MCCARTHY, SARA VARLEY (2 Dec. 1891-19 Mar. 1987), reporter and social welfare volunteer who helped organize the Cleveland Diocesan Council of the NATIONAL COUNCIL of CATHOLIC WOMEN (NCCW) in 1923, received a papal medal for distinguished service by a layperson to the Catholic Church in 1936. She continued to serve religious and secular organizations locally and nationally for 50 more years. McCarthy served NCCW as local president (1935-38) and as national board member and committee chair, and chaired the women's committee for the SEVENTH NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS (1935).
McCarthy was born in Youngstown to John and Mary Cavanaugh Varley, one of 9 children, and educated there by Ursuline nuns. She married Cleveland journalist Eugene McCarthy in 1931; they resided in EAST CLEVELAND. After her husband died (1956), McCarthy moved to a SHAKER HEIGHTS apartment. She was a reporter for the Youngstown Telegram, the PLAIN DEALER, and the CATHOLIC UNIVERSE BULLETIN and assisted at the Diocesan Bureau of Information. Both URSULINE COLLEGE and the Catholic Youth Organization honored McCarthy for her extensive social service involvement. McCarthy died in Cleveland and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Youngstown, Ohio.