Mildred O'Neill, whose central work was her role as political wife of the late speaker of the US House of Representatives, the veteran Irish-American politician, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, has died of a heart attack. She was 89.
Mrs O'Neill spent 52 years as the eyes and ears to her husband's political campaigns. She remained at the family home in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, during his first seven terms in the House, briefing him on political sentiment in the Boston area. But in 1976, when he was elected speaker, she moved to Washington with her five children. And O'Neill had her own advice for other political spouses.
Chris Downey, a young wife of a newly elected New York congressman, introduced herself after a Democratic Party dinner when everyone was ignoring both of them. "I know you, you just sit right down here," Downey recalled O'Neill saying. "She just gave me all the rules and regulations: 'Have dinner at home for him with the family every night'."
She kept her own counsel about voting. Her husband made a habit on election day of asking his wife for her vote as they left the house for the polls. She always replied: "I'll give it every consideration."
Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, the daughter of a streetcar operator, Harlow Archie Miller, and Evelyn Louise Vyett Miller, she graduated from St John's High School in North Cambridge in 1932. She married her husband, whom she met at school, in 1941.
At their 40th wedding anniversary, he publicly crooned Apple Blossom Time for her "in a voice clear and true and tender and he sang with all the sweet sentiment an Irishman can bring to a song", the Washington Post said.
O'Neill himself dedicated his autobiography, Man of the House, to her: "For Millie - The Speaker of My House, a loving wife, mother and my partner through so many triumphs and trials." She controlled much of the family's finances, that book hints.
A lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, Mrs O'Neill threw out the first ball at the 1986 Red Sox season opener. "She took a nap \ Monday afternoon so she'd be rested for the night's play-off game but never woke up and wasn't able to see the great win," said her daughter, Susan O'Neill.
She was chairman or executive board member of a number of local and Congressional charities. She received honorary doctorates from the University of Scranton, Our Lady of the Elms and Barry University and she was honoured by Boston College in 1999.
In 1995, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, dedicated the North Cambridge Branch Library in her honour as the Mildred A. O'Neill Library. Her husband died in 1994. A son, Michael O'Neill, died in 1997.
In addition to her daughter Susan, survivors include daughter Rosemary O'Neill of Washington; sons Thomas P. O'Neill III of Boston, and Christopher O'Neill of Bethesda; a sister; and eight grandchildren.
Mildred O'Neill: born 1914, died October 6th, 2003.