Mary Mullarkey, spouse of Reverend Tom Korman, died 31 March 2021, after a long and very public struggle with multiple sclerosis. Mary was born in New London, Wisconsin on 28 September 1943. She attended public and parochial schools there, and then St Norbert College, where she earned a degree in math in 1965. She earned her law degree from Harvard University in 1968 and then went to work for the U.S. Department of the Interior, in its equal opportunity section.
In Washington, she met Thomas E Korson and they married. In 1973 they decided to move to Denver for two years. However, after two years with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Mary was hired to work in the Colorado Attorney General’s office, concentrating on appellate practice. Later, she became the state’s Solicitor General, and then a legal counsel to Governor Richard Lamm.
In 1987, Governor Roy Romer appointed Mary to the Colorado Supreme Court, only the second woman chosen to serve there. In 1998, her peers elected her to serve as their Chief Justice. She remained in that position until she retired in 2010. Her multiple sclerosis had been diagnosed in 1994, and she required a walker in her later years, but the disease never impacted her mind or kept her from fulfilling her duties. While many of her legal decisions are noteworthy, she is also recognized for her leadership in changing the way the courts operated — providing professional interpreters, and setting up child care for parents who were tied up in the legal system.
And at Tom’s ordination by the First Unitarian Church of Denver on 6 October 1996, Mary and her piano teacher played a duet.
Mary is survived by Tom Korson, her spouse of nearly 50 years; their son, Dr. Andrew Korson; daughter in law Emily Terhune Korson; granddaughters Anika and Avery Korson; four brothers; and numerous nephews, nieces, and cousins.
Contributions may be made to Cure d’Ars Catholic Church, 4701 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Denver, CO 80207; The Colorado Judicial Institute, Box 118, Broomfield, CO 80038; The Colorado Lawyers Committee, 401 Lawrence St., Suite 2300, Denver, CO 80202; or The Multiple Sclerosis Society, Colorado-Wyoming Branch, 900 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Denver, CO 80209.