Dr. Beryl E. W. Williams, a Baltimorean, retired in 1981 as Dean of Continuing Education and Community outreach at Morgan State University after thirty-three/years of service and having taught in Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Maryland. As a volunteer, she was affiliated with the YWCA for over fifty-nine years and involved with the Baltimore Sister City Program with Gbarnga.

Dr. Williams is a very quiet, task oriented individual who is involved because, I believe, she views it as a natural part of living. She does not seek public attention for her work. She is a mentor for many of us.

Submitted by: Lisa B. Williams, Past President African American Women’s Caucus

Clara Hamilton was ahead of her time, with her plan for what is now known as the Oak Hill Historic District in Hagerstown, MD. Four Washington County Technical High School students, Hanna Leizear, Heaven Burkhammer, Christine Johnson and Kenise Lewis , turned Clara’s idea into the documentary, “Hamilton Plants a Seed: The Garden City Movement of Hagerstown.” Their collaborative work won first place for high school documentary – group in the Washington County competition for Maryland History Day and was sent to the Maryland State Women’s History Project.

Submitted by: Rebecca Rush, with the Land and Cultural Preservation Fund

School Girls Unite, a group of Maryland middle and high school girls with a sister group in Mali, Africa, wrote and published a book based on their work supporting the sending of Malian girls to school. The book, Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World Through Education, is a guidebook in French and English on effective organizing and working as change agents for social justice.

The Baltimore Marriott Hunt Valley Inn ballroom was brightly decorated in pink and green linens and flowers as family members, a cross section of former elementary students, principals, church members, sorority members, neighbors and acquaintances from all walks of life paid tribute to a remarkable lady who celebrated her 90th birthday.

Charlotte Elizabeth Emma Holsey Harper, a product of the Baltimore Public School System, grew up on Druid Hill Avenue in the “Sugar Hill” area with four sisters. Her career spanned several decades of progressive positions from elementary teacher to vice principal to principal in the Baltimore City Public School System.

Ann Joice (1660-1735) was born in the West Indies and taken to England before she was brought, as a slave, to Prince George’s County, Maryland. Joice always adamantly maintained that she was actually an indentured servant. She had vociferously related her story to family and friends throughout her lifetime. This narrative was the inspiration to her great, great grandson, slave Charles Mahoney, to petition Maryland court in 1791 for his freedom, claiming that he was descended from a free woman.

In 1678, the document surfaced showing that Ann actually was an indentured servant. Her great, great grandson’s legal struggle to gain his freedom was important in the abolition movement. Ann Joice’s tenacity and vigorous objections to her imposed and incorrect social status were her legacy.

Submitted by: Maryland Women's Heritage Center

Edith”Jackie” Ronne, a Baltimore native, never expected to accompany her husband’s scientific expedition to Antarctica in 1947. Joining that excursion meant that she was the first American woman to land in the frozen south. Ronne insisted that the chief pilot’s wife, Jennie Darlington, go along as well and the two women helped calm many tense and argumentative times during their fifteen-month stay. Edith was the trip’s recorder and historian, describing the continent’s natural beauty in the book, “Antarctica’s First Lady.”

The trip was considered a scientific success, proving that Antarctica was all in one continent. Edith’s husband, Captain Ronne, named the newly discovered territory the Ronne Ice Shelf. Edith lectured widely and became president of the Society of Women Geographers.

Submitted by: Linda Shevitz and Jill Moss Greenberg

Sharon Faye Beazley was the true definition of an unsung hero. A business owner and former Bethlehem Steel employee, Sharon worked tirelessly for the betterment of her community for decades. She headed an active opposition group and co-chaired a legislative task force created to fight the installment of the LNG pipeline.  Through this force Sharon helped protect the communities of Dundalk, Turner Station and the rest of Baltimore County from a company building a terminal on contaminated land in Sparrows Point and transporting natural gas from dangerous countries into the Baltimore County harbor.

"My mother always said, 'People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world usually do,'" said Lachelle Beazley-Scarlato, Sharon’s daughter. "And she did."

Sharon received citations from Baltimore County government for her extensive volunteer efforts.  

Submitted By: Diane Carliner

Lillian (Lil) Shevitz has been and continues to be a remarkable Unsung Heroine to her family and friends and colleagues.    She is the magnet and center that keeps her extended family strongly connected.  Born in 1919, she is the proud and loving mother of three children and their spouses, grandmother of five, and great-grandmother of four.

Lil’s career spanned decades working at the Washington D.C. headquarters of B’nai B’rith International, the largest Jewish organization in the world.  As an assistant to both the Director of Hillel, with student chapters on college campuses around the nation, and to the Executive Vice President of B’nai B’rith, she interacted with leaders both nationally and internationally. Through her work and personal outreach, she was well-known and respected by colleagues in many countries.  While working in Washington, she demonstrated her personal courage and determination when she and her co-workers were held hostage in 1977 for days by terrorists at the B’nai B’rith Building. During the ordeal, she spoke out for hostages who were being mistreated and who had special needs.

Lil is the epitome of generosity and loving care for all whose lives she has touched and continues to touch on a daily basis.  She is a role model “mom” not only to her own immediate family, but to the friends of her children.  She is richly deserving of her contributions being acknowledged and of her praises being SUNG!

Submitted by Linda Shevitz

My mother, Gloria “Kay” Hughes, came to Baltimore in the early 70s to study opera and Music Education at Peabody. While studying the translations of the Italian operas, she was disgusted at how misogynistic many operas were and how women were portrayed as subservient, weak of spirit and physically fragile. Realizing she could never put her heart and soul into art that so demeaned her sex, she did what any young woman who enjoyed working with her hands would do. She became an electrical apprentice. After finishing apprentice training at the top of her class, she went to work with Benfield Electric as a commercial and residential electrical mechanic. In her job, she faced much sexism and doubts of her competency. This only drove her to work harder. Eventually, she became one of the first female master electricians in the State of Maryland. She is currently about to retire from Baltimore County Inspection and Permits as an inspector of 20 years.

Submitted by Jason Knauer

Leslie Palmer will be forty years old in September 2010. She is creative, bright, energetic, kind, spiritual, persistant, funny, and gracious. The characteristic that makes her an "Unsung Hero", however, is her patience.

For about ten years, Leslie has had multiple sclerosis. She uses a walker on the best days and needs to convert it to a wheelchair to be pushed on the "not-the-best" days. There are two sets of steps to scale just to get into her house. Some days, those legs just don't want to work, but she never gives up; even when it takes us forty-five minutes to get her in the house. When she needs assistance, she is always extremely polite and treats the one helping with respect and charm.

Her life hasn't turned out the way she planned. Leslie used to fly all over the country and world for her job. She can only feel that same exhilaration while driving the motorized scooter when we go shopping at Target. This is the one time she can feel independent. The rest of the time, she is patient.

Submitted by Linda Linzey

Linda Shevitz, Educational Equity Specialist at the Maryland State Department of Education, is probably the nation’s finest education department-based professional in the arena of gender equity.  Her inclusive approach and technical skill set have outlasted and outdistanced anyone for more than three decades.

Submitted by:  Phyllis Lerner

For many years now, Patricia Maurer has introduced the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) to thousands of people around the State of Maryland and abroad through countless speaking engagements and numerous tours of the National Center for the Blind. As Director of Community Relations, a position she has held since 1988, Patricia responds to many telephone, letter, and email inquiries that come to the National Center for the Blind. In addition, Patricia coordinates some of the national activities regarding Braille literacy and childhood education for the blind.

In 2005, Patricia began serving as the Director of Reference for the Jacobus tenBroek Library, located in the NFB Jernigan Institute. In this capacity, she continues her work of educating individuals and groups. A member of the NFB since 1968, Patricia has served in many capacities. In 1985 she was elected to serve as Treasurer of the Greater Baltimore chapter of the National Federation of the Blind and continues in that capacity today. In 1979, she was appointed as a member of the Affiliate Action Committee for the National Federation of the Blind.

Patricia received the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland Kenneth Jernigan Award in 1997. Honors have come to her from outside of the Federation as well. In 2004, Patricia received the Volunteer of the Year Award in Baltimore, Maryland.

 Sumitted By: Judith Chwalow

Eusebia A. Geluz helped children safely cross the street near Green Valley Elementary School for twenty years.  She loved the kids.  After her own children were grown, she took on the job and “neat” uniform of a crossing guard, where she would see 350 children daily.

Geluz was proud that no children were injured while entrusted to her care.  She personally prevented a sixth grader from being hit by a speeding car one wintry day.  At age seventy, she retired.  The students will always remember her.  To them, “she’s still the same”.

Submitted by:  Stephen Deane

Worcester Country School’s “Girls Mean Business” program’s purpose is to encourage girls to realize that they can succeed in fields traditionally dominated by men.  Beginning at the middle school age, a decline in interest in mathematics, science, and technology is often seen among girls.  This is the age during which girls experience problems with teamwork because of difficulties with peer relationships.  “Girls Mean Business” attempts to tackle the problems of the middle school age girl by stressing teamwork, sharing knowledge, and setting career goals.

Girls are encouraged to set goals and to work hard in all school subjects.  Through the GMB project, the girls have matured and they have taught their school and community that girls can be and will be leaders in fields such as mathematics, science, business, and technology.

Submitted by:  Dr. Merle Marsh

The Woman’s Industrial Exchange in Baltimore City began shortly after the Civil War in the home of Mrs. G. Harmon Brown, where women brought their handwork to be sold to local citizens and visitors.  The Maryland State Legislator incorporated the organization in 1882 “For the purpose of endeavoring by sympathy and practical aid to encourage and help needy women to help themselves by procuring for them and establishing a sales room for the sale of Women’s Work.”

In 1887, The Exchange moved to its current location at 333 N. Charles Street.  The Exchange sold Women’s handwork, operated a Tea Room which provided afternoon teas and suppers and gave instructions in needlework and cooking.  Consignors sent goods from all over the country to be sold in the shop, a practice still carried on today.

Mabelle Fisher was a wife, mother, and grandmother who dedicated herself to those important roles. She had six grandchildren and was a treasure to them all. Describing “Mom Mom” in only those terms, however, tells just a fraction of her story. As well, she was a perpetual volunteer, skilled organizer, excellent cook, world traveler, avid animal lover, and cherished friend with a charming wit and deep faith.

In all these ways, she profoundly touched others’ lives. With all these habits, she was admired as a role model. For all who were fortunate to know her, she was their “Unsung Heroine”.

Submitted By: Kimberleigh Eagleston, Granddaughter

Martha Hart Johns MA is a Senior Program Manager in the Underage Drinking Training and Enforcement Center and finds time to teach educational and developmental psychology at Montgomery College in Rockville.

Martha started the Maryland V.I.P. (Volunteers in Probation) programs as well as helped design the first halfway house for young adult offenders in Montgomery County. She has worked for Montgomery County Public Schools as a School Psychologist doing special education and gifted assessments and providing support to teachers and principals around emotional handicapped and behaviorally challenging students.

As Director of Educational Theatre Program for Kaiser Permanente she wrote the conflict resolution curriculum R.A.V.E.S. (Real Alternative to Violence for Every Student) which was implemented in over 35 school districts and won awards from the DC Society for Dispute Resolution, and the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems.

Martha chaired and coordinated Kaiser Permanente’s, Building Hope: Exploring Solutions to Youth Violence, conferences and initiative, bringing together national experts, youth and key community stakeholders, youth workers and parents to address violence in the Washington Metro Area in the 1990’s youth violence epidemic. She also served on President Clinton’s Task Force for After-School Time Programming.

Martha coaches acting at Broadway Artists Alliance in New York and plays the harp.

Submitted By: Kate Campbell Stevenson