Mary C. Hackett

Mary C. Hackett, 86, of Middletown, RI, died peacefully at her home on Friday, August 19, 2011 attended by her longtime health aides and Hospice of VNS of Newport and Bristol County. As director of the Department of Employment Security from 1969-1984, she was the first woman to hold a cabinet level position in Rhode Island state government. She was also the first woman in the country ever to head a statewide employment security agency.Hackett was a lifelong resident of Aquidneck Island. At age nine, she and her family moved into the house on West Main Road that would remain her home for the rest of her life. Her parents were James Edward and Katherine Murphy Hackett, both born in Newport. Her brother was the late Capt. James E. Hackett, Jr. USN Retired, of Portsmouth.Hackett graduated from Rogers high School in Newport in 1943, and earned a bachelors Degree from Seton Hill College in Greensburg, PA in 1947. Shortly thereafter, she began a 37 year career in RI state government. Three decades of her government service were spent at the Department of Employment Security now the Department of Employment and Training, which operates the states unemployment and temporary disability insurance programs, monitors employment trends and provides job placement assistance. She was named director of the agency, a cabinet level post, by Governor Frank Licht in 1969.Hackett served as DES director for 16 years, under three successive Democratic Governors. She was widely admired and respected throughout the capitol, and became known nationwide as an expert on unemployment insurance and other issues faced by state employment security agencies. She retired from state service in 1984, when incoming Republican Governor Edward DiPrete declined to reappoint her as director. She was disappointed but realistic, about her ouster, Thats the way the cookie crumbles she told Providence Journal after learning the news, I got out with my head held very high.Hackett was devoted to her extended family. She lived with her parents and cared for them into their old age, and she was the beloved Aunt Mary to two generations of Hackett decedents. Every summer, she took nephews and nieces, and later great nephews and nieces, to Middletowns Third Beach, where she was a longtime member. A CB radio enthusiast, her handle was naturally Tia Maria. Hackett was also a dedicated member of the St. Josephs Parish in Newport, where her parents were the second couple to be married. She donated the funds for the statue of St. Joseph that stands outside the church in memory of her parents. She is survived by three nieces, two nephews, 18 great nieces and nephews, and four first cousins.Calling hours will be held Monday, August 22 from 4:00-7:00pm in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport, RI.Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, August 23, at 9:00 am from the Memorial Funeral Home, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am in St. Josephs Church, Broadway and Mann Avenue, Newport. Burial will be in St. Columba Cemetery in Middletown.