Honorable assembly
Six women, one group inducted into Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame
The Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a place — and in this case, an event — to honor women past and present whose work and good deeds have, among other things, “opened new frontiers for women and society in general.” This year’s inductees were recognized during a reception and dinner Aug. 24 at the Statehouse Convention Center. Some 550 people attended the third annual event.
“‘I had no idea’ was the common response from attendees after learning about the trailblazers being honored,” Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame chairman Holly Fish said post-event. “The storytelling videos were beautifully done and moved people beyond words.
“This is the exact reason the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame was founded,” she continued. “If we do not know our own history, we will never know our full potential. The stories told this evening are nothing short of inspirational.”
Inductees for 2017 were June B. Freeman, founding director of the nonprofit Architecture and Design Network; Ruth Hawkins, an advocate for historic preservation and heritage tourism around the state; Brinda Jackson, the first black woman in Arkansas registered to practice architecture; and Pat Lile, who served as president and chief executive officer of the Arkansas Community Foundation Inc. from 1996 until 2007 and is now CEO of Easter Seals Arkansas; Dr. Joanna Seibert, who developed the department of pediatric radiology at Arkansas Children’s Hospital; and Dorothy Stuck, the only female delegate to serve as chairman of a major committee — the committee on suffrage and elections.
The Olivetan Benedictine Sisters were the honored organization. The group is responsible for opening St. Bernards Hospital, now St. Bernards Medical Center, in Jonesboro in 1900. Honored posthumously were writer and activist Maya Angelou, philanthropist Bernice Jones, and Judge Elsijane Trimble Roy, Arkansas’ first female circuit judge and the first woman on the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The hall is a multimedia display located in the convention center. Proceeds from the hall of fame event, about $14,000, will go toward maintenance of the existing display and creation of a larger-scale hall elsewhere, said Alex Howland, event manager for Arkansas Business Publishing Group. ABPG and the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce partnered to create the hall; now a 17-member board oversees its future needs, Howland added.