Hi.

I'm Mark Greer, executive director of the Akron Bicentennial.

And in partnership with PBS Western Reserve, we're pleased to present the Forgotten History Forum Series.

The Forgotten History Forums will explore aspects of Akron's history that, while critical to our development, are not often discussed.

Throughout this year long series will highlight seminal points in our history, some undiscovered and others which still challenge us today.

Topics will include women trailblazers in Akron's history, the development of the New Akron History Anthology published by the University of Akron Press, Akron's Native American History, The History of Deaf Rubber Workers, the impact of urban renewal, particularly on Akron's Black community, and the history of the African American Church, among others.

On behalf of the Akron Bicentennial, we hope you enjoy our Forgotten History Forum series.

we are so thankful to have the president and CEO of the Summit County Historical Society, Leianne Neff Heppner, here.

I just want to tell you how much of an amazing person Leianne is.

I've had the privilege to work with Leianne over the years, and she's also a lifesaver.

She's a bicentennial commissioner.

Leianne is here, and she is going to be moderating tonight's forum.

And so please give give her a large round of applause and help me welcome to the stage, Leianne Neff Heppner.

- Thank you so much, Mark.

I am honored to be here.

It's such a privilege to talk with you today.

And, I've learned so much from the women in this audience, even since I moved here in 1997.

I'm not an- I'm not a native Akronite.

And so there's hope for all of us, right?

You've got this packet, and inside is a little sign that says, ‘I remember’ on the other side it says ‘I was there.’ So as we're talking today, if something speaks to you and you remember, show it.

If you were there, let people know.

Because one of the problems that we have as a society is we don't talk enough to each other, we don't express and we don't share.

And when we talk to each other and we share, we find out we're so much more similar than what we ever thought.

And we learn so much from each other.

And so today we are going to talk with some women that have made a difference.

We're going to talk about some tough stories and some amazing women.

We're going to talk about the past.

And then because it's important, we're going to talk about the present because you're going to be part of the future.

May Chen, co-founder of ASIA Inc. Carrie Herman from the Barberton Community Foundation, also co-founder of the Women's Endowment Fund at Akron Community Foundation and part of the Women's History Project.

Towanda Mullins, the Sojourner Truth Statue Project chair.

Norma Rist of Norma J. Rist CEO consulting and also a co-founder of the Women's Endowment Fund at the Akron Community Foundation.

And Barbara Varley the president of the Women's Board, Akron Children's Hospital.

Now, as we put this together and we were thinking about the ladies that could tell the story that we wanted to share for those trailblazers, because trailblazers sometimes are obviously out there, and sometimes we just take them for granted.

And, I had this conversation with Carrie Herman, and she mentioned a quote that I thought was so important.

And I wondered, Carrie, if you would share your thoughts.

- Oh, sure.

Well, I guess it's, just a factor of time passing, but, when I think about people I've known who aren't here anymore, they've passed away.

I, I'm suddenly realizing, you know, they're kind of quickly forgotten and, I just hadn't connected those dots before.

So I, I have a short list of women who you some of you may remember, who aren't here anymore.

And I didn't realize people would have the I remember signs.

But if you want to, if you want to lift those up.

As I read this list of names, feel free.

Because I will be happy that you remember them.

And of course, it's dangerous to make a list like this, because I'm going to leave a lot of people out.

But, let me just just say some names.

Elaine Young, Bernie Rapetti.

The Dominican sisters have done so much in this community.

So I remember Sister Loretta Rafter, Sister Suzanne Repasky, sister Libby Schaefer, Donna Early, Sylvia Lewis, Anne Brennan, Janet Parnell, Ruth Klinefelter, Betty Taylor, Dorothy Jackson, Mary Babcox Jody Bacon, Barbara Matthews, Ruth Dean, Rosemary Raymond.

Ann Lane Gates.

And I'll end with Faye Dambrot who lots of us remember.

And Towanda, I have thanked you before.

I will thank you again and always for remembering Faye and mentioning Faye whenever you talk about this, her journey through the program or that project.

We'll talk more about that later.

But thank you for always remembering Faye.

You know, there's a Jewish tradition of of putting a stone or a pebble on a grave of someone you knew and loved as a way to pay respect and and, show that you remember them.

And I think it's a lovely, a lovely custom.

And so, this was my way of putting a pebble on those to remember the people that I've- That I've just mentioned.

Well, talking about Towanda, you have given over 250 presentations across, not just Akron and Summit County, but northeast Ohio, about a lady known as Isabella Baumfree who could not read or write, but who published a book and came to Akron to sell it.

So I wondered if you could tell them about a few things, but first, I know that you have a condition.

I do, literally, when I'm giving a presentation, I always want to remind any audience that I speak with.

Just last week, we were in two classrooms, third grade, and I think seventh and eighth grade.

Or whether we're speaking at a ward meeting, which we had that presentation last week as well.

But before I begin, I am convinced that when you do have such a heart condition, it draws energy.

And one thing about energy, you can't refuse it.

It just refuses to be denied.

It draws you closer to those like minded hearts.

And I would like to take the time to honor a few individuals in this room who had that same heart condition.

And if you are part of the Sojourner Truth Committee that move mountains after the project sat abandoned for 40 years because of your heart condition, I would like to acknowledge you.

Right now.

You can raise your hand or stand.

Thank you.

And with that being said, I also have to remember.

And I really like how you said let's put the pebbles out, on those who we remember.

You know, this began, not, you know, when the brainchild of it.

But I knew one thing.

The pioneer and again, Faye Hersh Dambrot.

And I will always say her name.

She was with me because when I think back after all these years and still the phone is ringing, right?

I'm answering those calls and I'm still connecting with you.

And it's something within me that I can't let it go.

And although we move to another phase, it is imperative that I leave out what is everything within me to make sure I meet this opportunity of erecting the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza with excellence.

And that is why I have the heart condition.

Thank you.

- So, Towanda, we've got a few slides here that talk about some extraordinary trailblazing things that Sojourner Truth did that people may not be aware of.

So let's talk about her past.

- Sure.

So you're going to see a slide here in regards to Sojourner.

Although she couldn’t read or write, she can hear.

And she was able to have this internal, ‘know how’ is what I will call it and that this particular slide, you see Sojourner literally carrying her daughter Sophia, and she knew it was time her owner would not let her go because she had injured herself working tirelessly in the fields, doing all that she had to do, to make it through another day.

Seeing her children sold off, her family members, sisters and brothers.

But she knew it was time for me to be set free.

He said, no, you were injured, so you're going to stay a little while longer and you're going to work and continue to tend to the task that you have at hand.

And so Sojouner was so bold, she said, if you don't let me go, I’m going to walk to freedom Take my baby and I'm going to walk away.

You have a choice to make you do what you want to do.

But I'm going to seek freedom.

And in this photo, I just can't imagine a mother.

After all she has seen and witnessed and gone through being bold enough in those times to say, I'm just going to wrap my baby up.

Nothing.

She had nothing.

But what she had was a heart condition.

Sojourner Truth refused to lose.

Strong, tenacious, bold, had a desire, besides working the fields and being enslaved.

And so what you see here is her carrying, her daughter Sophia of the freedom.

And I would like to mention that Sophia's fifth generation grandson, Cory McLiechey, CEO running Descendants of Truth Foundation right now, comes to Akron all the time.

There's an affinity he have for you.

Because he talk about Akron, right?

So that means he has an affinity for you and what you were able to do.

All the partnerships, organizations, individual time, talents, treasures to make sure we erected as grandmother.

Well, just down the road here at 37 North High Street.

Thank you.

- And, she also, was one of the first women to do something, that had not been done before, which was one win in court.

So do you want to tell them a little bit about that?

That's the next slide.

- Absolutely.

Thank you Leianne.

So here we're going to discuss Peter her son.

It was time for Peter not to be enslaved.

And so she took a white man to court.

And won.

Now imagine that you see the year right here.

It's just like Sojourner again the strength.

If you could just pull a little bit and know about her life works.

It is going to be a good day.

But for her to do that and win, it garners so much attention.

It- you know, then the rioting really started to spread wide as she went out and began those Speaker Bureau tours.

But when she did that, it's like she sealed the fate of her son.

And for so many others who are in the same predicament.

But she was noted as the first.

- And we're going to talk in the second half of this, community forum about her, speech here in Akron.

But why don't you tell about something that was published that people can learn more about?

And then you'll go into detail about her visit here in Akron in 1851.

- Absolutely.

We were honored to, obtain a phone call.

We the committee, from Smithsonian.

And I believe we received a call in October of 2023 to be featured in the March 2024 issue.

And to understand this, I'm not talking about one page or two.

Literally.

When Smithsonian came in, I was tasked to take them through the city of Akron, also to the foundry where Sojourner was at that time, because Woodrow had sent her to Cleveland for the mode.

If you understand the process, refinery and getting her ready to be presented to us and also to Woodrow's warehouse, and the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza, of course, and again, to be tapped by Smithsonian.

And I want to make sure this is abundantly clear.

Out of 86 pages, our issue centerfold, we're talking about 16 colored pages within.

Absolutely.

Whoever did that “wow.” Because how often will you be placed in a global read that people pick up on a global scale?

They were interested in you because you represent that plaza.

And so it was an honor for us to be published there.

And they covered it from the project.

As far as I'm concerned, the history and from beginning to end.

- And obviously, I was very excited about it because somehow this picture turned it sideways.

So it was thrilling, but actually why I put this picture in here and Margaret Mauer is here, from the core committee, along with Pam Hickson- Stevenson and Lisa King.

But when we gave this talk at the UCC, which is the church where the first original speech was given in 1851, they found this photograph of the church that we didn't know existed.

And so there was exuberance there and excitement, because prior to that, all we had was this line drawing and Samuel Lane's 90 years and over.

And so, as we get ready to close up this section, Towanda, there's one other thing that was very unique about Sojourner Truth that I think would be mind boggling.

If you want to share quickly about, this set of slides.

- Sure.

So here you will see Sojourner.

She was so savvy again with marketing and journalism, but here you see her famous quote, I really enjoy I sell this shadow to support the substance.

And that’s on a pillar at the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza.

But if I may break this down.

So you clearly understand.

I sell the shadow.

My photo to support the substance.

My travels near and far.

The life works.

The blood, sweat and tears to make sure women's rights, the suffrage movement, the abolition movement goes forth and fall on those ears of the aggressors who simply didn't understand in that time.

Her being able to take that as others were marketing that photo, and they were profiting off of that.

She got a hold of that and said, wait, no, this is me, and I am going to ensure that I have owners rights.

So the photo that you see here in that statement is now listed per 1864, in the U.S. District Court in Michigan.

And we do know that it's where she passed in Michigan.

And so we're honored that her savviness and her ability for economic development, because she began to earn monies and resources off of her books and her photos, very empowering.

- And she copyrighted it and she filed for it.

Well, what we do know is the project benefited from, an internationally recognized Akron artist, Woodrow Nash.

Do you remember him?

Were you there?

That he had made a prototype of Sojourner Truth, decades earlier for Faye Dambrot.

And here he is with the statue that was revived and renovated.

But as we do that, Carrie, let's go back to Faye.

You mentioned her early on as someone you remember, but she's worth talking a little bit more about.

- Sure.

I'm happy to share.

Some more information about Faye.

I about a week and a half ago, I called her dear friend and, partner in crime, Carole Garrison.

To refresh my memory, about about Faye.

She taught psychology at the University of Akron, and, she- Carol remembers that she learned about a group in Santa Rosa, California, who were doing something around women's history.

And, Faye and a woman named Ann, whose last name Carol couldn't remember.

But, Ann was the president of the women's faculty club at the University of Akron.

Faye and Ann wanted to do something around women's history here.

Carol Garrison had become the, director of women's studies at the University of Akron, and Carol explained to me that the women's studies program had resources, they had money, they had computers, they had printers.

They had students who could help, get things done.

And so, Carol, you know, set about implementing Faye and Ann’s vision for a women's history project here.

And Carol reminded me that Faye was always the person behind whatever, was happening around women in Akron, to a large extent.

Carol was the person out front.

Faye was the person behind the scenes.

Faye did not want to be out front.

So in 1982 or 1983, they held the first women's history event in Akron.

And it was the Women's Faculty Club and the Girl Scouts and a few other organizations, and it became an annual event.

They were very deliberate in inviting Black women's organizations and, and women's organizations and clubs in the area to get involved.

And those organizations had an opportunity to, name their own organization, a woman of the year.

And then there were other community, women of the year awards, and I think there were probably a number of people in the audience who have gotten women of the year recognition.

- Well, they could show their sign and say, I was there.

- Yeah.

I think that was well, I think.

You have.

May I think probably has.

-We've got a couple here at the head table.

- So women's history became a thing and they got organized and had a board of trustees.

I served on that board years and years ago.

At one time we named the women of the year awards after women from history, including Mary Perkins, Sister Ignatia, - Judith Resnick - Judy Resnick.

I can't- we've gotten away from, those named awards.

And I couldn't find the list of of names, but, you know, that was another way of just recognizing and remembering women from Akron's history.

Another thing they did was at some point, they implemented it kind of an information fair where all the- the women's organizations that were involved could have a table and share information about their organization or club and what they did.

And, you know, maybe garner more members.

And then, there was a women's art show that was part of the women's history, celebrations every year for a while.

Faye brought the National Women's Studies Association conference to Akron.

The University of Akron in 1990, I believe.

And Carol remembered that at some point Faye discovered the history of Sojourner Truth.

And it, you know, immediately said, we have to have a historical marker on the site of the, church where she gave her famous speech.

you know, Faye helped make that happen.

I don't know that whole story.

But when when Faye was in hospice, which was 25 years ago right now, I didn't recall, but she passed away on on March 17th, 2000.

But when she was in hospice, she started working on the Sojourner Truth, recognition again.

Decided that, you know, it warranted a statue.

And she contacted Woodrow Nash at that time.

I don't know how far she got with it, because she did pass away, 25 years ago.

But it was it was important enough to her that, you know, on her deathbed, she was still thinking about this and working on it and wanting to see it come to fruition.

And she would be so pleased to know that it has.

- And the Women's History Project continues.

This is the 42nd, program that'll be coming up March 12th.

And, we wanted to highlight someone, that was recently recognized.

And Carrie, did you want to talk about her just briefly?

- Yes.

So this is a great example, I think, of a woman who was forgotten, and, I don't know who, kind of rediscovered her and and brought her, to all of our attention.

But Julia Perry was born- Was actually born in Lexington or- Sorry- Yeah.

Lexington, Kentucky, but raised in Akron.

She was the first African American woman to have her orchestral work performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the BBC Philharmonic in London.

She eventually studied at the Juilliard School of Music and earned a master of Music in Conducting and Composition in Applied Music.

She was very well known and revered in Europe, and you know, I'm really pleased that, we're aware of her again.

The Akron Symphony Orchestra recently performed some of her work, and, you know, it just makes you wonder who.

Who else is out there in history, who's been forgotten, who we might discover any day now and, bring to the fore again.

- And that's the fun thing about history as we look back and we have Barb Varley here, who's the, president of the Akron Children's Hospitals Women Board, and she wants to share details of the women in 1890, whose foresight today impacts over a quarter of the state of Ohio with health care.

Originally, they provided assistance to children when the mothers went to work.

Barb?

- Thanks, Leianne.

I wanted to set the stage in 1890.

Women couldn't vote at that time.

The Akron area was fairly industrialized, probably around 25,000 people.

No vaccines, no penicillin, Children- 25% of the children didn't make it till their fifth birthday.

So I would like to tell you about some of our significant founders of, the Women's board and Akron Children's and- the next slide.

Thanks.

So who you see is a four generations of Mary.

And, so starting on your left is Mary Perkins.

Mary’s married to Colonel George T Perkins.

He's an industrialist.

He came from, you know, obviously fought in the Civil War.

Mary and George had two children.

One you don't see here.

It's little Grace.

She died as a toddler.

The other, child that you see is to your far right.

And that is Mary, Mary Perkins.

And her last name is Raymond.

She's married to Charles Raymond.

From BF Goodrich.

He is an executive, and she is holding their, firstborn.

Who is Mary.

The other woman in the picture, is go back to your far left.

And that is Mary's mother, Mary Rawson All these Mary's.

And they had a significant, play in, our history.

And what it was is that the Mary's were involved in the order of the Knights daughters.

You would hear it either way, the order of the King's Daughters or the, Order of Daughters of the Kings.

And, this was a nonsectarian group.

That was a sisterhood around service.

And there was, two of these particular orders.

One was the, heart and hand circle, and that was at Saint Paul's Episcopal.

The other one was the Wayside circle, and that was at First Congregational Church.

And the Mary's were involved in those two orders.

Back in 1890, they have a convention here in the area.

And those two particular orders, of which there was many of them, their convening, they saw a need for more, more community service and definitely around children.

And, they really felt they connected.

These two orders connected.

And they wanted, specifically some more help around children.

Young women were working, and there was not a safe place for children to be, cared for during the day while they were working.

So, one of the things they did was our Mary Perkins Raymond on the far right.

She and Miss Carita McEbright, make a trip up to Cleveland, and, I see these two women they’re 25 years old.

Carita is graduated from Cornell.

Her father is a physician, and also on the board of education.

So she has a lot of interest with, medicine or- health as well as education.

They take a trip up to Cleveland because there's already three nurseries in Cleveland.

And the connection is, Colonel George Perkins, his uncle Joseph, had already- there was a nursery named the Perkins Nursery.

So the two gals go up, they check out the the nurseries and how they're ran, and they come back and they make a pitch to, the, a local association and, the association, has a home on High Street, and the trustees allowed them to use two rooms.

And that is the start of the Akron, nursery.

The next year, in 1891, Colonel Perkins, donates a house, again on High Street.

It's named after the infant.

Thank you.

The named after the infant.

The Mary Day nursery.

That year, it is incorporated.

The incorporation, is signed by the founders, which I'm going to get into and who some of these are.

But it's an interesting.

They remove themselves from the king's, daughters.

It's self-sufficient.

They have, anybody can join up to 30 members, and anybody from the two orders can join.

If you're not within the two orders of the heart and hand in the wayside, you can join by vote.

And this is the start of the, incorporation.

And they set their bylaws and, and I'm going to explain who some of these, founders are.

But, what I thought was so interesting and I'd like the audience to, to know, is that same structure of that incorporation, where you have, the ladies officers as well as, they did add trustees in the early days, there was five trustees, four were men, and one was, a female.

That is the same structure that is today with Akron Children's.

130 years later, it still is the same structure, in terms of governance, which is I think they would be just totally amazed by that.

- And you've got a few people he on this slide if you want to mention them quickly.

- Yeah.

Real quick.

So these were our original gals that signed the charter.

In the group picture on the far.

The top far right is Anna Ganter.

Right below her is Julia Crouse.

Helen Storer is in the middle.

As you can see, Julia has a sister, Mary Crouse, who's on your far right.

And then there is Carita, McEbright.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a younger picture of her.

Now, most of these, founders in some, some form, were officers in the early days.

Mary Raymond.

Mary Perkins Raymond, was president multiple times.

And, they were an assortment of founders in some way.

They also continued to see, another again, they were child advocates.

They saw another need, early on, within the first couple years of adding a kindergarten, this was a way for them, to start to educate the children.

That was, under their care.

The nursery was successful.

The kindergarten was very successful.

So successful.

So that it kind of, pivoted to something that should not surprise the audience.

Is that, within the first, well, by 1898, Akron Public Schools or the public school system took over the kindergarten.

So Mary Day Nursery was asked one of their trustees was Mr. Corson.

He served on the board of education.

He asked if they would do a pilot program over on Furness Street.

And, they, they agreed and it took off.

And so the very thing that was successful before the nursery in the kindergarten, actually then was pivoted over to the, the public system.

So now all of a sudden, Colonel, Perkins, that, you know, the at one point the organization is called the Mary Day Nursery and Kindergarten.

All of a sudden, our early founders see that they have some empty rooms.

And, once again, they put their heads together and, they see a need through taking care of the children through medical issues, illnesses.

And, many of the children are crippled and they, hire six doctors.

They rename the Mary Day Nursery to the Mary Day Nursery and the ward for crippled children.

And at some point, Colonel Perkins does pass away.

He donates 50,000, and they end up again building on to the facility.

This was at 43 Buchtel.

I don't know if anybody put your sign up.

But, they, they go ahead and they add on to, the hospital and at that point is called, the Mary Day Nursery and Children's Hospital.

- Thanks, Barb.

And we want to talk about the industrialism, because that was so important to Akron.

And we have Norma Rist here with us, who, is a co-founder of the Women's Endowment Fund and her own business.

And she's going to tell her story a little bit in some of the people she's also founded Athena Akron.

Norma, do you mind to share a few things with the audience, please?

- Sure.

I missed the last sentence that you said, but the people that I picked out?

- Yes.

- Okay.

I had a hard time narrowing my choice of women trailblazers to share.

Once you start to research you, you want to keep reading?

It was actually very inspiring to to read about some of the women that I did not know or did not know about or knew of their name, but I didn't know how much they had done.

And so that that just preparing for selecting a few to bring.

But I decided to bring just a few women that either met or that I knew or or that their friends today, in the hope that I might add something that it's not recorded.

But I knew about it.

And so maybe I'll have a few things.

So starting with Kathryn Hunter, Kathryn was very innovative and also, an authentic, kind and thoughtful woman leader.

I remember the day at Tangiers when she introduced me to her daughter so that we could get acquainted, and so that her daughter could call me if she had a question about something in business.

Catherine was described as a businesswoman, and her college degree was in business, as was mine.

So, we have always had lots to talk about.

She was the editor and publisher of three newspapers Falls News, Hudson Times and the Summit County Democrat for 18 years.

They won more awards than any other weekly publications in Ohio.

Following a master's then in guidance counseling, she created several ground breaking courses, for the University of Akron.

And I think that's how initially I became aware of her offering that course, because I think I've known that name all these decades.

It was ‘Women: plan for the second half of your life,’ and then the second one, ‘Combining Career and Marriage,’ which was thought at the time in what you read, to be provocative, but to the women who needed these courses, they were inspiring.

She serves as chairman of Valley Savings and Loan, and after the death of her husband, John Hunter, she became the president of First Akron Corporation, served on a dozen boards, founding trustee for E.J.

Thomas Hall and the Inventors Hall of Fame.

She was named the Akron Businesswoman of the Year by Inside Business Magazine, which was based in Cleveland, and in 2010 she received the Bert A Polsky Humanitarian Award So, talking to Catherine, I rode one time with her up to Cleveland to hear the Cleveland Orchestra and imagine I got to ride all the way up and back and talk that whole time, you know, because she was busy.

And so even those little times that I got to spend with her were pretty important.

And there's a second one, Fran Murphy, who I only met briefly.

- We see the signs coming up.

- Pardon me?

- They remember the public remembers.

- Oh, yes.

Yes.

55 years.

Imagine.

She was a fierce advocate.

And being a fierce advocate is one of the attributes of leadership that the Athena International leadership model discovered when they did a study from the first 6 or 700 recipients, across the United States and, they were to identify the attributes of leadership, tennants of leadership that, were important for the 21st century.

And if you combine them with the competencies of leadership because they're two different things, but then that's the total that's needed for leadership in the 21st century.

And so if you can, if you can imagine this fierce advocate, keep that in mind.

She single handedly forced the University of Akron and the Akron Summit County Library to open their Board of Trustees meetings to the public.

She insisted on including a married woman's first name in a news story, not just her husband's name.

And as an aside, when Dale Allen was editor and I knew him from my leadership Akron class, he changed the stylebook to include the second mention of a woman's name to only include her last name, because that's what they would do with the men's second mention.

But he only did it for Geraldine Ferraro when she ran for vice president.

But I thought it was a good start, so I sent him a dozen roses.

As I was reading about France some more, I thought maybe Fran was behind that too fierce advocate.

A third one I chose is Deborah Cook, and Deborah started her law career in private practice as the first female attorney in Roger Meier's and Linton law firm and handle my business incorporation.

So I got to ask her a lot of questions about things that I didn't understand.

She was elected to judge of the ninth District Court of Appeals in 2001, later to a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court bench, and then appointed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of only 12.

Only the U.S. Supreme Court is higher, and she told me once that appointment came, as she was in Miami and upstairs in a large hotel, and there was an outside area that you could walk around on the, outside the hotel.

And that's where she met with the president for about 3 or 4 minutes.

And then it took just a little while after he went back to Washington, I guess, for her to get that appointment.

And I believe that she still serves in that position today.

A third one, we've lost her to Akron, but she has some of her heart here.

And that's Janine Janosky.

Janine came from Pittsburgh, where she was a professor at the university.

She joined ABIA the Austen.

BioInnovation Institute and then she decided to return to higher education, and she joined the University of Michigan in Dearborn.

She started a new college in health and education.

Not ever having been in education, I can't even remotely imagine what it takes to start a college.

But that's what she did.

I remember she told me she met with several college friends every year to review their goals and make sure they were on track, so then this next couple steps will make sense.

A few years later, she moved to Chicago and became, the president of the Richard Daley College, where she is today an extraordinary leader and trailblazer.

And I wonder what's on her list to accomplish in the next decade.

And since I have her mobile phone, it won't be too long.

I'll be calling to ask her.

Another one I chose was Pat McKay.

Pat was a licensed property and casualty insurance agent for many years, being in business and working with, running Pepsi-Cola.

But later, when I started my own company and working with a lot of business owners, I would ask her questions or refer someone to her.

She was amazing at helping small and mid-sized businesses get started, get going.

Protect their risks.

Whatever was needed so that they were protected.

And they also could pay attention and run their business.

So- She had an opportunity to start her own agency at the age of 50.

There's a trend here.

She started McKay Insurance Agency and operated it successfully until she retired.

So this is a reminder it's never too late.

And another one like that.

Judith Barnes-Lancaster Judith Lancaster was founder of a successful medical lab in Massillon.

She was helping her daughter look at law schools to decide about law for a career.

Her daughter did not go to law school, but Judy did.

At the age of 50, 50 right?

She sold the lab and successfully practiced law for many years and had a contract from the Ohio Attorney General's office for 22 years.

At the same time, she served as president of the NEOMED Foundation.

And I think you have her up there.

She has made a donation to NEOMED.

And so the archway between two buildings carries her name At the time she was doing that and numerous other local organizations in Akron and Canton.

She was also a recipient of the Athena Leadership Award, and she joined me on the Athena International Board and then chaired that board of Athena International.

We lost her during Covid and I miss her very much, - and I apologize.

Her slide, I will add, and you've got one more quickly.

So we can get to May Chen because we're going to need to have people asking questions because we've talked.

There's so much to say.

What was the last person that you have on your list, Norma?

- Oh, come back to this?

- No, just go ahead and talk about the last person on your list, because we're going to need to move forward.

- Okay.

Quickly.

Doctor Lewanika, was not from our community, but I wanted to tell you the story.

And when I served on the Athena international board, I attended a leadership conference in Chicago, and I knew that she was going to be there.

And I had a special experience opportunity.

And I want to share it because it shows that you have to be alert and ready for some of these opportunities in your life.

And we're hearing about all these opportunities but it applies to everyone, everyone here.

So I knew she would be there and flying in from Washington, D.C. she serves as the ambassador of the Republic of Zambia.

I sent a note to the executive director, offered to be her host, meet her at check in and show her around.

Someone should do that.

She shouldn't wander around the hotel by herself.

So I didn't hear back, and I thought they didn't have time to arrange anything.

But as I checked in, they handed me a note and it had her cell phone when she would be in the taxi coming from the airport to call her and that we would meet.

That's what we did.

So I showed her all the rooms.

I took her to the dining room, then introduced her to the founder of Athena International, Martha Mertz, and later a staff person came and asked me if I wanted to sit with them.

They had an empty seat, so I got to enjoy dinner with her and I had my friends, plus a sister the next day.

So there's a story, about what she would do after leaving the ambassador's position because I had the chance to ask her.

She was part of royalty, and she planned to build a special building on their land for women on the land that belong to the royal family.

She said to me, Norma, the women in my country never get to sit down.

I want to build a building where they can come.

They work like donkeys and that way they can sit down.

They can also use this special building for ceremonies.

So I got to meet an extraordinary woman and hear her story because I raised my hand because I offered.

And so that's my challenge to you.

Find a time this year and raise your hand.

Thank you.

- So as we get ready for our last speaker, who has been very patient, I'm going to ask if you have questions.

If you start to write those and hand them to the ends of the aisle, and I want to turn it over to May Chen, who also is not a native of Akron and has a story where she was recognizing the need to help others in the community and it continues to grow.

Would you share your story, please?

- So I have a quote that I'd like to read to you and it’s a Chinese proverb.

If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.

If you want happiness for a month, get married.

If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone.

And so the idea for the agency Asian Services in Action to take shape decades ago can be traced back to the values passed on through generations making up my family tree.

Influenced by my parents and grandparents, I grew up in a family culture where being kind to others was a given, and serving others was an expectation.

I was born in the British colony of Hong Kong to refugee parents who had to flee China in the mid 40s amidst the disorder triggered by two historic events the ending of the second Sino-Japanese War and the beginning of Chinese Civil War.

During this decade of huge social unrest, tens of thousands of Chinese fled the mainland to parts of Southeast Asia, especially to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

When my parents decide to leave their homeland, they choose Hong Kong.

Growing up in Hong Kong, I could hardly avoid the sprawling camps that were now home to thousands of Chinese refugees.

I saw the challenges faced by displaced people coping with poverty, starvation, overcrowding, even struggling to build new lives in an unfamiliar place.

Images of families huddled in flimsy homemade shelters assemble from cardboard boxes made lasting impressions on me.

My mother's father was the first Episcopal priest in China.

She grew up in a home that was continually open to the poor and the destitute.

She was taught to be kind and to help those less fortunate.

It was with this spirit that she involved herself in refugee camps regularly as a volunteer, and I accompany my mother to these visit.

Consequently, at a young age I was introduced to human suffering.

Those recollections of camp life remain vivid to this day.

Not surprisingly, I feel very compassionate and empathetic.

Leianne wanted me to explain the quote that I gave her, which was we all have something to offer.

It needs to come from the heart.

I wanted to improve the quality of life among refugees in this country.

It's a wonderful goal.

However, I rely more on intangibles.

Than tangibles, because at that time there was no material resources.

There was no agency, there was no data.

Because Asians are famously invisible and missing in history and missing in data collection, we are still very much in the category of other.

And, you know, this is a data collected, data oriented culture without the data, you don't have a strong case.

And so, you know, it was very hard.

And I really do believe it comes from the heart.

Where's the reservoir of perseverance, courage, authenticity.

And those are the driving forces that I felt I had to rely on to build ASIA.

And so, we started, you know, in- I work at the Institute as a licensed, professional clinical counselor.

And it was my biggest challenge was to eat a lot of humble pie.

Because regardless of the alphabet after your name, if you did not know the client culture background and challenges that they face, it really means nothing.

And at International Institute, I was faced with so many different cultures from Bosnia, from Cambodia, from Vietnam, from Laos, from the Hmong community.

I just really said I do not know how to help you.

I have to learn.

The clients became my teachers and the way I learned was I did a lot of home visits because I feel if I see their home, I can learn a lot.

And as I said, people think in mainstream.

You have all these credentials, but for our population that we're trying to serve the immigrants and refugees, it doesn't matter.

Some of them can't even read your certification.

Okay.

And you can be the best counselor.

You can tell them, you know, this is your problem.

This is how you need to solve it.

That may not be the solution, because for thousands of years they've lived without this counselor.

They have found their own solutions to the problems.

And I think the service delivery system must humble themselves and be open to learning.

You know, what are the solutions for these people who are living in our community?

It is an extremely exciting, rewarding process.

It takes time.

Change does not happen all at once.

And your solution, you know, may not be their solution.

Your best practice may not be their best practice.

So I think it is really important to trust that they do have solutions to their own problems.

So that was something that I had to learn.

And so what I found was in our community, you know, there's 65 nationalities and 100 languages.

You talk about challenge.

You know, when we get the funding to do a project, we don't do one project that has speaks mostly English.

We have to do 10 or 15 projects because we have to deal with the languages, okay.

It's very, very challenging.

So, you know, when I work at the International Institute, I know it was a tough act for them because they have 90 days to get them to be self self-sufficient.

And so to me, the 90 day was the honeymoon period.

All the problems surface afterwards.

And, and, when I went to the home visits, the problems were glaring.

And so how do you begin to help these communities, you know, to thrive, to be a fully contributing citizen in this country and not be a negative statistic.

So one of the things is, you know, when I met with the leaders.

We all want our children to succeed.

And certainly they want their children to succeed.

So one of the things that we did was to provide them with an afterschool program, and the program was were staff were with the students, high school, college students from their own communities.

And that was very good to do, because it built a lot of trust, you know, with the families sending their kids there.

And this program, I don't know whether you have the handout, but it's in this 30th year - and that is fantastic.

-In Akron and in Cleveland - and I apologize, we're going to- we have a hard stop.

We have a couple questions.

I know you've got your health center as well.

So we want to highlight that, can you give us any quick statistics about the health center, Your international community health center, because that's going to be our last slide before we answer a few questions.

- You know that that was a bonus that I never expected in founding of ASIA.

We have this wonderful young man who followed me, and he found- and he was able to, get the two clinics, the federal qualified health clinics, one in Cleveland, one in Akron.

And the reason being is that a lot of times, mainstream health centers, because they lack the cultural and the language competency to serve the patients.

A lot of the patients we found out, especially some of the Asian patients, would take the Greyhound bus all the way to New York City or to Chicago to get medical care.

And it's kind of a travesty because we have Cleveland Clinic, you know, which is a worldwide health.

- We've got amazing hospitals - We have people - taking the Greyhound Greyhound bus to New York and Chicago.

So that's one of the reason that, the clinics, were formed.

- Thank you so much.

We hope that you enjoyed this Forgotten History Forum, and that you learned something new and exciting about Akron and the people who shaped it.

If you're interested in watching more from this series are attending a future Forum event, please visit Akron200.org Or pbswesternreserve.org Thanks for watching and celebrating Akron’s bicentennial