Dorothy M. Healy

Dorothy Murphy Healy (March 21, 1914 – October 16, 1990) was an American educator, historian, and curator. She was Professor of English Literature at Westbrook College, Portland, Maine, where she also served in various administrative capacities. In 1959 she co-founded the Maine Women Writers Collection at the college and built the collection into one of over 4,000 volumes by the time of her death in 1990. She was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Early life and education Dorothy Estelle Murphy was born in Boothbay, Maine, to Samuel Murphy and his wife, Abbie Gamage Murphy. She attended public school in Lynn, Massachusetts, and graduated from Boston University in 1936. including the posts of director of development and administrative assistant to the president.

Healy compiled historical data on the college, leading to her creation of the Presidents of Westbrook College Collection, which consists of memos, correspondence, and mentions about the presidents in publications and websites from the inception of the college in 1834 until 1996.

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salign=right I don't think there is any state in the union that has such creative women as Maine does. — Dorothy Healy By the time of her death, the collection housed over 4,000 volumes by more than 400 Maine women writers and 200 related authors.

Other activities Healy and her husband purchased the Bald Hill turkey farm in New Gloucester, Maine, in 1943. By 1949, they were raising an average of 3,000 turkeys annually, along with 800 pheasants and 50 Chukar partridges. They operated the farm until 1973, when failing health forced her husband to retire from the enterprise. In 1948 she was elected secretary of the Maine Turkey Growers Association, and in 1949, secretary and treasurer.

Awards and honors Westbrook College honored Healy with several awards and recognition, including the designation of Dorothy Healy Day in 1975, the Woman of Achievement Award in 1984, and the Dorothy Healy Scholarship Award. She received a Distinguished Service Award from Boston University in 1987 and an Achievement Citation Award from the Maine chapter of the American Association of University Women in 1990. She was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Personal life In October 1938 she married John Vincent Healy (1911–1979), a poet and literary critic.

She died on October 16, 1990.

The Dorothy M. Healy Collection, 1900–1987, containing her notes and records of the history of the Westbrook College campus, is housed at the University of New England.