Kate Walker Behan
Kate Walker Behan | |
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| Born | Kate Walker 1851 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | July 28, 1918 New Orleans |
| Alma mater | Old Ursuline Convent |
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Kate Walker Behan (1851–1918) was an American club leader, prominent in social, educational, and Confederate memorial affairs in the South for many years.[1] She was president of the Confederated Memorial Association of the South, and of the Ladies' Confederate Memorial Association of Louisiana, as well as the first president of the Catholic Women's Club.[2]
Early life and education[edit]
Kate ("Katie") Walker,[3] was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1851. She was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. William Walker. Her family was wealthy.[2]
Shortly after General Benjamin Butler took possession of the city of New Orleans, in 1862, Behan entered the Old Ursuline Convent to pursue her studies which had been interrupted by the start of the Civil War. She graduated in September 1865.[3]
Even in early childhood, Behan was active in Catholic Church work. She was a communicant of St. John's, a devout member of the Sodality of Our Lady, a helper of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and part of the Altar and Sanctuary Society.[2]
She took on responsibilities placed on the community by the Civil War, and continued her interest in the eventualities of the war as the years passed.[2]
Career[edit]
While she lived in White Castle, she raised funds for the erection and beautification of the Church of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. She was prominent in the collection of money for the improvements to the Ursuline Convent and the shrine at Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Upon the founding of the Ursuline Alumnæ Association, Hume became its first president, and was re-elected consecutively for many years. She provided prompt assistance when the Sisters of Charity gained new responsibilities by the newly founded Lepers' Home near White Castle. She was a chief promoter and organizer of the Catholic Women's Club, of which she was the first president. She served as President of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the House of the Good Shepherd, and was a member and contributor to St. Margaret's Daughters.[2]
During the Civil War, while she was still a girl, Behan affiliated with the memorial societies of the 1860s, conducted by the women of the Confederacy. After the war, she continued her connection till all the associations were consolidated, and she was made president of the Confederated Southern Memorial Association, a position she held for many years thereafter. It was mainly through her efforts that the name of Jefferson Davis was restored to Cabin John Bridge in Washington, D.C., and the monument erected in this city to his memory.[2]
Behan was also identified with the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She helped secure money for the erection of the Jefferson Davis monument in Richmond, Virginia, and was instrumental in the organization of the Jefferson Davis Monument Association in New Orleans, whose progress she afterward directed as president, in 1906. With her enthusiasm, the movement progressed rapidly and the monument was erected in Jefferson Davis Parkway (now, Norman C. Francis Parkway). She was largely instrumental in legislative action to make his birthday, June 3, a legal holiday, known as Confederate Memorial Day.[2] Behan was deeply interested in the passage of the bill in the Congress of the United States known as the "Foraker Bill," which called for an appropriation of US$200,000, for the proper and perpetual care of the graves of the Confederate dead, who died in military hospitals and prisons, and were buried in Northern cemeteries.[3]
Behan was an intimate friend of Varina Davis (Mrs. Jefferson Davis), Mary Anna Jackson (Mrs. Stonewall Jackson), and Mary Anna Custis Lee (Mrs. Robert E. Lee).[2] In the general program of women's organizations and activities in New Orleans, Behan played a prominent part. She was chair of the home and education department of the Women's League in 1905 and conducted an educational campaign for the eradication of the yellow fever-bearing mosquito. She was zealous in work which might further her country's cause during World War I. As chair of Branch No. 8, of the New Orleans Chapter of the American Red Cross, she worked at making surgical dressings, garments, and knitted articles. She gave herself to drives to the point of exhaustion.[2]
Personal life[edit]
In 1865, just after the Civil War, she married General William J. Behan, with whom she resided for many years of their married life at Alhambra, White Castle, Louisiana, and in New Orleans. He served as Mayor of New Orleans. The couple had two daughters: Bessie (Behan) Lewis, and Katherine, who married André Dreux.[2]
Death[edit]
After a brief illness, Kate Walker Behan died in New Orleans, July 28, 1918, age 71.[1][4] The funeral ceremony occurred at Notre Dame de Bon Secour Church. Over her heart were pinned her medal of the Children of Mary, the purple badge of the Confederate Memorial Association, and a spray of flowers sent in a letter from her grandson, William Behan Dreux, in France.[2] The flags of the City Hall and of the Memorial Hall were at half-mast in her memory; crepe, for the first time in its history of over seventy years, was hung on the door of the Washington Artillery Armory, and the flag draped at half-mast in honor of Behan.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Obituary for W. J. Behan (Aged 71)". The Wilmington Morning Star. 29 July 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 27 April 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cutter, William Richard (1927). "BEHAN, Mrs. William James, Club Leader, Philanthropist.". American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. Published under the direction of the American historical Society. pp. 32–34. Retrieved 27 April 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Fortier, Alcee (1909). "Mrs. William J. Behan". Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Century Historical Association. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 27 April 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Obituary. Mrs. W. J. Behan. Confederate Memorial Leader Dies at New Orleans Home". Chattanooga Daily Times. 29 July 1918. p. 3. Retrieved 27 April 2024 – via Newspapers.com. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
