Dewey a Hall of Fame nominee

Former Boynton Beach resident Byrd Spilman Dewey has a list of accomplishments that make her eligible to be inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.

For example, she was South Florida’s first newspaper columnist in 1891. She was a suffragist, and argued for the right to vote in 1914. And, she’s the only woman to have founded a town in Palm Beach County. Dewey lived from 1856 to 1942.

This year, Dewey has made it to the top 10 finalists for the Hall of Fame, the second time in more than a decade. Dewey’s supporters are hoping this year she’s named a winner.

“A good number of community leaders and friends have voiced their support of Mrs. Dewey this year by writing letters to Governor Scott,” said Janet DeVries, who first nominated Dewey in 2013.

The Hall of Fame was cre- Alexandra Seltzer ated by state statute in 1982 to honor women who have made significant contributions to the improvement of life for women and for all residents, according to its website.

There is a good chance you aren’t familiar with Dewey, or maybe recognize her name only because of Boynton’s Dewey Park on Northeast Fourth Street. I didn’t know about Dewey until DeVries and her co-worker Ginger Pedersen told me about her.

Here are some of her accomplishments, according to DeVries and Pedersen:

■ She wrote for many national magazines such as Good Housekeeping, the Christian Union and Vogue.

■ She was South Florida’s first newspaper columnist in 1891. Writing as “Aunt Judith,” she offered advice to the tropical housekeeper in the area’s first newspaper, “The Tropical Sun.”

■ She was a 1909 charter member of the Boynton Woman’s Club.

■ She was a suffragist, and argued for the right to vote in a 1914 newspaper article. She said, “Any human being who has the sense and courage to administer a home and to bring into the world human beings to train them for this life and for eternity, has surely the sense and the nerve to take hold and help father, brothers and sons to attend to the public housekeeping.”

■ She continued to work into her 60s by becoming the Florida Audubon Society’s field secretary, traveling the state making speeches in favor of bird sanctuaries and humane treatment of animals.

If Dewey is accepted into the Hall of Fame, she’ll join Lillie Pierce Voss, formerly of Hypoluxo and known as the Sweetheart of the Barefoot Mailmen. And Caridad Asensio, a co-founder of the Caridad Heath Clinic in suburban Boynton.

Winners will be announced later this year.