Catherine and Leroy Dunfey Award:
Changing Our World One Person At A Time

About the Award

Catherine Manning and Leroy Dunfey met at the Lowell textile mills where they, like so many of their generation, started working at the age of twelve. Their marriage, a decade later, produced what Catherine liked to describe as the 'birth of a nation'. twelve children, thirty-five grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

In her memoirs, Catherine writes: 'In the store on Broadway, Dad-who served as an unpaid Welfare Commissioner - acquainted the children with how to serve others ... it was the ideal spot located in the Acre, a neighborhood f the Irish, Greek, French, Polish and Italian-a place to learn all their customs. What a start for children growing up in a world where other countries seemed far away. Their curiosity about what was beyond the other side of the counter led our sons and daughters in later years to look at what was on the other side of the world.

After Roy's sudden death in 1952, Catherine became a vital part of her family's emerging business, demonstrating an ability not only to endure, but change and rise to the call of leadership. She assumed her position as chairman of the board of the Dunfey Family Hotels later Omni Hotels, in the same quiet yet strong manner that had characterized her through the years.

Catherine and Leroy Dunfey were distinguished-not by birth, education or world achievement. What distinguished them was their celebration of the human spirit-its resiliency, its courage and generosity. It was their gift of valuing the importance of each person that moved the  Dunfey family and New England Circle / Global Citizens Circle to establish the annual Catherine and Leroy Dunfey Award.

In honoring 'Mo' Mowlam with this award, Global Citizens Circle recognizes the "personal courage" of the recipient and her capacity to work closely with women and men of different ideologies.' Global Citizens Circle, founded as New England Circle, is privileged to present the 1999 Catherine and Leroy Dunfey Award to Dr. Marjorie 'Mo' Mowlam.