professor of Psychology
Faculty Director, Center for the Common Good
University of St. Thomas
She/her
Hendrika Vande Kemp
I was one of the contributors to Eileen’s 2007 Women of Vision, with a chapter on Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy (a rather ironic pair, given the book’s title!), and knew Eileen for many years through Division 36. I will miss her!
Hendrika Vande Kemp PhD
Historian of Psychology & Independent Scholar
5511 Grand Mesa Drive
Durham NC 27713
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