By Margaret Carroll-Bergman — Correspondent
Long before the women’s liberation movement took off, Genevra Counihan was running for office, winning, and governing well in Concord.
Counihan, who died October 28 at age 98 at Newbury Court, “bridged the historic change in Concord from Concord being an absolute Republican bastion to being an overwhelming Democratic town,” said former U.S. Rep. Chester Atkins.
A fearless move for an outsider — a young woman hailing from Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Counihan was one of six women in the first post-war class at Yale Law School. She met her former husband, Paul Counihan, also a lawyer, while studying for the bar exam in New York. The young couple moved to Cambridge to practice law at the firm started by Gen Counihan’s father-in-law.
“Paul’s father was one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in Cambridge when [Thomas P.] ‘Tip’ O’Neill was coming into power,” said Atkins. “Paul came from a very Democratic, old-school, urban political machine, and Gen and Paul moved from Cambridge out to Concord. They were always the community-building mainstays of the Democratic Party in Concord from the ’60s and the ’70s.”
Atkins continued, “When the Counihans first moved to Concord, Concord had a Republican state representative in every single election since the Republican Party was created.”
A turning point
The first time Concord voted in a Democratic state representative was when it chose to send Chet Atkins to the State House in the 1970 election.
“Gen not only was a mainstay of building the Democratic Party and Democratic Town Committee; she was a mainstay in building this wonderful community in Conantum, and I was beneficiary of her work,” said Atkins.
After Atkins left his state House seat in 1974 for the state Senate, Counihan was elected state representative in 1975 and served two terms.
Described by many as a quiet trailblazer, Counihan graduated (at age 18 and in three semesters, thanks to a wartime program and hard work) from Oklahoma State University. She went on in 1947 to graduate from Yale Law School in just two years.
“She never attended a graduation,” said Counihan’s daughter, Jessica Pendleton. “She was always graduating during the winter semester.”
The Counihans had four children: Tim, Paul Jr., Bill, and Jessica.
“When you think of her career from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Yale Law School — more than a decade before Ruth Bader Ginsberg — most law firms wouldn’t hire women,” said Atkins. “There weren’t many women who went to law school. Yale was totally an East Coast elite school.”
‘A different time’
In the state legislature, Counihan was described by Atkins as a quiet, methodical expert in municipal law.
Atkins’ former wife, Cory Atkins, was Concord’s state representative from 1999 to 2019.
“The House has never been more than 25% women,” said Cory Atkins. “It’s not surprising that Gen served two terms in what is a male-dominated [institution]. When [you’re] in politics, you live 10 years to everybody’s one. It was a different time then. People used to smoke in chambers.”
Counihan made a campaign promise to do the job full time. Her children remember that she kept that promise, often working 60 hours a week.
“Her primary issues were women’s rights, fiscal responsibility, and urban planning,” said son Tim Counihan.
Gen Counihan was the first woman member of the House Judiciary Committee and a founding member of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators.
Lobs and luminaries
“My parents had a big house, perfect for the fundraisers that they were often asked to host. Lots of interesting politicians came through the house — Dukakis, McCarthy, Kennedy, Tsongas, Harshbarger, and Hart,” said Tim Counihan.
It wasn’t exclusively politics and hard work. There was some play.
“We met on the tennis court at Concord Country Club 45 years ago,” said Gail McKennitt, who’s 17 years junior to the late Counihan. “She was a good athlete — especially for her age.”
The two women played tennis religiously, with Counihan playing into her 80s, and belonged to an investment club.
“She was a big Democrat and a really good friend,” said McKennitt, a Republican. “She loved this town and the Democratic Party.”
