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They are among 50 women profiled in the American Association of University Women's 1984 book, "Legacies: Remembrances of York County Women."
Monday, meet four women who are following in their footsteps.
Sister Gilmary Simmons
Born: Kathryn Eileen Simmons on Sept. 26, 1922, in York
Age: 85
Home: Maryknoll, N.Y.
Known for: Her service as a physician-missionary coordinating medical care for war refugees in Korea and later organizing ecumenical health-care-providing missionary groups as a consultant for the Christian Medical Commission
Education: B.S. in pre-med and chemistry, Trinity College in Washington, D.C.; M.D., Women's Medical College in Philadelphia (1948); pediatrics residency, Duke University in Durham, N.C. (1951)
Occupation: Retired Medical Mission Sister with the Maryknoll Sisters, a religious community she joined in 1954; former medical director of Maryknoll Hospital in Pusan, Korea; former assistant professor of pediatrics, Catholic Medical College in Seoul; former staff consultant to the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches in Switzerland
Accomplishments/community involvement: She served as a physician-missionary in Korea, organizing a medical team for war refugee care (1954 to 1970); then she was the first Catholic and first woman hired as a staff consultant to the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches (1971 to 1974); she became Center Council Coordinator for the Maryknoll Sisters Center while caring for her aging parents in York (1974 to 1984); she then went for a refresher course in medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City and worked at the Maryknoll Sisters Center until her health
Honors/awards/recognition: Quoted in the 1991 book, "The Meaning of Life" by David Friend and the editors of Life magazine; honorary doctor of science degrees from Trinity College in Washington and Regis College in Boston; citations from the minister of health and social affairs of the Republic of Korea (1960); the Korean Cabinet (1962); the Korean president (1962), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania via the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia (1963); the Senate of the State of Pennsylvania (1963); Trinity College Alumni Achievement Award (1979)
Nellie Leber Longsworth
Born:
Age: 74
Home: Bethesda, Md.
Family: Children Mark Stewart, Jennifer King and Jeffrey Stewart Longsworth and five grandchildren
Known for: Lobbying for historic preservation in communities and states around the country
Education: B.A. in American studies, Smith College in Northampton, Mass.; Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Design at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University (1986-87)
Occupation: Lobbyist and consultant, Society for Historical Archaeology and the American Cultural Resource Association
Accomplishments/community involvement: Retired president and founder (1975 to 1998), Preservation Action
Since retiring from PAI in 1998, she's continued to lobby Congress, federal agencies and local communities such as Savannah, Ga., San Antonio, Texas, and Philadelphia for preservation and blight reduction. She's also lectured at various colleges and universities on the politics of historic preservation.
Honors/awards/recognition: The Louise DuPont Crowninshield Award, which is the highest preservation award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation (2007); the 1997 Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy from the National Trust for Historic Preservation); 1997 Institutional Builders Award from the Partners for Livable Communities; the Gordon Gray Award for Outstanding Achievement in Support of Historic Preservation in the United States and Public Service Award from the National Trust; Presidential Citation from the National Institute of Architects; Cultural Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior; Special Citation for Achievement in the Passage of the 1980 Historic Preservation Act Amendments from the National Conference of State Preservation Officers; honorary doctor of laws for achievement in historic preservation, Goucher College in Towson, Md.
Kathryn L. Fourhman
Age: 77Home: Spring Grove
Known for: Being the first elected female coroner in Pennsylvania and serving 24 years
Education: Attended York Hospital School of Nursing (1948-50)
Occupation: Retired coroner, York County
Family: Five children, 12 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren
Accomplishments: Served as York County coroner from 1972 until her retirement in 1998. She started working in the coroner's office in 1967 and served two physician-coroners before becoming deputy coroner, acting coroner and then running successfully for office in 1973. During her time on the job, she handled nearly 11,000 cases herself. She published a book about her experiences called "Death is a Funny Thing," the proceeds of which benefited the York City Dollars for Scholars.
Community involvement: A founder of York City Dollars for Scholars program, which provides scholarships for city students
Mildred K. Binder
Born: Jan. 5, 1918Died: Oct. 31, 2007
Family: Parents, the late Jemie Irving Binder and Emma Jane (Billet) Binder
Known for: More than four decades of work at the York County Board of Assistance
Education: A.B. in sociology, Hood College (1940)
Occupation: Executive director, York County Board of Assistance (1959 to 1983)
Accomplishments: Started at the then-new York County Board of Assistance in 1942 as a caseworker and for 41 years continued to work there, initiating programs to help the public, public officials and her consumers understand the problems and needs of welfare recipients.
Community involvement: Board member, York County Historical Society; executive committee member, York County Employment and Training Commission; board member, York County Council's committee on alcoholism; member, American Public Welfare Association, American Association of University Women, York Transportation Club, College Club of York and the Hood College Club
Honors/awards/recognition: Boss of the Year award, American Business Women's Association (1973); commendations by the Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh and the state House of Representatives; Who's Who of American Women (1981-82)
Source: American Association of University Women's "Legacies: Remembrances of York County Women" and the York Daily Record/Sunday News
mburke@ydr.com; 771-2024
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Few schools studied women's history as recently as the 1970s, so an education task force in Sonoma County, Calif., initiated a "Women's History Week" celebration in 1978.
Word about the week spread. Women decided to initiate similar celebrations within their own organizations and school districts and supported an effort to secure a congressional resolution declaring a National Women's History Week, which Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) co-sponsored in 1981.
In 1987, the National Women's History Project petitioned Congress to expand the national celebration to the entire month of March. Since then, the National Women's History Month Resolution has been approved.
Every year, the president issues a special Women's History Month Proclamation.
Source: National Women's History Project
ONLINE
--- National Women's History Project, www.nwhp.org
--- Women's History in America, www.wic.org/misc/history.htm
--- Women's History Month on the History Channel, www.history.com/minisites/womenhist/
LOCAL HISTORY
Read more about York by visiting the Local History section of inyork.com/ydr or yorkblog.com, where you'll find several blogs by area history buffs.
HISTORY QUIZ
1. What Puerto Rican-born woman helped found the York Spanish Council and later the first Spanish community center in York in 1974?
2. Who was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
3. When did Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 go into effect, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded school programs and activities?
4. Which female civil leader helped to found the Women's Club of York in 1904, later chaired the Women's Suffrage Association and helped start the Catholic Women's Club of York in 1922?
5. Who was the first Hispanic woman to serve as U.S. treasurer?
6. What woman was turned down by 29 medical schools before being accepted as a student, graduated at the head of her class, and became the first licensed female doctor in the U.S.?
7. What "women's libber" and supporter of family planning helped found the Maternal Health Center (forerunner to Planned Parenthood of York) in 1935?
8. What former slave was a powerful speaker for the rights of women and black people?
9. What York woman published her experiences tending wounded soldiers in the military hospital in York and on the Gettysburg battlefield during the Civil War in The Philadelphia Times in 1883?
10. Which Mexican-American woman was repeatedly the leading money winner in the Ladies Professional Golf Association for years?
11. Who was the first black person ever hired by the York County Courthouse in 1956 and later the first black person elected to a county office (prothonotary) in 1975?
12. What leading suffragist was arrested and convicted of attempting to vote in the 1872 election?
Sources: National Women's History Project and "Legacies: Remembrances of York County Women," York Branch AAUW, 1984
QUIZ ANSWERS
Answers: 1. Delma Milan Rivera 2. Toni Morrison 3. 1976 4. Anna Dill Gamble 5. Romana Bañuelos 6. Elizabeth Blackwell 7. Susan Smith Etnier 8. Sojourner Truth 9. Mary Sophia Cadwell Fisher 10. Nancy Lopez 11. Mattie Mitchell Chapman 12. Susan B. Anthony
