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On Tuesday afternoons at 4 p.m., a group of women from the Emmanuel College Class of 1967 logs onto Zoom. Some are in Massachusetts; others join from South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York.
They have been meeting weekly since the early days of the pandemic, continuing a connection that has endured for nearly six decades.
It was this group—11 classmates who have remained in close contact since their time at Emmanuel—who nominated one of their own, Kateri Bennett Walsh ’67, for the College’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
For Walsh, the recognition came as both a surprise and a full-circle moment.
“This award was quite a surprise and quite an honor,” she said, reflecting on the nomination from classmates she has known since her freshman year in Julie Hall. “It brought back a lot of great memories—of my education, my career, my friendships…and how I got there because of Emmanuel.”
Now, Walsh will return to campus on May 30 for the award ceremony—not only as an alumna, but also as a public servant shaped by the values Emmanuel set in motion.
A Calling to Serve
Walsh’s path to public life began early—long before she ever stepped onto Emmanuel’s campus. She recalls handing out her first political pamphlet at age 10, part of a family tradition steeped in civic engagement. Her grandparents were elected officials; her grandmother, notably, was the first woman elected to public office in New Britain, Connecticut.
But it was at Emmanuel where those early instincts were given direction.
“We were taught that you can make a difference—that service is important,” Walsh said.
At the time, Emmanuel was an all-women’s college, and that context mattered. There was no ambiguity about leadership, no question of who belonged at the table.
“There was never any doubt in our minds that we could not be leaders,” she said.
Her classmates—many of whom would go on to careers in education, media, and public life—carried that same confidence forward. For Walsh, it became the foundation of a career that would span more than 25 years on the Springfield City Council, where she continues to serve today.
“Kateri Bennett Walsh ’67We were taught [at Emmanuel] that you can make a difference—that service is important. There was never any doubt in our minds that we could not be leaders.
From Campaigns to City Council
In Springfield, Walsh built a life that reflects both continuity and expansion: a large family—seven children, eleven grandchildren—and a public role that mirrors the same values of care, responsibility, and persistence.
Her path to elected office was less a leap than a natural progression. Long before and throughout her time in public office, Walsh worked on campaigns at every level—from local races to serving as a delegate for John Kerry—gaining a close view of how government operates.
“I spent a lot of time on other people’s campaigns,” she said. “And I decided I could do just as good of a job.”
When she was first elected, women in local government were still rare. There were moments when she was the only woman at the council table. Today, that has changed—gradually, but meaningfully.
“It’s more diverse, more inclusive,” she said. “It brings more people in.”
Her work has focused consistently on families, neighborhoods, and those often left unheard—an approach shaped as much by lived experience as by policy.
“I want Springfield to be the kind of place that’s a great place to raise a family,” she said. “Where people feel their worth—where they know they can achieve something.”
Balancing Public Life and Family
If Walsh’s public life has been defined by service, her private life has been defined by scale—and by a certain kind of resilience that comes from it.
Raising seven children while building a political career required a constant negotiation of priorities. There were meals to make, schedules to manage, campaigns to run. Her children, she joked, became campaign workers early—sometimes reluctantly.
“They’re still traumatized about having to hand out campaign literature,” she said.
But that same environment—busy, loud, and full of competing perspectives—became a kind of training ground.
“If you’re part of a large family…you learn how to disagree without taking it personally,” she said.
It is a lesson she believes has only grown more important over time, particularly in a political climate she describes as increasingly divisive.
An Enduring Connection to Emmanuel
Through it all, Emmanuel has remained a constant. Walsh encouraged family members to follow her to the College: sisters, a niece, and now her granddaughter, Siobahn, a member of the Class of 2027. She also spent a decade as president of the Western Massachusetts Emmanuel Alumni Association, helping to build the same kind of lifelong connections she still maintains.
Those connections, in many ways, are the heart of her story. Her weekly Zoom calls with classmates are not simply nostalgic—they are a continuation of something that began in shared dorm rooms, in classrooms shaped by faculty like Sister Marie Augusta Neal, SNDdeN, and in a Boston that offered both intellectual and cultural awakening.
They are also, in a sense, the reason she is being honored now.
“I am humbled,” Walsh said of the award. “When I think that these are people I’ve known since I was a freshman…and that they see me as someone worthy of this—it’s very humbling.”
A Legacy of Impact
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes not only achievement, but also impact—lives lived in alignment with Emmanuel’s mission.
In Walsh’s case, that impact is measured not in a single accomplishment, but in consistency: decades of public service, advocacy for women and veterans, and a career built on showing up, again and again, for the people she represents.
Still, when asked what she hopes for today’s Emmanuel students, her answer returns to something simpler.
“I hope they graduate with the same sense of purpose and values—and the belief that they really can do anything,” she said. “And that they have the lifelong friendships that I’ve had.”