|
|
|
|
| Woman's History Month Article. Service to Others a Worthy Objective. Joan Witt for the Review. |
Among those women we recognize this month let us highlight a few who in addition to successful careers, were also deeply involved in organizations which provided needed services to their communities.
In the early months of 1939, a group of women from the Akron area met with two men of this community to discuss the possibility of organizing a group for business and professional women. It was on May 16th of 1939 that the East Liverpool Business and Professional Women's Club was chartered with 39 working women. Ethel Lynn Wambaugh was elected the charter president. certainly Ethel was ahead of the times.; she served as an Account Executive with the Eckert Advertising Company. She was one bright woman in the man's world of advertising at that time.
Many organizations prospered because of her expertise in the advertising world. A great many women came in contact with Ethel during the 30 plus years that she was the leader of the BPW organization here. in the early years, the group worked hard on projects for the 2nd World War effort. The organization also took the lead in organizing Career Days and Workshops for high school students. The local organization was known for its Fashions Shows and Lectures held at the Ceramic Theater to raise needed funds. in all of these activities, Ethel's talents were very evident. By 1957-59 Ethel was again elected President and after that she went on to serve as a State Committee Chairman and then 3rd, 2nd, 1st Vice President and President of the State organization in 1967-68 when there were 10,000 members.
Ethel later moved to Vermont where she became active as a red Cross Executive before her death in 1995.
During the mid 40's and for many years after, two individuals worked diligently to organize the Child Health Clinic and from that time in 1947 until its closing in the early 1970's, May Hartt and Mary McCullough handled the many details of the clinic in which Dr. Alex Fisher served as the Medical Director. Other individuals helped but it was May and Mary that were the backbone of the organization. They made certain that there was enough money for the operations and that all needy children were scheduled to see the Doctor. All of the members of the BPW organizations contributed money each year for a Christmas party for the patients and their parents.
In addition to the Child Health Clinic, both women held down full time careers as well as caring for family members. May is remembered as a partner in the Hartt Auditing Company with first her father, then her brother. later her daughter, Shirley, who just recently passed away, joined the firm. Mary is remembered for her role as Office Manager and Co-owner of the G. F. McCullough Electric Company. Both women were also involved in many other community service organizations and projects, Both served as President of the BPW organization. Mary also served as President of the Quota Club and was active in the City Federation of Women's Clubs.
Another charter member of both BPW and Quota which was organized in 1947, was Gladys DeBolt. Many remember Gladys as a History Teacher at East Liverpool High School. Some are aware that Gladys also ran the family business, The F. F. DeBolt Company was a manufacturing agent for china, glassware and silver Gladys traveled to many states to service her customers.. Gladys was President of the Quota Club, the City Federation of Women's Clubs and the New Century Club. She was also active in Delta Kappa Gamma Teacher's Honorary. Many remember her for her help in the beginnings of the East Liverpool branch of Kent State University. Her picture is displayed with the other members of the Hall of Fame. She one of only two women from this Quota Organization who have served as Governor of the Sixth District which includes all of the local organizations State of Ohio.
Mention here must be made of Dorothy Horsley, a native of England who came here in the mid 1940's to run the family business - the Charles W. Harrison Company. Dorothy worked tirelessly to get the Quota Club organized and was elected the Charter President when it was organized in 1947. She continued to be an active member of the organization and worked for the hearing impaired. She greatly helped in getting a Speech and Hearing Clinic in operation. The Salvation Army also benefited from Dorothy's leadership. Dorothy continued to be active member of Quota until her death in 1975.
Luella Thompson was also a Charter member of the Quota organization. While she resided in Wellsville, she worked at the First National Bank of East Liverpool. She was in fact the first woman trust officer in the banking business in this area. She was also the first person to receive a graduate certificate from the Steubenville Chapter of the American Institute of Banking. Luella often served as Treasurer of the many organizations to which she belonged. In particular here she was Treasurer of both the Quota and the Federation of Women's Clubs. In Wellsville, Luella is best remembered as serving as President of the Wellsville Historical Society and for organizing the Wellsville All Classes Alumni Reunions which were held every five years starting in 1950 until her health prevented her from continuing.
Each of these women were outstanding in their chosen career fields and in addition were devoted to their communities. Dedication- Involvement - Service were their standards. They were all committed to make their communities better places for all to live. We are all better because of their service and hard work.
This site is the property of the East Liverpool Historical Society.
Regular linking, i.e. providing the URL of the East Liverpool Historical Society web site for viewers to click on and be taken to the East Liverpool Historical Society entry portal or to any specific article on the website is legally permitted.
Hyperlinking, or as it is also called framing, without permission is not permitted.
Legally speaking framing is still in a murky area of the law
though there have been court cases in which framing has been seen as violation of copyright law. Many cases that were taken to court ended up settling out-of-court with the one doing the framing agreeing to cease framing and to just use a regular link to the other site.
The East Liverpool Historical Society pays fees to keep their site online. A person framing the Society site is effectively presenting the entire East Liverpool Historical Society web site as his own site and doing it at no cost to himself, i.e. stealing the site.
The East Liverpool Historical Society reserves the right to charge such an individual a fee for the use of the Society’s material.