Ann DeCain Blackham ‘45 (deceased) was a trailblazer in business, politics, and women’s advocacy. Ann’s 94 years included advising governors and presidents while championing equal rights and opportunities for working women. Earning her college degree in 1949, Ann became a wife and mother, relocating to Winchester, Massachusetts.
As her children entered school in the late 1950’s, she embarked on an over six decades long career and legacy that included in the 1960’s opening her own real estate business after an unsuccessful run for the Massachusetts State Senate as a Republican during the Kennedy era in a heavily Democratic state, leadership roles in the National Federation of Republican Women, appointment to the Board of Economic Advisors to the Governor of Massachusetts and membership on the President’s National Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities, and on the National Defense Advisory Commission on Women in Service for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Rare for women in 1974, she became a trustee of Charlestown Savings Bank, serving for thirteen years, and in 1984 became Chair of the Board of the Massachusetts Registration of Real Estate Brokers, serving until 2011 under four different governors. Ann was appointed a delegate to the Republican National Convention 7 consecutive times. In conjunction with a Presidential advisory role, she supported the installation of the first childcare facility in a U.S. Government building, constructed in the basement of the U.S. Department of Labor.
More than just her exceptional individual accomplishments, Ann represented the best of Beaumont by her ongoing commitment to helping other women with her time, financial resources, and considerable connections locally and nationally, while personally becoming an inspiration for women in three generations of her family. She not only excelled in her chosen path but also made a meaningful and lasting difference in the lives of others, reflecting the Ursuline values that remain at the heart of our community.
