McVey, Mabel, 1875-1922.

Mabel Moore Sawyer was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Sawyer of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1898 where she had been a member of the Alpha Phi Sorority. In September of the same year Mabel Sawyer and Frank LeRond McVey were married at the Westminster church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The couple remained in Minneapolis where they had four children, one of whom died in infancy. In 1909 she left Minnesota when her husband accepted the presidency at the University of North Dakota. After eight years in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Frank McVey accepted the presidency at the University of Kentucky, and the McVey family moved to Lexington where Mabel would reside until her death in 1922.

While in Lexington, Mabel Sawyer McVey exemplified the life of a progressive reformer. She remained active in the national organization of her sorority while also becoming a member of both the Central Kentucky Woman's Club and the University Women's Club. She also served as president of the Fayette County League of Women Voters. Before her death she had been chosen as a delegate to the Pan-American Conference held in conjunction with the National League of Women Voters.

In March, 1922 Mabel Sawyer McVey health declined and she was hospitalized. She remained at Good Samaritan Hospital for weeks while the doctors tried to diagnose her illness. Mabel Sawyer McVey died on April 19, 1922 after complications related to a surgery in which the doctors removed an ovarian cyst and her appendix. Her funeral was conducted at Maxwell Place on the campus of the University of Kentucky.

From the description of Mabel McVey scrapbook, 1878-1904. (University of Kentucky Libraries). WorldCat record id: 240474293