Kevin McCarty

Barbara J. McCarty was a successful lawyer and businesswoman who overcame obstacles as a single mother to build a better life for her children.including Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty. Mrs. McCarty retired in 2001 as managing partner of McCarty Winter & Associates, a workers’ compensation law firm she co-founded in Sacramento. She also was active for many years as a volunteer in Democratic Party campaigns and a donor to Women Escaping a Violent Environment. She was an English immigrant who became an Amenican success story by putting herself through school while rearing four children. Far from her native country, she found her way with hard work, help from social programs and personal sacrifice. “She taught me about strength and perseverance,” Kevin McCarty said. “In younger years, when you have a few bumps on the road, it’s not always easy, But I’d think back on her story, and anything I was going through just paled in comparison.”

Barbara Joan Judd was born in 1941 to a military officer and homemaker in Lincoln, England. She married George Nielsen, a Douglas Aircraft employee from California, and moved with him to Sacramento in 1960. The couple had two children before getting divorced. A second marriage, to Elliott McCarty, a federal government lawyer, also produced two children and ended in divorce. Although she passed the US. citizenship test in 1969, the road to the American dream proved tougher for Mrs. McCarty, who left high school to work at age 16. She got a job as a bank teller while taking classes at American River College but had to rely on Medi-Cal and food stamps to help support her family. She earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento, in 1979 and worked for a lawyer, who encouraged her to enroll at Lincoln Law School. She continued working and completed four years of night classes to pass the state bar exam in 1984. “She had tons of struggles and maybe didn’t always make the right choices,” said Jennie Piper, who knew her since the two women lived in England. “But she made the choices that were important, and she made her own way. I always knew she would, because she was a very bright and intelligent woman.” Mrs. McCarty practiced business and personal injury law before specializing in workers’ compensation cases and starting her own practice with a colleague in 1992 She put her two youngest sons through college and saved money for retirement before heart problems led her to sell her share of the firm and retire. A vivacious woman with a charming British accent, she was a natural campaigner who loved politics. She worked as a coordinator for Democratic legislative candidates and supported social and educational programs to help working people get ahead. "She had an unbelievable energy and an ear-to-ear grin and could party like a sailor, friend Nancy Anton said. "But no matter how tired we were or how grungy the place was, she always insisted, ‘Use a napkin’ and ’Don’t put your elbows on the table.’ She had impeccable manners.