Megan Jean McClintock, history instructor at the University of Washington's Tacoma, Bothell, and Seattle campuses, died of cancer on June 18, 2000. She was 42 years old.

Megan was born May 29, 1958, in Corvallis, Oregon, where her father Thomas McClintock served as professor and chair of the history department at Oregon State University. Megan spent her freshman year at Willamette University before transferring to Bryn Mawr College in 1978. There she earned her BA cum laude in French and sociology in 1981.

Megan pursued graduate studies in history at Rutgers University from 1986 to 1992. Her doctoral dissertation under T. Jackson Lears was a Civil War-era social history, "Binding up the Nation's Wounds: Civil War Pensions and American Families, 1861–1890." Megan's pioneering work documented the Civil War origins of federal social welfare policies and resulted in numerous conference papers, a book chapter in Invisible Philadelphia, an article in the Journal of American History,
and subsequent presentations and publications. She was recipient of the Littleton-Griswold, Marion Johnson, and Richard Schlatter Grants and Fellowships. Megan taught at Rutgers from 1988 to 1991.

In 1992, Megan and her life partner, Julie Shapiro, moved to Tacoma, Washington. Julie assumed a law professorship at the University of Puget Sound and Megan taught as an instructor at the new University of Washington, Tacoma campus (UWT). There Megan taught courses on women's history, the Civil War, and on the American social welfare movement. Always a rigorous, systematic, and popular instructor, Megan was selected "favorite teacher" by UWT's class of 1993. In 1996, Megan left UWT to teach as an instructor in women's studies at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Megan was blessed with the birth of her son Eli in May 1995, and daughter Leah in April 1999. While raising her young family, Megan continued to teach and revise her doctoral dissertation for publication.

Megan's cancer was diagnosed in the fall of 1999, and throughout her illness she was surrounded by a supportive network of family and friends. She died on June 18, 2000, and is survived by her partner Julie and their two children, her parents Tom and Patricia McClintock, and two sisters. Those who wish to do so may make donations to the Morningsong program for homeless children at Family Services, 615 Second Ave., Ste. 150, Seattle, WA 98104-2275.

—Michael Allen
University of Washington, Tacoma