Church, Marguerite Stitt, 1892-1990

Marguerite Stitt Church (September 13, 1892 – May 26, 1990) was an American psychologist and politician who represented Illinois' 13th congressional district from 1951 to 1963. She was a member of the Republican Party.

Born Marguerite Stitt in New York City, she attended St. Agatha School in New York City before earning an AB in psychology with a minor in economics and sociology from Wellesley College in 1914. After graduation, she taught a biblical history course at Wellesley for a year before enrolling in a master’s program in economics and sociology at Columbia University. She completed her graduate degree in 1917 and worked for a year as a consulting psychologist with the State Charities Aid Association of New York City. In 1918, she traveled to Chicago and met Illinois state legislator Ralph Church who she would marry that December. After her marriage, she worked in a succession of organizations devoted to family and children’s welfare.

Following her husband's sudden death in March 1950, Republican leaders in Illinois persuaded Marguerite Church to run for her husband’s vacant seat. Winning nearly three-quarters of the vote in November 1950, she would go on to serve five additional terms, winning between 66 and 72 percent of the vote in each of her re-election bids. Church’s chief interests and influence flowed from her work on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where she was assigned to the Subcommittee on Foreign Economic Policy. She voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In her final term, she championed the Peace Corps.

In 1962, as an advocate of mandatory retirement for Members of Congress and facing reapportionment in her district, Church set her own example by retiring at age 70 after the close of the 87th Congress. he worked on behalf of the Republican presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard M. Nixon in 1968. She later served on the boards of directors for the Girl Scouts of America and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. In 1971 President Nixon selected Church to serve on the planning board for the White House Conference on Aging. Marguerite Church resided in Evanston, Illinois, where she died.