By RONNIE ELLIS
FRANKFORT — Their lives strengthened Kentucky and its people. They did when it wasn’t easy for women to take leadership roles. All born before 1925, Dr. Grace Marilynn James, Verna Mae Slone, and Lillian Henken Press changed their state and made others’ lives better.
Portraits of all three were unveiled by the Kentucky Commission on Women and Gov. Steve Beshear in a “Kentucky Women Remembered” ceremony at the state capitol rotunda Tuesday before a crowd of more than 150 people. Those portraits will hag along side 59 others already displayed in the west wing of the capitol.
The women were recognized for their impact on Kentucky and the lives of its people. And at least one of the honorees – Press who was instrumental in establishing Kentucky’s mental health system and the Governor’s Scholars Program – intends to keep doing it.
“The challenge for me it to just ignore my age and just keep on trucking,” said Press after her portrait was unveiled. “And I urge everyone of you smart people out there to share that challenge. Seldom have I seen a time when there was more need for community leaders.”
James, an African-American pediatrician from Jefferson County, began her practice in 1953 in Louisville when the city’s hospitals were segregated but she became the first African American woman on the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She treated the children of the poor and kept at her own expense a closet of clothing, diapers, toys and baby supplies which she gave to patients who couldn’t afford them. Dr. James went on to found the West Louisville Health Education Program and head the Council on Urban Education. Born in 1923, Dr. James died in 1989.
Slone, of Pippa Passes, raised five sons and never graduated from high school but she wrote six books and became a voice for her beloved Appalachia, often puncturing myths and stereotypes of the mountains and eventually becoming known internationally for her works. She wrote her most successful and best-known book What My Heart Wants To Tell when she was 65. Her portrait is featured in photographer Barbara Beirne’s exhibit Women of Appalachia at the Smithsonian Institute. She was also known for her quilts, 15 of which decorate the walls of the Hindman Settlement School. She is thought to have quilted 1,800 quilts and was known as “the Grandma Moses of the Mountains.”
Press was born in Boston and came to Kentucky in 1952 with her husband Leonard Press, the founding director of Kentucky Education Television, making Kentucky her home from that point until today. She staked out accomplishments in three fields: during the sixties and seventies when was instrumental in establishment of regional mental health boards. In the eighties and nineties, Press helped begin the Governor’s Scholars Program and led it for its first 10 years as it became a national model – called an “educational utopia” by the New York Times. She also served as special assistant to Al Smith when he chaired the Appalachian Research Commission and later, in retirement, established The Women’s Network to advocate for democratic values in the political arena and encourage women to enter political life. She is a Centre College trustee.
Beshear praised the accomplishments of “three such outstanding women” and praised them for “their commitment, dedication and contribution to our commonwealth. He has declared March Women’s History Month. Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo said all three are “amazing” and “blazed a trail for women in Kentucky’s history.”
Kentucky Women Remembered was begun in 1978. A committee selects as many as three Kentucky women from Kentucky each year to honor.
RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.
