AAUW Chapter Celebrates Anniversary

By SANDRA RHODES

The year was 1921. Warren G. Harding was president. The first Miss America was crowned. Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. It was also the year a group of 17 women formed the Bradford Chapter of American Association of University Women.

Fast-forward 90 years to 2011. The chapter is still alive and well, and celebrated its 90th anniversary at a brunch Saturday morning at The Option House. AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. This is a mission that has remained constant for the group while activities and faces have changed throughout the years.

Suzanne Kerlin of State College, a member of the Pennsylvania State Board for AAUW, was the guest speaker. Kerlin spoke about how times have changed for women in the 129 years of AAUW on a national level and 90 years for AAUW locally. “You are one of the older branches in the nation,” she said. “It’s wonderful. You should be proud. Some (branches) are struggling with nine members. You have more than 40 and that’s just fabulous."

While there have been major advances for women – including two nominated for vice president of the United States and attaining such positions as secretary of state – there’s still some work that needs to be done as the wage gap still exists as well as under-representation in the state and U.S. legislature. Kerlin said that education and research has always been a concern for AAUW, something that is true today.

“If we shortchange girls, we shortchange America,” she said. In the late 1800s, a survey came out that higher education for women didn’t affect their health. “Education didn’t hurt us,” Kerlin said. Then came Title IX, which provided equality for women in athletics. “We’ve come a long way, but still have a long way to go,” Kerlin said, adding that pay equity has taken a step backwards recently.

Currently, women are paid 70 percent per each dollar a man makes. That is down eight cents from 2007. Long-time members Mary Keller, Pauline “Boots” Higie and Ann Cavallero spoke about some of the changes they have seen. One year, the Chapter performed a “follies” as a fund-raiser for the scholarship foundation, said Keller, who joined in 1963. She was allowed to join after AAUW started to accept graduates from state teachers colleges. Meetings at that time were held at the Literary Club and eventually moved to the high school. Higie, a member since the 1950s, reminisced about performing the Waltz of the Flowers for the Christmas program under the direction of Frannie Silverstein.

She also spoke of how women were divided on what their priority should be. “I had two great loves in my life – my profession and my family,” she said. “I didn’t feel either one should be neglected.”

In the late 1960s, the group would put on fashion shows with items from SK Tate Furs and Fannin’s, Cavallero said. There were also study groups that allowed women, who were raising their children during the day, to have an outlet outside their house. It was not until the early 1980s that the own women’s name was put in the membership booklet. Up until that time, a woman was listed as Mrs. John (Jane) Doe, she said.

For several years, the Bradford AAUW also sponsored Wee World, a nursery school at the Church of the Ascension. Currently, the Chapter has donated napkins to the Empty Bowls fund-raiser at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. They also sponsor scholarships for high school and college students and donate food and hygiene items to the Bradford YWCA.

Also on Saturday, past presidents and former Outstanding Women of the Year were recognized. Bradford City Councilman Ross Neidich presented a proclamation signed by Mayor Tom Riel to the group.

Pictured, Suzanne Kerlin, center, a member of the Pennsylvania State Board of American Association of University Women, is flanked by the Bradford chapter's co-presidents, Marlene Walb, left, and Stephanie Seagren Saturday at The Option House where the group celebrated the Bradford chapter's 90th anniversary.
Photo by Sandra Rhodes