Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994 TAG: 9406170093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: VIENNA LENGTH: Medium
McDiarmid fell ill Wednesday afternoon and died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital, said Carrington Williams, a Fairfax County lawyer who served with her in the General Assembly. The cause of death was not disclosed Thursday.
She was one of three women in the 100-member House of Delegates after her election as a Democrat in 1959. She lost re-election bids twice, but kept coming back and in 1986 became the first woman to head the powerful budget committee. She retired four years later.
``She was a strong woman, what you call steel within velvet,'' said Del. Gladys Keating, D-Fairfax. ``She had to go through the barriers for us and she did it in a very ladylike manner.''
After receiving a bachelor's degree in political science from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, she taught school and later became involved in local and state parent-teacher associations. She served her Fairfax County district from 1960-62, 1964-70 and 1972-90.
Colleagues said she will be remembered for her bill making kindergarten mandatory statewide, her efforts to increase mental health funding and her support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Her husband, Hugh, died last year. He was often at her side at the legislature and was known as the 101st member of the House.
She is survived by a son, a daughter and two grandchildren.
A funeral will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Friends Meeting House in Washington, D.C. Burial will be at Lincoln Cemetery in Loudoun County.
by CNB