Mary Upton Ferrin Award Winners

2006 Peabody women who are builders of community and dreams are the
Peabody Chamber of Commerce's
Mary Upton Ferrin Award Winners

Builders of Community and Dreams Project

Mary Upton Ferrin
1810-1881

Peabody Chamber of Commerce

Peabody, Massachusetts

Women's History Month in Peabody: A Retrospective

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2001
SGT. SHEILA McDAID
by L. Piandes

Honest, intelligent, determined and caring - those are the words that best describe Sergeant Sheila McDaid. She was one of the two first female police officers in Peabody. She was also the first female detective and Sergeant in Peabody.

Working as a police officer can be hard work and also takes a lot of bravery. McDaid said that bravery is when we do something we fear and go through with it anyway. She is most satisfied with her work when someone she has helped is able to break free from an abusive relationship. She believes it is her job to make sure that we are all protected and safe from crime.

McDaid was born on December 27, 1963 in Salem, Massachusetts. She has lived in Peabody for thirteen years. She attended several different schools while growing up, including St. John's elementary school in Peabody, Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, North Shore Community College and Western College.

Sgt. Sheila McDaid

McDaid indicated that she had a strong female influence growing up. Her role model was her mother, Mrs. Anne McDaid. McDaid admired her mother's courage and drive. She was an Irish immigrant who came by boat to America by herself. McDaid is also looked up to by her 24-year-old daughter, Crystal.

McDaid revealed that she didn't really know who Mary Upton Ferrin was until she won the award! McDaid was nominated for this award by a friend, Tom Aguiar of the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank. He stated, "With all the community work I've done, the one person I could go to was Sheila."

Sgt. Sheila McDaid is a great role model for the girls and young women in Peabody. She is living proof that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

"Award to us our proper station in society; abolish all unjust laws in regard to us; withhold from us no longer our natural rights as human beings, children of one Parent, members of the same family... As husbands and son, as fathers and brothers, show to the world that you are not only manly, but humane; that you know how to pity as well as to protect; which will reflect honor, not only to your head, but to your heart, and future generations will revere your memory. All that we ask, is what justly belongs to us; we ask it not only as a favor, but as a right." - Memorial of the Female Signers of the Several Petitions of Henry A. Hardy and Others, Presented March 1, 1849 to the "Gentleman of the Senate and House of Representatives" by Mary Upton Ferrin.