Even venturing down the road implied by the above title is a perilous one, especially for someone of the male gender. I no doubt will miss many deserving women, some of whom may be your own favorites. However, here are some of the terrific women who have been associated with May Memorial. You can google many of them to find more information.
I start with Harriet May Mills who was born in 1857 and named after Sam May. After graduation from Cornell in 1879, she was influenced by Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone and began active work in the campaign for woman’s suffrage. She later ran for Secretary of State in NY, the first woman to run for a state-wide office. Blanche Weaver Baxter, who was a niece of Matilda Joslyn Gage, had a 30 year career on Broadway and, upon her retirement, returned to Syracuse and worked tirelessly with youth in the arts, even founding the Syracuse Little Theater. Rev. Elizabeth Padgham, whom I have written about before, a successful Unitarian minister who grew up in our church and returned here after retirement to serve our church in many ways.
Dora G. Sedgwick, married to Frederick Hazard, was daughter of abolitionist Charles B. Sedgwick. Dora was an early proponent of family planning and helped develop programs for young Black people (which evolved into the Dunbar Center). The Hazard Branch of the OCPL contains a memorial plaque recalling her public service. The middle of the last century saw RE leaders like Elizabeth Manwell and Jo Gould who not only served this church but also had a national impact.
I can’t forget Verah Johnson, our church’s first woman president, so many leaders of our Woman’s Alliance throughout much of the past century, RE leaders Pat Hoertdoefer and Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Strong, both of whom spent the latter part of their terrific careers working for the UUA in Boston, and current RE Director, Jennifer Hamlin-Navias.
You can see I have left out so many, but I can beg off because of space constraints. However, I must end with our current church leader, Rev. Jean Wahlstrom. Check out her photo in the Memorial Room. Thank you Jean for adorning our Memory Wall and gracing our sacred Hall.
Rog Hiemstra, Chair, History Committee
Written July 12, 2008
Sally Roesch Wagner said,
January 31, 2010 at 11:18 am
Interesting blog, Roger. Was delighted to see you including Blanche Weaver Baxter. I learned her stories about her aunt, Matilda Joslyn Gage, from Gage’s granddaughter, Matilda Jewell Gage. Wish I’d known her; only met her daughter Ramona Baxter Bowden, who I’m sure many remember well.
Rog Hiemstra said,
January 31, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Sally,
I just keep thinking about all the scholarship waiting to be accomplished related to the MMUUS archives. I sent out information to various seminaries around the country describing our collection (http://history.mmuus.org/mmuusresearch.pdf) but got no responses. We have a fairly large collection from a Women’s Alliance groups that was very active in our church for some 50 years from which resides several dissertations. I suspect the fact that we have no money to support such research is a big part of it.
At any rate, I am glad you read the piece and great to hear from you.
Rog