Catherine “Timmie” Harrington died peacefully at her home on Cobb Island, Maryland on December 31, 2017. She died of a lung cancer linked to the KRAS gene mutation.
Catherine, or as she was better known “Timmie”, came to Washington when her father, Vincent F. Harrington was elected to Congress in 1936. Although she lived elsewhere for short periods of time she never really left the Washington area. She attended school at Blessed Sacrament, graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1948 and Trinity College in 1952. Her first job after graduating from college was with the newly formed CIA. She quickly resigned and years later said the work was boring and “no good can come from things that have to kept secret.”. Her next job was with the Washington Post, when Eugene Meyer was the owner and women reporters were usually relegated to the Society page. Nonetheless she learned quite a bit from her editor, Marie Sauer, the photographers and watching her block at work. She left The Post to raise her children and participate in volunteer activities including the DC Crippled Children’s center and Friendship House. During that time, she also wrote the “Anne’s Reader Exchange” column for the Washington Post. She returned to work full time with the DC chapter of the National Urban League as a public information officer for the District of Columbia’s Department of Human Resources. She would later become a public information officer for the US Dept. of Agriculture in Boston and Washington D.C. She concluded her working career at the House of Representatives Select Committee on Hunger. She liked to think she had done her part to alleviate what was called “hunger” and is now called “food insecurity” in her lifetime.
Upon her retirement Timmie deepened her Catholic faith and co-founded the St. Joseph’s Secular Order at the Carmelite Monastery in Port Tobacco, Maryland in 1992. In 2013 she assisted with the formation of a second community, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Secular Order, at the Monastery. She was a faithful supporter of the Restorers of Mt. Carmel.
Her additional service to her community and others included the Ladies of Charity at Holy Ghost Church in Issue, Maryland, the Cobb Island Citizens Association, the Melwood organization for people with disabilities, Sober House, and the Chol Chol Foundation which assists indigenous communities, especially women, in southern Chile. Timmie had a 49 year friendship with Bill W. and as such was familiar many church basements in the Washington D.C. area.
Timmie’s home on Cobb Island was her haven and spiritual home for the last 30 years of her life. Her family wishes to thank the residents of Cobb Island for their friendship and support especially during the last few months of her life.
Catherine “Timmie” Jensen is preceded in death by her parents, Vincent and Catherine Harrington; her son, Charles Jensen; and her former husband, Robert Jensen.
She is survived by her sister, Patricia of Mexico City; her daughter, Maria Burrington; and her granddaughters, Rachel Burrington of Seattle, Washington and Ingrid Burrington of Brooklyn, New York.
There will be a funeral mass at Holy Ghost Church in Issue, Maryland on January 5, 2018. The interment at Mt. Carmel will be private.
A memorial Mass at St. Joseph’s Church, where her father also attended mass while serving in Congress, will be held later. In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations be made to Hospice of Charles County (2505 Davis Rd., Waldorf, MD 20603), the Cobb Island Volunteer Fire Department and EMS (P. O. Box 156, Cobb Island, MD 20625) or Catholic Charities Archdioceses of Washington (924 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20001).
