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YWCA 2019 Milestones: A Tribute to Women
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
On Wednesday, March 27,
hundreds of luncheon attendees celebrated the achievements
of the 2019 YWCA Milestones honorees, a group of seven women
who have enhanced the Toledo community in a numerous ways,
over an accumulated decades of service. In science, the
arts, government, education, business, social service and
volunteerism – the seven women honored this year have played
an enormous part in benefitting the lives of countless
Toledo-area residents in virtually every aspect of life.
The 24th Annual
Milestones: A Tribute to Women event honored Jean Holden in
the arts, Suzette Cowell in business, Lynn Fisher in
education, Judith Lanzinger in government, Mary Fedderke in
science, Robin Reese in social sciences and Lexie
Hyman-Staples in volunteerism.
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This year, three of the
seven honorees are African American – Holden, Reese and
Cowell.
Hyman-Staples, the
executive director of the Collingwood Arts Center for the
past four years, has stabilized that enormous space and the
organization that had cried out for strong leadership.
Quality programs for artists and the community have been the
result. Hyman-Staples is also the creator of Toledo Pride,
an annual event that now attracts more than 20,000 people;
opened the Pride Center 419 at the Collingwood Arts Center;
is a board member of Equality Toledo and serves on numerous
other committees in the community.
Fedderke, the recently
retired director of Institutional Advancement at the Toledo
Zoo, led that venerable organization’s efforts to establish
science education and outreach programs. She fostered
community partnerships to bring new programs into existence
and also served as the liaison with other cultural
organizations in the area such as the Toledo Lucas County
Public Library, the Toledo Symphony, the Arts Commission,
the Mud Hens, the University of Toledo, the Toledo Museum of
Art, the Walleyes, among others.
Retired Justice Lanzinger
was the first and only person elected to all four levels of
the Ohio Judiciary. She has served, in her 25 years on the
bench, on the Ohio Supreme Court, the Sixth District Court
of Appeals, the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas and
Toledo Municipal Court. In addition to her judicial duties,
Lanzinger has chaired the Supreme Court Commission on the
Rules of Superintendence; has served as chairman of the Ohio
Judicial College and is past president of the Morrison R.
Waite American Inn of Court – that mentors law students and
new attorneys.
Fisher and her husband
emptied their savings account in the early 1970’s – the
princely sum of $250 – and the young school teacher rented
space in a church, hired two co-teachers and enrolled 12
preschoolers. Now, 43 years later, the West Side Montessori
enrolls 400 students a year from kindergarten to the eighth
grade and is a highly regarded, fully accredited, fiscally
sound school.
Reese has worked at Lucas
County Children Services for more than three decades and, as
executive director, has led the agency for the past four
years. Her mission is to advocate for and to protect
children and families and to find for them a nurturing
environment. Over the past number of years, her task, and
that of her 300 employees, has grown increasingly difficult
due to the pervasive opioid epidemic. She has been a staunch
proponent of increasing the cooperation among agencies that
influence the lives of children and families in the area
such as the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, Lucas
County Juvenile Court and the Board of County Commissioners.
Cowell founded the Toledo
Urban Federal Credit Union 22 years ago using shoe boxes for
files in her home but the institution she started has
survived, thrived and grown over the years to embrace over
4,000 members and acquire assets in excess of $7 million.
The central city financial institution has moved into its
own building at the corner of Dorr and Detroit and a second
location in the NHA Nexus building on 14th
Street. Cowell added to her resume 15 years ago by starting
the African American Festival and Parade – a first for the
city.
And then, of course, there
is “Toledo’s songstress” as one elected official called her
when commemorative plaques were being handed out just before
the Milestones’ ceremony. Jean Holden’s career as a vocalist
and vocal teacher and coach spanning five-plus decades was
celebrated in a long-overdue recognition of a wondrous
career. Holden began her career as an opera singer, evolved
into a jazz diva and, at her Studio of Vocal Expression, a
coach and teacher.
Last year, three former
Milestones’ awardees – Ramona Collins for the Arts in 2002,
Laneta Goings for Volunteerism in 2015 and Rhonda Sewell for
Volunteerism in 2017 – joined forces to nominate Holden for
the honor.
This year’s Milestones’
event featured Diane Larson, co-anchor abc13 and the 2008
Milestones’ honoree for business, as the mistress of
ceremonies. Ireatha Hollie of the YWCA Board of Directors
and the 2011 honoree for science presented the event
blessing and Lisa McDuffie, YWCA president and CEO, offered
the welcome and acknowledgements.
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