Maine Women's Hall of Fame
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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.
 Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith | |
 | |
| Established | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Location | Bernard D. Katz Library University of Maine 46 University Drive Augusta, Maine 04330 |
| Coordinates | 44.342902°N 69.795604°W |
| Website | |
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.
| Name | Image | Birth–Death | Year | Area of achievement | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandra L. Caron | 2023 | Professor and author | [2] | ||
| Julia G. Kahrl | (1934–) | 2022 | Women's reproductive rights advocate | [3] | |
| Jessica Meir | .jpg) |
(1977–) | 2022 | Astronaut, biologist | [4] |
| Joyce Taylor Gibson | 2021 | Associate Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Southern Maine | [5] | ||
| Leigh Saufley |  |
(1954–) | 2021 | Dean of the University of Maine School of Law and former Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court | [5] |
| Joanne D’Arcangelo | 2020 | Feminist activist and political strategist, policy advocate and lobbyist, State House staffer, and non-profit leader | [6] | ||
| Betty-Jane Stanhope Meader | 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 | [6] | ||
| Darylen McQuirk Cote | 2019 | Advocate for women's health, equality and education | [7] | ||
| Janet Mills | .jpg) |
(1947–) | 2019 | 75th Governor of Maine | [7] |
| Julia Clukey | (1985–) | 2018 | Olympic luger | [8] | |
| Cornelia Thurza "Fly Rod" Crosby | ![](#/media/File:Cornelia_T._Crosby_("Fly_Rod").png) |
(1854–1946) | 2018 | Maine’s First Licensed Guide | [9] |
| Ann Schonberger | (1940–2022) | 2017 | University of Maine Mathematics. One of the founders of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Maine Orono | [10] | |
| Clara Swan | (1912–2017) | 2017 | President of Casco Bay College and a Husson College Business Professor | [10] | |
| Connie Adler | 2016 | Physician and women's health advocate | [11] | ||
| Elizabeth Ward Saxl | 2016 | Advocate for victims and survivors of sexual assault | [12] | ||
| Ellen F. Golden | (1946–) | 2015 | Senior Vice President at CEI (Coastal Enterprises, Inc.) | [13] | |
| Barbara W. Woodlee | (1946–) | 2015 | Retired president of Kennebec Valley Community College; chief academic officer for the Maine Community College System | [14] | |
| Laurie G. Lachance | 2014 | First woman president of Thomas College | [15] | ||
| 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 | [16] | |
| 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 | [17] | |
| Mary Farrar | (1949–) | 2012 | Victims' advocate | ||
| Ruth L. Lockhart | 2012 | Women's health advocate, women's rights activist, AIDS educator | |||
| Susan Collins |  |
(1952–) | 2011 | United States Senate | [18] |
| 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 | [19] | |
| Thelma C. Swain | (1908–2008) | 2010 | Philanthropist | [20] | |
| Sharon Barker | (1949–2023) | 2009 | Director University of Maine Women's Resource Center | [21] | |
| Karen Heck | (1952–) | 2008 | Advocate for women's issues | ||
| Florence Brooks Whitehouse | .jpg) |
(1869–1945) | 2008 | Women's suffrage | [22] |
| Laura Fortman |  |
(1954–) | 2007 | Deputy Administrator, Wage and Hour Division U. S. Dept. of Labor; former Executive Director of the Frances Perkins Center | [23] |
| Dale McCormick | .jpg) |
(1947–) | 2007 | Former Maine State Treasurer, served in Maine State Senate | [24] |
| Chilton R. Knudsen |  |
(1946–) | 2006 | Bishop of Maine, Episcopal Church | [25] |
| Patricia M. Collins | (1927–2024) | 2005 | Mayor of Caribou (1981–1982), chairman of Maine Committee for Judicial Responsibility and Disability, and Catholic Charities Maine | [26] | |
| Judy Ayotte Paradis | (1944–) | 2005 | Maine House of Representatives | ||
| Sharon H. Abrams | (1949–) | 2004 | Executive Director of the Maine Children's Home for Little Wanderers in Waterville | [27] | |
| Judith Magyar Isaacson | (1925–2015) | 2004 | Holocaust survivor, human rights activist, author of Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor | ||
| Nancy H. Hensel | (1943–) | 2003 | President University of Maine at Presque Isle | [28] | |
| Theodora J. Kalikow | (1941–) | 2002 | President, University of Maine at Farmington | [29] | |
| Linda Smith Dyer | (1948–2001) | 2001 | Co-founder of Maine Women's Lobby | [30] | |
| Chellie Pingree |  |
(1955–) | 2001 | United States House of Representatives | [31] |
| Caroline D. Gentile | (1924–2008) | 2000 | Physical education instructor | [32] | |
| Joan Benoit Samuelson |  |
(1957–) | 2000 | American marathon runner who won a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics | [33] |
| Elizabeth H. Mitchell | (1940–) | 1999 | Maine State Senate | [34] | |
| Olympia J. Snowe |  |
(1947–) | 1999 | United States Senate | [35] |
| Lois Galgay Reckitt | .jpg) |
(1944–2023) | 1998 | Executive Director, Family Crisis Services, Portland, Maine | [36] |
| Ethel Wilson Gammon | (1916–2009) | 1997 | Founder, Washburn-Norlands Living History Center | [37] | |
| Mildred Brown Schrumpf | (1903–2001) | 1997 | Home economist, nutritionist | [38] | |
| Elizabeth W. Crandall | (1914–2005) | 1996 | Environmentalist, woman's issues advocate | ||
| Marti Stevens | (c. 1939–1993) | 1996 | Theatre director, actress, director of Somerset County Basic Skills | [39] | |
| Eloise Vitelli |  |
(1949–) | 1995 | Founded Women's Business Development Corporation, advocate for entrepreneurship for women | [40] |
| Esther E. Wood | (1905–2002) | 1994 | Writer, teacher, historian | [41] | |
| 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 | [42] | |
| Ninetta May Runnals | (1885–1980) | 1992 | Dean of Women at Colby College | [43] | |
| 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 | (1947–) | 1991 | Director of Maine Displaced Homemakers Program | ||
| Elizabeth S. Russell |  |
(1913–2001) | 1991 | Geneticist | [44] |
| Margaret Chase Smith |  |
(1897–1995) | 1990 | United States Senate, United States House of Representatives | [45] |
| Mabel Sine Wadsworth | (1910–2006) | 1990 | Birth control activist | [46] | |
- Isaacson, Judith Magyar (1990). Seeds of Sarah, Memoirs of a Survivor (2nd ed.). University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-01651-6.
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