There are so many inspirational women in the history books who have done so many incredible things, but sometimes it’s intimidating even just to want to follow in their footsteps. Often I like to remember the moms and grandmas who raised us, who showed us how to live strong lives and make a difference in their communities.

In this article, I reflected on my own strong grandmother and asked a few friends about the sensational women in their lives too.

Miriam’s Story

My grandmother, Rosa, came to Canada in 1914 when she was 15 years old. Because of a spinal injury that left one of her legs paralyzed, she wasn’t able to walk without a crutch or a cane, so she wasn’t allowed to attend school in Europe as her sisters did, but she learned at home. She was good with numbers and an avid reader of classic fiction. After she got married she opened a small neighborhood “dry goods” store which supported her small family. My grandfather helped with purchases and deliveries.

One of my favorite memories is of my grandmother at the kitchen table sharpening her knives with long swift strokes before cutting up whole herrings for pickling. The kitchen table was a place for me to absorb the old European culture in food preparation, and also an opportunity to debrief after a long day in school with a wise woman who knew that listening was more important than telling. An admirer of Eleanor Roosevelt and Golda Meir, one day when I was a teenager she asked me if I thought a woman could become president of the United States. I was in a funk and I said “No; women are too moody”. She almost cried. I’m glad to say that I’ve since changed my mind.

Women like my grandmother have inspired generations succeeding them to be strong and self-sufficient, but also gentle and wise. When I think about Women’s History Month, my thoughts go to the women in our lives who had the courage and the wisdom to succeed even when the odds were stacked against them.

Jim’s Story

After a visit to her aunt and uncle in Texas around 1920, my mother, Olga, three years old, was on a train returning to Virginia with her mom and her older sister Mary. Her mom became suddenly very ill and died en route. Her father, grievously widowed and not sure how to raise his two daughters, sent them to live with their aunt and uncle. 

Olga grew up and went to Texas Women’s College and majored in home economics. She joined the Women’s Army Corps in WWII, where, commissioned as a Captain she was one of the first women commissioned in the Armed Forces. During the war, she was a recruiter stationed in Madison, Wisconsin, and later had a position at a VA hospital in Texas, where she met her husband, Burnett Pickens, recovering a wound he had sustained at Iwo Jima.

In 1948, they moved to the small town of Huntley, Montana, where she worked at the Rural Electrical Association (REA)as a Home Service Advisor where she demonstrated the use of electrical appliances in workshops at the REA Co-op and in schools, important because access to electricity in homes was expanding rapidly at this time. She wrote newsletters and articles promoting the REA and its services. Because of her bipartisan reputation for working with people and finding common ground, her supervisor, every term, asked her to run for the Montana House of Representatives. She declined because she preferred to raise her children and do volunteer work. Women like her inspired generations of young people to work hard to improve their small, rural communities. 

Cathy’s Story

I will never forget the Sunday I got a phone call from my mom who was retired in sunny Mesa, Arizona, after 44 years of teaching for Michigan Public Schools. She acquired many awards in her teaching career. Along with Midland’s Teacher of the Year Award, she was one of the first, if not the first Elementary Counselor in the state of Michigan and was the first Elementary Counselor in the Public Schools of Midland. She went on to encourage the Midland School Board to hire Elementary Counselors in all of Midland’s dozen elementary schools. She was an elementary teacher in the public school systems of Mt. Pleasant and Midland for 35 years teaching mostly second and fourth grades and loved every moment of it. I believe she also taught kindergarten for a few years. She also taught summer school and parenting classes in the evenings once she had packed my brothers and me off to college.  My father died of a massive stroke when he was 49 and she was 48. A mover and a shaker she was always looking for new and interesting ways to grow and earn money to support her family. She would plan her retirement with great skill and made sure she would be financially independent. It was no surprise to my brothers and me that she would start a second career as a tour guide in Mesa, but then when she came back to Michigan in May she decided to become a tour guide for a tour group in Mt. Pleasant where she traveled all over the world.  She always put her whole heart and soul into these endeavors.  In Mesa, she lived in a trailer park with other retirees and she would give motivational speeches about retirement and how to overcome grief and losses. I went out to visit her and she showed me files (the old fashion paper kind) where she had put together information on all the different tours she had done with lectures on interesting information about the area, movies to show people on the bus tours as far north as the Grand Canyon and into Mexico. I remember vividly stories she told of the Hopi Indians that she felt so close to and made friends with many of them on her tours.  My mother always got many compliments at the end of her tours, which she loved and would have people write them up for her to give to her supervisor.  But she loved best of all were the tips she would sometimes get from the people on her tours. It was the tour guide work that she did internationally that was the most exciting.  She had the opportunity to travel all over the world.  She took people on tours to Russia, China, and throughout Europe.  My mom would bring home children’s books from the countries that she toured and give them to my children. She was planning on a trip to Africa (the only continent she had not gone to) when the tour company felt it was not wise at her age.  My mother was furious. She was probably 84 at that time! 

 She called me that Sunday morning to tell me that one of the teaching friends who had retired at the same time she had just passed on and that she felt she needed to spend more time with me and my family up here in Houghton. She had a plan to stay from May to October at our family cabin at 8 Point Lake.  My brother has a cabin next door. Then she would find a place in Houghton to rent from October to May. She would sell her trailer, her car, and furniture in Mesa and head back to Michigan. Well she did and that was back in 2006 and we loved every minute of her time with us.  My daughters were a little jealous that their younger brother would have more time with Grandma since by that time they were in one foot out the door heading out for college. My mom had a lovely place halfway between Chassell and Houghton that she rented from Michelle Kerban and they became fast friends.  Both retired teachers and passion for life and getting involved with so many groups but most of all laughing and having so much fun together.  Michelle and her family were a blessing and she loved it there till the last few months of her life which ended with my brother, my niece, and me by her side on November 26, 2011.  She was 93 and still had her determination and spirit right to the end. Not bad for a little farm girl from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan!

I’d love to hear stories about more of your family’s women. Leave them in the comments below!