Patricia Frances McCarty

Patricia Frances McCarty, 93, died peacefully at home early Christmas morning. She was born to Myron John and Florence Elizabeth (Eagon) McCarty on Dec. 17, 1931, in Breckenridge, Minn., and grew up across the Red River in Wahpeton, N.D.

She went to junior college in Wahpeton and worked at the local newspaper, the Richland County Farmer-Globe, before enrolling as a junior in the Marquette University College of Journalism in Milwaukee, Wis. There, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and met the man she married in 1955, Albert de Zutter. The couple moved with their four children to Kansas City, Mo., in 1965 and co-founded a weekly interfaith newspaper, Community Now, in 1968.

Ms. McCarty also worked in public relations for the VFW Auxiliary before becoming editor of The American Nurse, the newspaper of the American Nurses Association. After retiring from ANA, she worked as copy editor, poetry editor and essay writer for National Catholic Reporter from 1993-2008.

In 1994, she earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Playwriting from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and wrote a two-act play based on the life of Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. “This Other Love” had a cast of four and depicted personal and spiritual struggles of its protagonist. It was performed several times in July 2017 by the Acacia Theatre Company of Milwaukee.

Ms. McCarty was an active member of St. James Catholic Church in midtown.

She is survived by her children, Jeanne Marie Foster Melhinch (Charles Edward Melhinch) of Wake Forest, N.C., Margaret Mary McGonigle (Mark Thomas McGonigle) of Kansas City, Mo., Mary Patricia Barron of Kansas City, Mo., and Thomas John de Zutter of Prairie Village, Kan.; eight grandchildren, Michael Thomas Foster of Houston, Texas, Emily Jeanne Foster Black (Chase Anthony Black) of Atlanta, Ga., Dylan Moses McGonigle of Oakland, Calif., Lillian Marie McGonigle of Philadelphia, Penn., Sharon LeAnne Barrax of Kansas City, Mo., Mahryn Marushka Rose Barron of Kansas City, Mo., Thomas John de Zutter Jr. of Chicago, Ill., and Barbara Patricia de Zutter of Lawrence, Kan.; and a great-grandson, Brooks Chase Black of Atlanta, Ga..

She was pre-deceased by her brother, John Myron McCarty, and grandson John Andrew Foster. Also surviving is her former husband of 22 years. After their divorce in 1977, the two remained close, celebrating milestones and holidays with their family.

Services will be Saturday, Jan. 4, at St. James Catholic Church, 3909 Harrison St. in Kansas City, Mo. The 9:45 a.m. Rosary and 10 a.m. Visitation will be followed by a Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. and a Luncheon/Reception afterwards at the church.