Maine Women's Hall of Fame

Maine Women's Hall of Fame

Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith
Established	1990
Location	Bernard D. Katz Library University of Maine 46 University Drive Augusta, Maine 04330
Coordinates	44°20′34″N 69°47′44″W / 44.342902°N 69.795604°W / 44.342902; -69.795604Coordinates: 44°20′34″N 69°47′44″W / 44.342902°N 69.795604°W / 44.342902; -69.795604
Website	[1]

The Maine Women's Hall of Fame was created in 1990 to honor the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Maine. The induction ceremonies are held each year during March, designated as Women's History Month. Nominees are chosen by the public via an online nomination form. The University of Maine at Augusta displays the hall of fame in its Bennett D. Katz Library, and also hosts the hall of fame online at the university's website. The nomination form lists three criteria for eligibility:^[1]

1) Woman's achievements must have had a significant statewide impact

2) Woman's achievements significantly improved the lives of women in Maine

3) Woman's contribution has enduring value for women.

Nominations have a December deadline of any given year.

The first two inductees in 1990 were Mabel Sine Wadsworth and Margaret Chase Smith. Wadsworth had devoted her life to multiple issues, including maternal health and family planning, founding the Wadsworth Women's Health Center. She was a member of the board of Board of Directors of Legal Services for the Elderly, and helped raise funds for noteworthy organizations.

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman elected to serve in the United States Senate. She ran for President of the United States in the 1964 Republican Party primarily, but lost out to Barry Goldwater. She was also the first Republican to speak out against the tactics of fellow Senator Joseph McCarthy, in her June 1, 1950 address on the floor of the Senate.

Two decades after its inception, the list of Inductees contains an Olympic gold medalist, Joan Benoit, two more United States Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and the mother of a Senator, Patricia M. Collins who herself had been mayor of a Maine city. Geneticist Elizabeth S. Russell joined the list, as did the President University of Maine at Presque Isle Nancy H. Hensel. Author and Holocaust survivor Judith Magyar Isaacson has been honored by an induction into the hall of fame. With the 2011 inductees, the hall of fame had honored 35 women for their contributions to Maine and to the female population.

Inductees[]

Maine Women's Hall of Fame

Name	Image	Birth–Death	Year	Area of achievement	Ref(s)
			2021	Associate Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Southern Maine	[2]
Leigh Saufley			2021	Dean of the University of Maine School of Law and former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court	[2]
			2020	Feminist activist and political strategist, policy advocate and lobbyist,State House staffer, and non-profit leader	[3]
			2020	Thomas College professor, former state president of the American Association of University Women of Maine and the Maine Association of Family and Consumer Sciences	[3]
			2019	Advocate for women's health, equality and education	[4]
Janet Mills			2019	75th Governor of Maine	[4]
Julia Clukey		(b. 1985)	2018	Olympic luger	[5]
Cornelia Thurza "Fly Rod" Crosby		(1854–1946)	2018	Maine’s First Licensed Guide	[6]
			2017	University of Maine Mathematics. One of the founders of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Maine Orono	[7]
			2017	President of Casco Bay College and a Husson College Business Professor	[7]
			2016	Physician and women's health advocate	[8]
			2016	Advocate for victims and survivors of sexual assault	[9]
Ellen F. Golden			2015	Senior Vice President at CEI (Coastal Enterprises, Inc.)	[10]
Barbara W. Woodlee			2015	Retired president of Kennebec Valley Community College; chief academic officer for the Maine Community College System	[11]
Laurie G. Lachance			2014	First woman president of Thomas College	[12]
Patricia E. Ryan			2014	Executive director of the Maine Human Rights Commission and a founding member of the Maine Women's Lobby
Lyn Mikel Brown		(1956– )	2013	Co-founder of Hardy Girls Healthy Women, activist, author, researcher and professor at Colby College	[13]
Mary Cathcart		(1942– )	2013	Former Maine State Representative and State Senator; co-director of Maine NEW Leadership program of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center	[14]
Mary Farrar			2012	Victims' advocate
Ruth L. Lockhart			2012	Women's health advocate, women's rights activist, AIDS educator
Susan Collins		(1952–)	2011	United States Senate	[15]
Katherine O. Musgrave		(1920–2015)	2011	Professor Emerita of Food and Nutrition at the University of Maine; 2002 New England University Continuing Education Association Faculty Member of the Year Award	[16]
Thelma C. Swain		(1908–2008)	2010	Philanthropist	[17]
Sharon Barker			2009	Director University of Maine Women's Resource Center	[18]
Karen Heck		(b. 1952)	2008	Advocate for women's issues
Florence Brooks Whitehouse		(1869–1945)	2008	Women's suffrage	[19]
Laura Fortman			2007	Deputy Administrator, Wage and Hour Division U. S. Dept. of Labor; former Executive Director of the Frances Perkins Center	[20]
Dale McCormick		(1947–)	2007	Former Maine State Treasurer, served in Maine State Senate	[21]
Chilton R. Knudsen			2006	Bishop of Maine, Episcopal Church	[22]
Patricia M. Collins			2005	Mayor of Caribou (1981–1982), chairman of Maine Committee for Judicial Responsibility and Disability, and Catholic Charities Maine	[23]
Judy Ayotte Paradis		(1944– )	2005	Maine House of Representatives
Sharon H. Abrams			2004	Executive Director of the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers in Waterville	[24]
Judith Magyar Isaacson		(1925–2015)	2004	Holocaust survivor, human rights activist, author of Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor
Nancy H. Hensel			2003	President University of Maine at Presque Isle	[25]
Theodora J. Kalikow		(1941–)	2002	President, University of Maine at Farmington	[26]
Linda Smith Dyer		(d. 2001)	2001	Co-founder of Maine Women's Lobby	[27]
Chellie Pingree		(1955– )	2001	United States House of Representatives	[28]
Caroline D. Gentile		(1924–2008)	2000	Physical education instructor	[29]
Joan Benoit Samuelson		(1957–)	2000	American marathon runner who won gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics	[30]
Elizabeth H. Mitchell		(1940– )	1999	Maine State Senate	[31]
Olympia J. Snowe		(1947–)	1999	United States Senate	[32]
Lois Galgay Reckitt		(1944– )	1998	Executive Director, Family Crisis Services, Portland, Maine	[33]
Ethel Wilson Gammon		(1916-2009)	1997	Founder, Washburn-Norlands Living History Center	[34]
Mildred Brown Schrumpf		(1903–2001)	1997	Home economist, nutritionist	[35]
Elizabeth W. Crandall			1996	Environmentalist, woman's issues advocate
Marti Stevens		(d. 1993)	1996	Theatre director, actress, director of Somerset County Basic Skills	[36]
Eloise Vitelli		(1949– )	1995	Founded Women's Business Development Corporation, advocate for entrepreneurship for women	[37]
Esther E. Wood		(1905-2002)	1994	Writer, teacher, historian	[38]
Dorothy M. Healy		(1904–1990)	1993	College professor who, along with professor Grace A. Dow, established the Maine Women's Writers Collection; namesake of the Dorothy M. Healy Professorship at the University of New England	[39]
Ninetta May Runnals		(1885-1980)	1992	Dean of Women at Colby College	[40]
Gail H. Laughlin		(1868–1952)	1991	First practicing female attorney from Maine, first president of Business and Professional Women's Foundation, served in both the Maine House of Representatives and Maine State Senate
Gilda E. Nardone			1991	Director of Maine Displaced Homemakers Program
Elizabeth S. Russell		(1913–2001)	1991	Geneticist	[41]
Margaret Chase Smith		(1897–1995)	1990	United States Senate, United States House of Representatives	[42]
Mabel Sine Wadsworth		(1910–2006)	1990	Birth control activist	[43]

Further reading[]

• Isaacson, Judith Magyar (1990). Seeds of Sarah, Memoirs of a Survivor (2nd ed.). University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01651-6.

Citations[]

References[]

• Berkowitz, Bill (1998). Local Heroes The Rebirth of Heroism in America. Lexington, MA: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-669-15830-4.
• Ferraro, Geraldine; Gutgold, Nichola D (2006). Paving the Way for Madam President. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7391-1594-7.
• Wayne, PhD, Tiffany K (2010). American Women of Science since 1900. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 827, 828. ISBN 978-1-59884-158-9.
• Sigerman, Harriet (2003). The Columbia Documentary History of American Women, 1941–2000. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11698-5.
• Woolum, Janet (1998). Outstanding Women Athletes: Who They Are and How They Influenced Sports in America (2nd ed.). Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. ISBN 1-57356-120-7.

Further reading[]

• Isaacson, Judith Magyar (1991). Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor (2nd ed.). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06219-3.
• Tolstrup, Karen Dodge (2008). "If Maine Had a Queen" the Life of Brownie Schrumpf (Northeast Folklore, Volume XLI). Orono, ME: Maine Folklife Center. ISBN 978-0-943197-34-0.

External links[]

• Maine Women's Hall of Fame home page
• Marti Stevens Interactive Improvisational Theater