|
GGRWHC Salutes 2013 Hall of Fame Inductees
Among the 2013 Michigan Women's Hall of Fame inductees are Grand Rapids's first woman attorney, Elizabeth Jane Eaglesfield (1853-1940), and two Grand Rapids women who were among eleven female participants in the state constitutional convention in the early 1960s, the Con Con Eleven. Reserve now to celebrate them at the Kellogg Conference Center in East Lansing on Thursday, October 17th. Scroll down for details.
Elizabeth Jane Eaglesfield (1853-1940)
At an especially early date in the national history of women attorneys, one "Bessie Eaglesfield" hung out her shingle in Grand Rapids in 1878. A recent graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Eaglesfield managed to balance the life of an active club woman with her performance in the down-and-dirty male world of the law.
|
|
In the difficult balance between being a "lady" and being a "lawyer," Eaglesfield generally chose the more adventurous path. Eventually, it led her to Lake Michigan and a colorful career as a fruit boat owner, licensed skipper, and lake lawyer. Her steamship, the Golden Girl became "a fixture on the Lake Michigan horizon," according to contemporary sources. Elizabeth Eaglesfield engaged her tainted world for decades, a rousing model of determination, persistence, and daring. (For more information, see www.ggrwhc.org) |
|
Con Con Eleven: Women at the Michigan
Constitutional Convention
The first Michigan constitutional convention in 53 years was held in 1961-1962. For the first and only time women participated in the writing of Michigan's constitution. Of 147 delegates in 1961-1962, only eleven were women, two from Grand Rapids: Dorothy Leonard Judd (1898-1989) and Ella Demmink Koeze (1905-1986).
Judd never held elective office, but she had much influence on government and public service in Michigan. For years, governors of both parties appointed her to major committees. Koeze served on the Grand Valley State University Board of Control, at various GOP conventions, as president of the Republican Women's Federation of Michigan, and as a director of YWCA Southwest in Grand Rapids. (For more information on both, see, www.ggrwhc.org)
|
|
Women's Hall of Fame Inductions
Thursday, October 17, 2013
The induction dinner and ceremony will be held at the Kellogg Conference Center in East Lansing (55 South Harrison Avenue). For $125 per seat, the public is invited to a 5:00 pm reception (cash bar), 6:00 pm dinner, and 7:00 pm program.
If you cannot attend yourself, please consider donating to dinner scholarships. The Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council will coordinate tables as well as funding from persons unable to attend with people unable to afford a seat. Please let us know your plans. Please call at 616/574-7307 or send to [email protected]. For full information about statewide inductions into the Hall of Fame and for details about the celebration, see www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org.
Check your calendars and plan to attend! |
|
Upcoming Events!
Click on www.ggrwhc.org/upcomingevents.php for more information about the Women's Resource Center's 40th Anniversary event, Western Michigan Genealogical Society's GotAncestors? seminar, GVSU's Great Lakes History Conference, the YWCA's annual TRIBUTE! Awards luncheon, WGVU's Women & Girls Lead Initiative luncheon, a Genealogy Lock-In and Archives A to Z Exhibit in the History and Special Collections Department of the Grand Rapids Public Library. |
|
JOIN US OR UPDATE YOUR MEMBERSHIP! |
|
and helps offset the expenses associated with research and programming presented each year. Your membership helps to set the record straight on the women who've made history here in our community. |
|
|
|
Board meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at 5:30 pm at the Vanderveen Center for the Book at the Grand Rapids Public Library. If you have suggestions for programs, oral histories or other items, please email us at [email protected] or plan to attend a meeting.
|
|
Share the Newsletter with Your Friends |
|
Forward this newsletter! Friends can sign up to receive it by clicking the button in the left hand margin. Don't assume they are with us--with every technological shift, we miss people.
|
