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Friday, March 13, 1998
"A Fine and Long Tradition of Community Leadership" was the theme of
the 1998 Women’s Community Leadership Awards event, this year honoring
thirteen local women for their service in volunteer and non-profit organizations.
The event was part of Women’s History Month activities sponsored by
the UAH Women’s Studies program and the Women’s Economic Development
Council. This year’s honorees illustrate the great diversity of roles
women play in strengthening our community.
Friends of Women’s Studies at UAH honored Terry Williams, co-chair of their Friends board and originator of these Community Leadership Awards. Williams has had a profound effect on many local organizations.
Jean Watts, a community leader for over thirty years, has been involved in establishing and heading the boards of the Volunteer Center, the Huntsville/Madison County Senior Center, the Child Health Improvement Association (Well Child Clinic), and the Huntsville Land Trust and Board of Cummings Research Park..
Sherry Merceica took a group of women, most of whom claimed an inability to sing, and waved her magic wand, transforming them into the Huntsville Feminist Chorus. This organization of about 40 women from all walks of life honored her this year for creating an innovative way to empower, encourage, and uplift women through song.
Delois Smith, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at UAH, has won praise from students and administrators all over campus for her professionalism, helpfulness, and compassion.
Several organizations are honoring outstanding members, including Donna Lamb, president of the Women’s Economic Development Council; Judy Case, Educational Program Coordinator for Homemakers for Family and Community Education; Ann Folsom, President of the Alabama National Association of Retired Persons; and Belinda Talley of the Senior Center’s "Way Out of Line" Dancers.
At a time when the volunteer force is dwindling, Mary Reeder is a shining example of what one talented woman can do to make a real difference. With quiet strength and great personal sacrifice, she has dedicated the past twelve years to serving our community through the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Huntsville. (AMIH). In addition to serving as AMIH president, she has also been the driving force in providing a unique 12-week course on severe mental illness to over 100 families in our community.
Anne Murray has championed the cause of better services for the mentally ill for over twenty years, serving as the coordinator of services to the seriously mentally ill in Madison County for the last ten years at the Huntsville-Madison County Mental Health Center. As a planner, advocate, and manager, she has contributed significantly to the quality of life of the mentally ill in our community.
Many of this year’s honorees have been involved in health care activities. The Historic Huntsville Foundation honored Lynne Lowery, Manager of Government and Community Relations for Marshall Space Flight Center. Lowery holds a variety of volunteer service roles, as board member for the City of Huntsville Health Care Authority and chair of the Healthy Huntsville, Madison County Committee, which gives away over $400,000 for health improvement.
Mary Elizabeth Marr has spent the last ten years educating the North Alabama community about HIV/AIDS through her involvement with the American Red Cross and the AIDS Action Coalition. She was instrumental in starting the Teen Hotline, a statewide information line for teenagers to get information about HIV/AIDS.
As a home health aide at Hospice Family Care for over ten years, Beulah McCrary has touched hundreds of lives and families in our community. In honoring her, Hospice writes that "her warm personality and caring manner are embraced with a wonderful sense of humor and special optimism that always brings a smile to the faces around her. Loved by all her patients and their families, Beulah demonstrates her unique leadership through the way she provides a dedicated and special kind of care."
As a Licensed Social Worker and a Special Education Instructor, Java Davis Bennett has worked tirelessly to enhance and expand services to young disabled children. She has served as Child Find Coordinator for North Alabama and, more recently, as Program Director for United Cerebral Palsy of Huntsville, who honor her this year for her leadership.
The Leadership Awards ceremony was the prelude to a one-woman show, Sun Flower, about another woman leader from history, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the woman who began the women’s rights movement in this country when she organized the first Women’s Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York, 150 years ago.
New York actress Elizabeth Perry, who stars in the show, calls her play Sun Flower because that was Stanton’s pen name. Perry has performed Sun Flower in Washington, DC, off-off Broadway, and throughout the country. In July 1998, she will perform it in Seneca Falls itself, reenacting this important moment in our nation’s history. She makes the history books come alive in her vivid dramatization of Stanton and the many famous people in her life, including Stanton’s protegé Susan B. Anthony, and her friend, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. An introduction to Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s life is an inspirational and illuminating experience.
To learn more about Stanton and the nationwide 150th anniversary celebration of the first Women’s Rights Convention, check out the Legacy98 website.
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