| 07-08 TABLE of CONTENTS:
First woman skipper of a minesweeper
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTES by
Marianne Williamson, Käthe Kollwitz, and Anais Nin.
First Woman Skipper of
a Minesweeper
Jo Cook (b. 07-07-1911) was the first woman
minewatching (minesweeping) skipper in the world.
In
1952 she joined the Royal Naval Minewatching Service (RNMS), made up of
volunteers to defend against mines that might be laid by Soviet aircraft
around British harbors at the height of the cold war. She qualified for
her captain's papers in 1961. However, her career was almost over before
it began.
The
newspapers tagged her the "Rum- Drinking, Pipe-Smoking Granny"
when her ship ran aground in a thick fog outside Dartmouth harbor.
After
an investigation her license was restored, and she became the first women
to command an RNXS unit, finally commanding a 120-ton inshore mine sweeper.
She
retired in 1976. The service was disbanded in 1994.
"Growing up, as
it were, in the Service," she said in
a newspaper article, "I was accepted
as a skipper first and a woman second. I have never had any problems in
giving orders, and my orders have always been obeyed."
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07-08 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
B. 07-08-1844, Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln - teacher at the Boston
Cooking School who authored the great Boston Cook Book which
contained the daringly innovative recipe measurement methods as well as
explaining the hows of cooking, hygiene, and nutrition.
Most publishers frowned
on such books because women were thought to be born with the innate knowledge
of cooking. Publishers thought such directions were unnecessary and women
would refuse to buy the "insulting" books. The Boston Cook
Book became an instant best seller.
B. 07-08-1862, Ella Reeve Bloor - radical U.S. political leader
who was on the board of the American Communist Party. As a reformer for
social ills, she was arrested 30 times, once when she was in her 70s.
Her mother died in childbirth
after birthing ten children in 17 years.
ERB had eight children
in two marriages. She opposed the ERA, favoring protective legislation.
One of her most noted investigations was an expose of the Chicago meat
packing industry.
 B.
07-08-1867, Käthe Kollwitz - distinguished German graphic artist
and sculpture. She was the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy
of Arts.
This outstanding artist
is know for her great social conscience reflected with strong passion in
her work.
B. 07-08-1912, Olive Dennis said of her vocation, "I
do not claim credit for doing things - I only make suggestions."
Those suggestions changed rail travel. She
suggested adding things like air conditioning, reclining seats, and lights
that dimmed at night on trains. She had an engineering degree.
"Probably the most important
phase of a job like mine is developing tact.. men who have been running
the railroads for years tended to resent criticism or even suggestions
from women."
B. 07-08-1926, Elisabeth Kubler-Rose - Swiss physician, psychiatrist,
and author. Her studies on dying has revolutionized treatment of terminally
ill people and enabled the grieving to understand their loss.
B. 07-08-1928, Shirley Ann Grau - U.S. novelist and short- story
writer. Her The Keeper of the House won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize.
B. 07-08-1943, (Alyce) Faye Wattleton, president Planned Parenthood
Federation of America and a registered nurse. Her mother Ozzie was a seamstress.
Her election broke the
monopoly of white males who controlled Planned Parenthood when she rose
to executive director in 1970 and served as president from 1978 to 1992.
She changed its plodding,
conservative image to one of activism.
In all fairness, however,
men like Lawrence Lader who helped more than 2,000 women get (at the time)
illegal abortions and who founded the National Abortion Rights Action League
in his living room were essential to the legalizing of abortion in the
U.S.
B. 07-08-1946, Cynthia Gregory, extraordinary U.S. ballet dancer
known for her beautiful line. CG was trained almost exclusively by women,
contrary to most women dancers, and that probably accounted for her remarkable
physical security... trained by women who understands a woman's balance
and her center of gravity that is different from a man's.
B. 07-08-1951, Anjelica Huston, U.S. actor won Academy award
for best supporting actress in the movie Prizzi's Honor (1985).
B. 07-08-1951, Evonne Goolagong, outstanding Australian aborigine
(First People) tennis player who won Wimbledon 1971 and 1980 and was
named AP woman athlete of the year in 1971.
B. 07-08-1952, Marianne Williamson, exponent of A Course of
Miracles written by Helen Schucman. MW and has authored a number of
books including A Woman's Worth (1993) that advocates women's independence
with a spiritual caste. She is a single mother of India Emmaline and refuses
to divulge the name of the father. The media made a big scandal out of
it; she ignored them and the fuss died away.
B. 07-08-1953, Anna Quindlen, U.S. newspaper columnist and novelist.
In 1992 AQ was the third woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
She was the prize-winning and much respected columnist for the The New
York Times until she quit to care for her child and write novels. She
returned as a columnist for the weekly magazine for a time.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
WILLIAMSON, MARIANNE:
"There is nothing Madison
Avenue can give us that will make us more beautiful women. We are beautiful
because God created us that way."
"Joy is what happens
to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."
KOLLOWITZ, KATHE:
"Where do all the women
who have watched so carefully over the lives of their beloved ones get
the heroism to send them to face the cannon?"
NIN, ANAIS:
"What I consider my
weaknesses are feminine traits: incapacity to destroy, ineffectualness
in battle."
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