Irvis, Cathryn, 1934-

Cathryn (Cathy) Irvis was born in Athens, Georgia, on April 7, 1934. She attended the National School of Nursing in Chicago and was on the Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association. She was married to the late civil rights leader and former House Speaker K. Leroy Irvis. Like her husband, she was concerned with bettering her community and served on several committees in western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, including Black Women in Health, the Review Committee for the United Way of Allegheny County, Women in Urban Crisis, Inc., the Governor's Council on the Arts, and the Pittsburgh Opportunities Industrialization Center Auxiliary. As Co-chair of the Pennsylvania Committee for the International Year of the Child (1979), Cathryn Irvis was involved with many children's concerns, particularly health problems. In 1978, Governor Milton Shapp appointed Cathryn Irvis Chairperson of the Pennsylvania Committee for the International Year of the Child (IYC). She invited doctors, social workers, professors, and other specialists on children's concerns from around the state to participate in the planning of IYC studies and activities which would both celebrate children and address the issues most critical to them. Education and health were especially important, and many of the materials cover school lunch programs, nutrition, teen pregnancy, and early childhood special education. Cathryn Irvis was later joined by Co-chairperson Malcom Lazin and Honorary Chairperson Ginny Thornburgh and shifted her focus to the IYC Western Pennsylvania Sub-Committee. Over the course of the year, the committee identified possible problems in the region and prepared a survey on drug abuse, handicaps, school teachers, emotional concerns, and other topics. The data and evaluation was presented in "Assessment of the Current Health and Educational Status and Needs of Children in Western Pennsylvania", which was submitted to Cathryn Irvis in 1980. Cathryn Irvis was also associated with IYC-Pittsburgh, which planned a Read-A-Thon at the Carnegie Library, a fashion show, an art show, workshops on teen pregnancy and teenage parenting, and a children's festival, among other events. The materials include background on IYC and its committees as well as information on some children's issues addressed by the event.