15 0 Celebrating Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers - 15 0 - Celebrating Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers

Compiled & Edited by Wendy S. Loquasto

First 150 Women Lawyers Committee

The Florida Bar 650 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300 (850) 561-5600

Florida Association for Women Lawyers 317 East Park Avenue Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Published by LEXIS Publishing 701 East Water Street Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 1-800-446-3410 Copyright © 2000 by The Florida Bar and Florida Association for Women Lawyers Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Printed by LEXIS Publishingsm.

ii Dedicated to Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers

We honor them for their strength, commitment and service to the legal profession and their communities.

It is our wish that the story of their lives will inspire future generations to protect the advances they made for women and continue their efforts to improve the status of women in the legal profession.

As Carrie Chapman Catt, founder of the League of Women Voters, once said:

“What could be more appropriate than that women should do for coming generations what those of a preceding period did for them.”

iii Acknowledgments Gathering and compiling the information contained in the biographies that appear in this book was an enormous task that could not have been accomplished without the assistance of the 86 researchers who have worked on this project. A debt of gratitude is also owed to the numerous members of The Florida Bar who responded to inquiries printed in The Florida Bar News and The Florida Bar Journal, cherished senior members of The Florida Bar who recalled memories of earlier times, and laypersons who learned of the project and volunteered information. Many thanks are also owed to the librarians, archivists and alumni office personnel of Florida’s law schools. Gail Grieb, Archivist at Stetson University’s duPont-Ball Library in DeLand, searched through school records and found numerous articles on Stetson’s early women graduates that had been in the “dead files.” She provided many of the photographs in the book from Stetson yearbooks. Cynthia Sikorski, Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Miami, and Jeannette Hausler, Associate Dean and Dean of Students, and Tica Stanton, Library Collection Developer, of the University of Miami School of Law Library, also searched records and yearbooks and provided similar information for Miami alumni. Professor Betty Taylor and Gail Sasnett, Associate Dean for Students, of the University of Florida Frederic Levin College of Law, and Rebecca “Becky” Hoover, formerly of the alumni office and presently Assistant Director of Development at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine, provided the information for Florida alumni. The First 150 Women Lawyers Project is greatly indebted to Judge Mattie Belle Davis, who has worked tirelessly compiling the history of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers (FAWL). She has been as- sisted in this enormous endeavor by long-time friend and lawyer Henrietta S. Biscoe (1961), as well as by Rebecca Bowles Hawkins (1935). Judge Davis graciously shared her historical text concerning many of Florida’s early women lawyers. Without the information Judge Davis provided, this book would have been incomplete. Her contribution to this celebration is immeasurable, and it is with much gratitude that The Florida Bar and FAWL acknowledge her efforts in documenting the history of Florida’s women lawyers. Thank you, Judge Mattie Belle Davis! Katy Thomas, Deputy Clerk at the Florida Supreme Court; Nancy Dobson, Executive Director of the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society; and Janet McPherson, Librarian at the First District Court of Appeal, also assisted in the gathering of information on these women. Thanks are also owed to those who proofread the text, which is a pleasure to read as a result of their efforts: Jennifer Coberly, Beverly Wood Gibson, Ellen B. Gwynn, Terry J. Hansen, Sharon McElrath, Peggy Perez, Andi Reynolds, Christi Sherouse, and Phillip Tomberlin, Jr. Lynn Brady, Staff Graphics Artist at The Florida Bar, must also be acknowledged. It was she who de- signed the wonderful cover for this book. She was also responsible for formatting the text and photographs. The fact that the book is a pleasure to see is owed entirely to her. Thanks to Ava Doppelt for her generous pro bono legal services for the copyright. An enormous debt is owed to LEXIS Publishing for printing 3,000 copies of this book, which ensures that the impressive history of Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers can be shared with many others, including libraries around the state. Thanks to LEXIS employees Leigh Trippe, Director of Government Relations, and Diane Callahan, Association Marketing Manager, who made the printing possible. My thanks would not be complete without mentioning the First 150 Women Lawyers Committee, chaired by Edith G. Osman, and made up of Nina Ashenafi, Mary Ellen Clark, Beth Demme, Mary Jo Francis, Amy E. Furness, Judge Gill S. Freeman, Katherine A. Giddings, Sheila M. Gonzales, Rosana E. Hernan- dez, Allison Doliner Hockman, Lori J. Ketchledge, Judge Shelley J. Kravitz, Kathy J. Maus, Rebecca J. Mercier, Kelly A. O’Keefe, Michelle A. Pivar, Janeen L. Rivers, Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, K. Renee Schimkat, Jacqueline Hogan Scola, Christi H. Sherouse, Lea Souza-Rasile, Lori K. Weems, and Jodi L. Wilkof. This group of dynamic, dedicated, and seemingly tireless women have worked extraordinarily hard to plan, organize, and obtain underwriting for the May 25 dinner and June 14 supreme court ceremony which will honor Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers. These women have also been a never-ending source of support to me during the production of this book. Thank you, ladies, and congratulations on jobs well done. Last, but certainly not least, many thanks to my husband, Terry J. Hansen, for his limitless support and understanding over the past year and a half while I have worked on the First 150 Project.

Wendy S. Loquasto iv Table of Contents Preface: Awakening: A Celebration of The Florida Bar’s 50th Anniversary and of Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers by Edith G. Osman...... vii

The Quest for Professional Equality by Jeanmarie Whalen...... ix

Introduction A History of America’s First Women Lawyers by Doris Weatherford...... xi

Sufferage in Y1900, Women Lawyers at the Start of the Twentieth Century by Cynthia L. Cooper...... xiii

Researching Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers by Wendy S. Loquasto...... xv

Florida’s Law Schools, the Florida Supreme Court, and the First 150 Women Law- yers ...... xix

The Biographies of Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers Abbreviations for Source Material...... xxii List of Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers By Year of Admission...... xxiii The Biographies...... 1

The Biographies of Florida’s First Five African-American Women Lawyers Introduction to Florida’s First Five African-American Women Lawyers by Evett L. Simmons...... 105 The Biographies...... 106

Acknowledgment of the Research Committee ...... 111

First 150 Women Lawyers Committees ...... 114

Acknowledgment of Underwriters ...... 115

v

Awakening: A Celebration of The Florida Bar’s 50th Anniversary and of Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers By Edith G. Osman

When people ask the living” when they became lawyers, but because me why busy law- their stories must be told to awaken women -- and yers devoted well men -- in the years to come. over a year to make When we began this project several young this day a reality, women suggested that we should not honor I tell them about “women lawyers” because we have “made it” Belva Lockwood. and there is no reason to “set us apart.” As the In 1873, Lockwood insightful piece by Doris Weatherford makes became the first clear, we may be well on our way, but we surely woman in America have not arrived; instead, if we are to fulfill the to complete law dreams of our future, we must truly appreciate school. After male our past. This project has been an important students threat- step in that process. ened to boycott graduation, the administration withheld her diploma until she wrote to the This year marks the 50th anniversary of The President of the University -- Ulysses S. Grant. Florida Bar, a unified bar which includes over After three years in practice, Lockwood applied 66,000 attorneys admitted to practice in Flor- to be admitted to the Bar of the United States ida. Although women now number 16,588 and Supreme Court. That Court refused her appli- constitute 27.4 percent of the Bar, less than 40 cation writing, “[N]one but men are admitted years ago, in 1966, there were only 175 women to practice before it as lawyers and counselors lawyers in the entire state, and 25 years ago ... and the Court does not feel called upon to saw only 684 women lawyers in the state, which make a change until such a change is required was only 3.3 percent of the Bar. These statis- by statute, or a more extended practice in the tics beg the question of what was the status of highest courts of the States.” Lockwood knew a women in the law prior to the Bar’s existence. challenge when she saw one. She successfully Consequently, as part of our 50th anniversary lobbied Congress to pass “an Act to Relieve celebration, I asked the Florida Association for Certain Legal Disabilities of Women.” Weeks Women Lawyers (FAWL) to take a careful look later, she became the first woman admitted to at the history of Florida’s early women lawyers. practice before the Court. They did — and found not a single book devoted Lockwood advocated for causes including to the subject. We were determined to preserve women’s rights and prison reform until she was 84. the history of the trailblazers that preceded us Shortly before her death at 87, Lockwood looked to history — and the First 150 Women Project back on her extraordinary life and commented, “I was born. have not raised the dead but I have awakened the At least four other Bar Associations around living.” We honor the first 150 women lawyers in the country have also explored the unique histo- Florida today, not only because they “awakened ry of women in the profession. In 1998 Florida’s

vii own Martha Barnett, now the President-Elect Bernice Gaines Dorn, graduated from Florida of the American Bar Association, was the key- A&M University School of Law and was admit- note speaker at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s ted to The Florida Bar in 1958. It was another “Pioneers in the Law, the First 150 Women” seven years before the second and third African- celebration. That same year, United States American women were admitted to practice; Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry and Ruby Burrows was a featured guest at the Delaware State McZier became members of The Florida Bar in Bar Association’s program and later, Roberta 1965. C. Bette Wimbish and Arthenia L. Joyner Cooper, the first women President of the Ameri- followed in 1968 and 1969. I urge you to read can Bar Association spoke at similar programs their inspiring biographies. in Chicago and Utah. We are thrilled to have Attorney General Janet Reno -- Florida’s most We also found that Hispanic women were famous woman lawyer -- address our celebra- under-represented in our group of honorees. tion. Happily, the first 150 Women Lawyers Project does include two Hispanic trailblazers – Marian It would be impossible to adequately thank Borros of Ormond Beach, admitted in 1926, and Wendy Loquasto and her research team for Elva Victoria Diaz of Tampa, admitted in 1933. the endless hours of meticulous research that made this project possible. As her fascinating I am proud of the work that FAWL has done article explains, what seemed like a relatively on this project and am indebted to the commit- simple undertaking proved to be a journey that tee that worked tirelessly to make today a real- took her research committee around the state ity. I urge you to read the biographies of each to libraries, law schools, local newspapers, and and every one of the pioneers featured in this the home of many of our honorees. Initially, the book and share them with young women -- and project began as “the first 50 women lawyers” men -- entering this great profession. As women but it soon grew to the “first 100.” Miami’s own make strides in the law, complacency threatens Judge Dixie L. Herlong Chastain, long a hero- to erode the progress we have made. We must ine to all of us in Dade County, remains the never forget that these courageous women made only living honoree of that group. The final list our careers possible. They are our legacy and begins in 1898 with the admission of Louise our lesson. We hope these stories will continue Rebecca Pinnell, extends to 1943, and actually to “wake the living” and inspire women lawyers includes 154 women. Fourteen of these coura- for years to come. geous women are still with us: Caroline Adams, Daisy Richards Bisz, Grace Williams Burwell, Edith G. Osman is president of The Florida Catherine Stewart Howarth Carter, Judge Di- Bar and is only the second woman to hold that xie L. Herlong Chastain, Reba Engler Epstein prestigious position. This project was brought to Daner, Judge Mattie Belle Davis, Judge Anne us through her vision. She is a past president E’del Deacon, Mary Frances Dewell, Lucille of FAWL in both Dade County and statewide, Cairns George, Lois Ellen Thacker Graessle, and past president of the Council of Voluntary Rebecca Bowles Hawkins, Jeannette Edythe Bar Presidents. She is the recipient of FAWL’s TeSelle Plump, and Ethel Dorothea “Dodie” Inaugural Outstanding Achievement Award; Clarson Watson. the Council of Bar Presidents’ Outstanding As our research progressed, we found that Past Voluntary Bar Presidents Award; the Bar the first 150 women did not include a single President’s Outstanding Past President’s Award; African American -- a shameful and revealing Florida Women of Achievement Award, Dade fact. We wanted to recognize the pioneering County; Dade County’s In The Company of African-American women lawyers and have Women Award; and the Ziff Museum’s Breaking proudly made them part of this project. The first the Glass Ceiling Award. She is a partner in the African-American woman lawyer to join the Bar, law firm of Carlton Fields in Miami.

viii The Quest for Professional Equality by Jeanmarie Whalen

The Florida Association for Women Lawyers is proud to join with The Florida Bar in celebrating Florida’s first 150 Women Lawyers. We who practice law within Florida today are for- ever indebted to these pioneering women. The significance of the struggles and challenges which these women faced and of the battles which they were forced to wage, merely to practice within their chosen profession, cannot be overstated.

Although more than one hundred years have passed since the admission of Louise Rebecca Pinnell, Florida’s first woman lawyer, the struggle for gender equality within the profession continues. Despite the fact that nearly fifty percent of the students entering law school today are female, equal- ity within the legal profession is far from a reality. In fact, the latest ABA Study on Women in the Profession concludes that gender bias continues to remain entrenched in the profession resulting in steep inequities of pay, promotion and opportunity.

The numbers show us that although today the playing field appears more level at the entry points into the profession, the lag comes later with respect to partnership, firm management and governance. Women are over-represented among associates at older ages and severely under-represented in the highest echelons of government and private sector positions. With respect to women in the judiciary, women still lag behind in numerical parity in every court in the country. Additionally, every study of earnings comparison to date documents continuing gender inequities. Within a decade from entry into the practice of law, women’s earnings lag behind those of men.

While we celebrate the great accomplishments of Florida’s first 150 women lawyers and honor the personal sacrifices and struggles of each of them in the quest for profes- sional equality, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers asks you to renew your commitment to achieving true equality for all under the law. Your profession, your practice and your community will be better for it and history will thank you for it.

Jeanmarie Whalen is president of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and former two-term president of the Palm Beach County FAWL Chapter. She is a partner in the law firm Slawson Cunningham Whalen & Stewart, P.L., in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

ix

A History of America’s First Women Lawyers By Doris Weatherford

I would like to begin by insurmountable handicap. As in most states at the extending my hearty con- time, married women in Illinois could not even sign gratulations to the Florida a contract: how, the court asked, could someone so Association for Women Law- lacking in civil liberties for herself expect to enforce yers and The Florida Bar them for others? Association for your ex- Iowa meanwhile quietly set the precedent and was traordinary commitment to the first state to admit a woman to the bar. Arabella recovering women’s history! Mansfield passed her exam and was admitted on It is, unfortunately, quite June 15, 1869, but Mansfield was a college professor uncommon to see a project who never intended to practice: she made the effort such as this actually move primarily to please a feminist friend, a male judge beyond the talking stage, who wanted to demonstrate that women were ca- and I offer my warm thanks pable. Even though Iowa is next door to Illinois and everyone involved. even though Mansfield also was married, the marital Your action is even more exceptional because issue seemed unimportant to Iowa’s judiciary -- again most Floridians have personal roots in other states. showing how dependent women’s rights were (and You have created a superlative model for others are) on the whim of a state line. -- including professional historians, who have done In 1868, the same year that Bradwell began her less to research difficult topics like this than should struggle, progressive men associated with Wash- be the case. Indeed, a truly good, thoroughly docu- ington University in St. Louis recruited two young mented book on the history of American women in women who became the nation’s first female law the law has yet to be written: what follows below school students. They were Phoebe Couzins, whose is the state of my research when I published Mile- father was a St. Louis law enforcement official, and stones: A Chronology of American Women’s History Lemma Barkaloo, who came from Brooklyn, New in 1995. Because bar admission is an area that must York, where such opportunities long would continue be tracked state-by-tedious-state, I must say that I to be denied to women. Barkaloo was admitted to the cannot guarantee that it has no errors, particularly Missouri bar in 1870, but died a few months later. of omission -- and I hope that Florida’s project will Couzins’ 1871 graduation drew national attention, inspire others to begin correcting the neglect of this and she was admitted to the bars of not only Mis- and other aspects of women’s history. souri, but also Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, and the When Louise Pinnell was admitted to the Florida Dakota Territory. bar in 1898, women had been practicing law in other That western and midwestern jurisdictions eagerly states for almost three decades. Florida was still admitted her indicates the greater egalitarianism very much a Deep South state, for Confederate con- of the frontier. The same willingness to accept new servatism prevailed long after the Civil War’s end. ideas was responsible for the first full voting rights of The war developed activist skills in many women, women anywhere in the world, which the territorial however, and in 1868, three years after its end, legislature of Wyoming enacted late in 1869; Utah former Civil War nurse Myra Bradwell joined her followed early in 1870. Moreover, Wyoming women attorney husband in publishing Chicago Legal News, served on juries in 1870 -- to the delight of cartoonists a nationally circulated weekly. She passed the bar back East, who found the notion hilarious. It was a exam the next year, but the Illinois Supreme Court Wyoming woman, Esther Morris, who was the first refused to admit her. female law enforcement official: the governor ap- The justices acknowledged that “of the quali- pointed her justice of the peace for South Pass City, fications of the applicant we have no doubt” and a gold mining boom town that was the largest in the conceded that she had “earnestly and ably main- territory. Morris handled at least 70 documented cases tained” her argument in her written appeal, but in this epitome of the Wild West, none of which were they saw the fact that Bradwell was married as an reversed by higher courts.

xi Back in Illinois, feminists supporting Myra University), a new institution in need of students. Bradwell lobbied a bill through the legislature that When Lockwood finished in 1873, however, the struck “male” from the statutes on lawyers, and Alta school refused to award her diploma; she got it after Hulett, an unmarried woman, was admitted to its appealing to President Ulysses S. Grant, who was bar in 1872. In the same year, the first eastern ad- a school trustee and who understood the value of mission occurred -- and amazingly enough, it was an activist women from his wartime experience. Her African-American woman. Charlotte Ray graduated problems were not over, however: although the from the law school of Howard University (founded District’s bar had indifferently admitted Charlotte by Congress in 1867 primarily for ex-slaves) and was Ray the previous year, Lockwood was rejected. She admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C., without appealed to the Supreme Court, which backed the any particular attention. Ray’s struggle to support local court. For the next four years, Lockwood lobbied herself was much more difficult; before the decade Congress for a bill to require the federal courts to ended, she had to give up her practice and return allow women to practice -- and finally began to use to teaching. her degree in 1879, almost a decade after she began Despite these precedents in several states -- in- her quest. cluding Illinois -- when the U.S. Supreme Court Myra Bradwell continued to publish Chicago Le- finally heard Bradwell’s appeal in 1873, it came gal News for two decades, and in 1890 -- four years down firmly on the side of Illinois. Not only were before her death -- the Illinois Supreme Court, acting states free to exclude women from the practice of law on its own initiative, reconsidered its 1869 rejection because of women’s “natural timidity and delicacy,” and admitted her to the bar. Bradwell’s daughter the court added that any constitutional right to equal became a lawyer without the struggle her mother protection under the Fourteenth Amendment was had known, and late in that same decade, Florida overruled “by the law of the Creator.” The justices had its first with Louise Pinnell. seemed to believe that gender itself was as great a stricture on a woman as her marital status. Female attorneys in Florida, however, would face all-male juries for another half-century. Mary Lou Midwestern states nonetheless continued their Baker, a Pinellas attorney who in 1942 became the liberalization. Wisconsin admitted Lavinia Goodall, second woman elected to the legislature, repeatedly an unmarried woman, after she moved from New saw defeat of her bill to allow women to serve on York to Janesville in 1874. When one of her cases juries. Not until 1947, after Baker lost her reelection went to the state supreme court, however, the jus- bid, did the legislature finally pass the bill -- and tices did not allow her to argue it, declaring female then women were automatically exempted from jury lawyers to be “departures from the order of nature.” duty unless they actively volunteered to serve. The Once again, legislators proved more enlightened, and U.S. Supreme Court upheld that as late as 1961; not Wisconsin amended its statutes to force its courts to until 1975 were female attorneys finally freed from accept women. Unfortunately, Goodall died in 1880, the burden of arguing to juries that were likely to just six years after beginning her practice; Illinois’ be composed entirely of men. Hulett died five years after beginning hers; and when Missouri’s Barkaloo is added, three of the first Thus, Florida women practicing law in the 1990s ten female attorneys died prematurely -- a rate that have just a twenty-year history that approaches caused even sympathetic people to wonder if women equality. As the new century begins, let us pause to were indeed physically capable of being attorneys. recognize the painful progress made for us by women whose likely reward was public disapproval. Let us It is ironic that all of those who died were unmar- remember that no important social change occurs ried and young, while older, presumably less delicate by itself: it takes activists who see that the future women continued to be barred from practicing. Like can be better than the past; it takes people who care Myra Bradwell, Belva Lockwood had a long struggle more about principle than about personal gain. Let to become an attorney. When she began seeking us be forever grateful to them. admission to law school, Lockwood already had been an elected school superintendent in central New York; had established her own school in Wash- Doris Weatherford is the author of six books on the ington, D.C., after moving there as a widow with history of American women, including History of the a child; and even had voted in caucuses to choose American Suffragist Movement, which features an Washington’s representative to Congress. Howard introduction by Geraldine Ferraro and was named University nonetheless rejected her application; she a 1998 Honor Book by the International Society of finally found acceptance at National University Law School Librarians. Her most recent work is Women’s School (now the law school of George Washington Almanac 2000.

xii Suff rage in Y1900 Women Lawyers at the Start of the Twentieth Century

By Cynthia L. Cooper

In 1900, when the calendars flip from the nine- threshold. “You had to be a rebel to be a lawyer [in teenth century to the twentieth, Lutie A. Lytle is those days], to be a rebel against the stereotype of already at the podium in a law school, the first society,” says J. Clay Smith, Jr., editor of Rebels in woman law professor to teach male, as well as Law, an historical collection about black women female, students. In a photograph that captured lawyers. Lytle, the first black woman admitted the scene, Lytle’s eyes gaze outward to a world in to the bar in Nebraska and Tennessee, reports front of her. She bears a slight smile, the quintes- to a newspaper that Illinois is a good place for sential “Portia,” as woman lawyers of the times a woman lawyer to practice. “Chicago ought to were universally called. She teaches evidence, furnish an opening for a female lawyer if she has criminal procedure, and domestic relations and lots of energy,” she writes. serves as the law librarian at Central Tennessee Almost up to the end of the century, women Law School, the African-American academy in were still being turned away from the bar in Nashville from which she graduated in 1897. Illinois. But that changed. The state finally ad- At a time when offices are outfitted with addi- mitted once-denied Myra Bradwell in 1890. Like tions like telephones and typewriters, law offices many other women lawyers, including Lockwood, are beginning to employ the occasional woman Bradwell even had legal heirs– her daughter, Bes- stenographer. Within a few years, a generation sie, graduated as valedictorian from Northwestern of idealistic women lawyers bursts onto the scene Law School in 1882. with ambition, notions of equal rights, and plans Others also set the stage. Charlotte E. Ray, for careers. the daughter of an eminent abolitionist preacher, By 1900, there are already 1,010 women law- becomes the first black woman to practice law yers in the United States, according to the census, in 1872. Clara Shortridge Flotz, the first woman up from a mere 208 only 10 years earlier. Yet, lawyer in California, is already a mid-career role they are still less than 1 percent of total lawyers. model by 1900. She tells the New York Tribune Thirty-three of the 45 states in the Union admit in 1898, “Women Lawyers . . . shrink from the women to law practice. Three women judges have tendency of their brothers-at-law to regard them wielded the gavel–in Wyoming, Washington, D.C., as freaks, rather than their mental equals. . . . I and Pennsylvania. Forwarding-thinking law advise every woman who has academic training, schools are admitting women, including the Uni- a strong analytical mind and a natural bent for versity of Buffalo, Howard University, the Univer- the law, to study and practice it.” sity of Michigan, New York University, Oregon’s Suffrage is on the minds of virtually all of the Willamette College of Law, and the all-female women who enter the legal profession. Women Washington College of Law in D.C. The Women’s lawyers are on the cutting edge, convinced that Lawyer’s Club is up and running, and women the franchise is essential to securing women’s are working to make the National Association role in society. “Women believed once they could of Women Lawyers, founded in 1899, a success. change the laws, they could change the system,” The most famous woman lawyer of all, Belva A. says Karen Berger Morello, author of The Invis- Lockwood–who signs her letters “Attorney and ible Bar. “They thought, ‘If we can just show we’re Solicitor”–has already twice run for president competent, all the doors will open.’” on the National Equal Rights ticket, in 1884 and Doors to established law offices are opening by 1888. the 1900s. “There is this great optimism among Earlier pioneers of the late 1800s had fashioned young women,” says Virginia Drachman, author doors where there had been none. By 1900 a breed of Sisters in Law and currently professor of his- of individualistic women is stepping through the tory at Tufts University. At first, however, many

xiii female law graduates team up with their hus- opportunity. It was a profession where they could bands rather than seeking independent employ- make their way as an individual,” says Drachman. ment. Among these dual partners is Antoinette “But it could be lonely for women unless they had Jackowska-Peterson, a Polish immigrant and connections,” she adds. former hatmaker who sets up a law practice with Inside the doors women are opening during her husband in Milwaukee after her graduation the next decades, they find more doors. Women from the University of Wisconsin in 1901. lawyers are relegated to office work, or limited Others join their fathers’ practices. Alice Henri- to trusts and estates. They are rejected for jobs etta Day, a graduate of the University of Buffalo, by men who say they want to hire only men, kept becomes one-half of Day & Day in the rural town from courtroom work, or mocked when they are in of Batavia, New York, around 1901. When Alice court. Morello quotes the male bar leader Theron Day marries a farmer named F. Grant Gardner, Strong, who wrote, in 1914, “It is now more than father and daughter call themselves Day & thirty years since Mrs. Lockwood was admitted . Gardner. Gardner continues to practice until the . . and I think it may be safely asserted that there mid-1950s, writing wills for farmers, contracts is no prospect that women will be seen except as for small businesses, and handling real estate a rara avis in the ranks of the legal fraternity.” matters for struggling Italian immigrants. Her Women eventually do get the vote; they are grandson, Buffalo attorney William Gardner, re- admitted to law schools and to the bar. But at the calls the family stories. “She would brag that she end of her career, according to Stanford law pro- would come home and have babies and be back fessor and biographer Barbara Babcock, even the in the office in a week.” formidable Foltz describes “marshes of ignorance Urban lawyers are aiming for social reform, and prejudice” that she encountered. joining settlement houses and burgeoning move- The lives of the women lawyers at the turn of ments dealing with the dismal conditions faced by the century, says Morello, remained difficult, un- laborers, the poor, and immigrants. A doctor’s wife, comfortable, and often humiliating. “They faced Mrs. Leonard Weber, has been doing service work ridicule and outright hostility on a daily basis with impoverished women. “To my amazement, I in court,” she says. “I wouldn’t have been brave found that most mental suffering resulted from wrongs which needed legal advice,” she says. She enough to do it.” helps found a nondegree law program for women But they don’t stop. One notable signal comes in New York, noting that black women already had from Alice Paul, who, after acting as one of the intimate knowledge of the cruelty of law through premiere strategists in the fight for the ballot, experiences with slavery. Smith writes: “The le- decides to attend law school. She graduates in gal profession may have been ignorant of black 1922 and promptly writes the first draft of the women, but the law was no mystery to them.” Equal Rights Amendment. But, in some cases, working for social reform is motivated by shoddy treatment by members of Cynthia L. Cooper is an award-winning journalist the male bar who, at the beginning of the century, and a lawyer who writes extensively on women’s are rapidly forming themselves into corporate issues and the law. The author of four books, in- law firms with diversified specialities. Alice Dill- cluding The Insider’s Guide to the Top 15 Law ingham, the top graduate of N.Y.U. Law School Schools and Mockery of Justice, she also headed in 1905, finds that no big firm will hire her; she the editorial team for Know Your Rights. She takes a job for one-quarter of a man’s pay, with served as the Court Information Officer for the Legal Aid. Minnesota Supreme Court and as an investigative Others, particularly in the frontier environ- reporter/producer for an ABC affiliate. She won ments of the West, see business possibilities. an APEX award for Excellence in Publishing in “Many women believed [law] was a great field of 1999.

xiv Researching Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers By Wendy S. Loquasto, Co-Chair of the First 150 Research Committee

Problems In Deter- ted to the bar in 1898. The Hillsborough County mining Who Was Ad- Bar Association offers a fourth contender in its mitted, When They centennial history, which states that Mae Wood, Were Admitted, and “a cultured young lady from Nebraska,” arrived Whether They Were in Tampa in 1896 to practice law, but it acknowl- Women edges there is no record of her admission or even At first blush, that she stayed in Tampa for very long. Finally, compiling the list of the photographic composite of the Bench and Bar the first 150 women of Florida compiled in 1899 shows two women lawyers seems like an admitted to the bar: Louise Rebecca Pinnell and easy task. Just call Alice Johnson. The Florida Bar. The Some of the discrepancy as to admission date difficulty of the task be- may arise from the fact that attorneys could be comes apparent when admitted to practice law at the local level by one realizes the first taking an examination before the circuit court woman lawyer was admitted in 1898, yet The judges. This means of admission is illustrated in Florida Bar did not exist until 1950. Prior to that Along This Way (19--), the autobiography of James time, the Florida State Bar Association existed, Weldon Johnson, the first African-American male but it was a voluntary bar association, as opposed to be admitted to practice by the Florida Supreme to today’s unified bar. Thus, not all attorneys be- Court. Thus, it could be that Gertrude Dzialynski longed to it and records are not available. More- Corbett was admitted to practice by the circuit over, it was not until 1925 that the State Board court in Leon County in 1898, thereby making of Law Examiners was created, and while one her Florida’s first woman lawyer. Certainly, Nell might assume that its records were inherited by L. Cowan Bostwick was admitted in that manner, today’s Board of Bar Examiners, if those records because the Florida Supreme Court minutes show exist, they are confidential. Thus, compiling the that when she was admitted in 1921, it was based list was not easy, and it was further complicated upon her status as a practicing attorney in the by problems in determining who was admitted, circuit courts of the state. when they were admitted, and whether they were To resolve the matter for the purpose of this even women. book, it was decided that the Florida Supreme Determining the first woman lawyer in Florida Court’s records would be the ultimate authority was not without some controversy. For instance, for the date of admission, with the minutes con- Stetson University College of Law and the family trolling over the book of attorneys admitted be- of Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt regarded her as tween 1895 and 1949 if there were discrepancies Florida’s first woman lawyer based on her 1908 between the two. Only two exceptions have been admission. The family of Nell L. Cowan Bostwick made and they are the first two women on the list, had long believed that she was the first woman Louise Rebecca Pinnell and Alice Johnson. Mys- lawyer in Florida, having been admitted at the teriously, the supreme court’s records omit any local level in 1905. A third woman, Gertrude reference to either of these women, yet evidence Dzialynski Corbett, is said to be Florida’s first of their admission exists in the form of the Bench woman lawyer based on a family history written and Bar of Florida 1899 photographic composite, by her sister-in-law, which states she was admit- as well as Ms. Pinnell’s interview with The Florida

xv Times-Union wherein she recounted traveling reasons for Ms. Skipper’s exclusion, because the from Bronson to Tallahassee to take an oral bar supreme court records show that she was not ad- examination at the Florida Supreme Court in mitted until June 27, 1945, some five years after May 1898 and being admitted five months later her graduation. As for Helen Mae Christian, the in October 1898. For that reason, the exception mystery of her omission from the supreme court was made for those two women, but all the other records was solved when it was discovered that women included in the book appear in the order she died within a month of graduating. that the Florida Supreme Court admitted them The last area of controversy affecting the list to practice law. is the most basic: gender. Sometimes the supreme Another controversial matter is the fact of ad- court’s records indicate “Miss” or “Mrs.” associated mission. For instance, Mae Helm, born in 1888, with a name, but this was not a foolproof method was listed as a practicing attorney in Tampa of determining gender, as evidenced by the fact with a date of admission of 1923 in Martindale’s that entries known to be women had no such titles American Law Dictionary (1929 & 1930), yet the attached to their names. supreme court records do not mention her. She The original list was therefore composed of all is therefore not included in the biographies. One names that seemed feminine. The problem with must assume that she was admitted only at the this method is that some names, even today, can local level and never sought admission by the be utilized by either sex. Names such as Allison, Florida Supreme Court. The same can probably Kelly, Laurie, Leigh, Leslie, Lynn and Marion be said for Harriett Rothchild, who was listed as fall into that category. Then consider that names an attorney in Tampa in The Martindale-Hubbell which seem solely feminine today were given to Law Dictionary (1939), and Helen J. Binning of males 100 years ago. Names such as Hope, Bonny, Miami Beach, who appeared in the August 1923 Pearl and Daisy fall into that category. To make edition of the Women’s Law Journal. matters more difficult, many of the entries were Additionally, there are several law school just initials. Although most of the questionable graduates who should have been admitted under names were eventually confirmed as to gender, the “diploma privilege,” yet the supreme court re- several persons were removed from the list as cords fail to include them. The “diploma privilege” “likely males” even though their gender was refers to the fact that those who graduated from never actually confirmed. Those entries include Stetson University College of Law, the University Hratchia Balikan of Bradenton (1926); Carol or of Florida College of Law, and the University of Carroll Colley of Georgia and later Tampa (1925); Miami School of Law did not have to take the bar Kelly Kash of Kentucky and later of Sebring examination, because the supreme court had ap- (1925); Hollie Mason of Washington, D.C. (1925); proved the legal curriculum at the schools. Thus, and Hope D. Starke of Lake Wales (1922). once they graduated, they needed only to take an I have mentioned all of these people who were oath to be admitted to practice law. deleted from the official list in recognition of the Three law school graduates who appear in fact that they practiced law, graduated from law alumni records but are not included in the biogra- school, and may have actually been women. It phies are Flora E. Lovell and Margaret Edwards is my hope that the publication of this book will Skipper, who are reported to have graduated from eventually lead to additional information regard- the University of Florida in 1932 and 1940, respec- ing these people so that questions surrounding tively, and Helen Mae Christian, who graduated them will be answered. from Stetson in 1937. If Flora E. Lovell was indeed a woman, that would make her the University of How The Research Committee Found In- Florida’s first female graduate and she would have formation About Florida’s First 150 Women been admitted under the diploma privilege, yet the Lawyers supreme court records fail to contain any refer- How did the First 150 Research Committee, ence to anyone named Flora, and the University of composed mostly of lawyers, law students, and Florida maintains that Clara Floyd Gehan (1933) writers, discover the information included in the was its first woman graduate. Delay in taking the biographies of the first 150 women lawyers? The oath, or perhaps clerical error, are the apparent answer: a crash course in researching, the sharing

xvi of research tips with others, and a lot of luck. Add date of birth, so it was like looking for a needle to that, dogged determination. in a haystack. Add to that the practice of women What appeared to be a fairly simple task to adopting their husband’s surname upon marriage. the researchers proved more complicated and Then consider the discrimination the women faced frustrating than expected. The initial group of in the legal profession. Some simply practiced in researchers were assigned five women to investi- their husbands’ offices and never appeared in gate, and most of them, after checking the Internet court. Others were unable to even find a job as an and various other obvious sources, reported little attorney and thus were relegated to the position or no success as to any of those women at the of secretary or stenographer. second meeting. This should have been our first When research techniques failed, sometimes warning of the enormity of the project; instead luck stepped in. For instance, the evening before we vowed to work harder and share successful re- the final research deadline saw me in my office search strategies as they were discovered. Thus, it late at night. As I was leaving the building, I was those first researchers who, through trial and mentioned the project to Jack Steele, the secu- error, developed the search methods we employed. We checked the books about distinguished Florida rity guard, as a means of explaining why I had women found in libraries, such as The Women of lingered at the office until almost 11:00 p.m. Jack Florida and Florida Women of Distinction; we said to me, “Wendy, I never told you that my aunt found the Social Security Death Index on the In- was a lawyer.” As it turns out, his aunt, Ethel ternet; and we discovered how facts were stored Jane Steele Brannon, was one of the women for in the Florida death records. We pulled old city which we had little information. However, Jack directories off library shelves. We read old copies was able to provide me with the details of this of Martindale’s American Law Dictionary and The interesting woman’s life, which included working Martindale-Hubbell Law Dictionary. We searched at the Nuremburg War Trials. Westlaw. We obtained, through interlibrary loan, I am proud of what this group of amateur detec- books on women lawyers, such as The Digest of tives and genealogists discovered about Florida’s Women Lawyers and Judges (1949), Who’s Who First 150 Women Lawyers. The biographies of Among Women Lawyers (1939), and 75 Year His- these remarkable women are as complete as they tory, National Association of Women Lawyers, can be given the time permitted for the research 1899-1974 (1975). and the resources that were readily available. Most The above strategies worked well for those certainly, the publication of this book will result women who had achieved a level of prominence, in individuals coming forward with additional but finding the less-than-famous required dig- information about these women. In the words of ging into local history, state and county public the authors of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s book, marriage and death records, law school alumni Pioneers in the Law: The First 150 Women, “This records, obituaries, local newspaper articles; con- booklet is merely a snapshot of these women. And, tacting local libraries and historical soceities; and like a photograph, it is a reminder of the people locating relatives. When we knew where a woman we wish to remember, an historical record in and had practiced law, we wrote to senior attorneys who lived in the same town. We contacted anyone of itself, and an historical document that will tell in The Florida Bar Journal who had the same future historians that we cared to remember.” surname as one of the women. One researcher, Doris Sanders, even traveled to the towns where Wendy S. Loquasto is an attorney employed with the women she was researching lived and visited Judge Richard W. Ervin, III, at the First District their graves. Court of Appeal. She is a graduate of Stetson The research task was further complicated University and is a former president of Tallahas- by the fact that the only information we had for see Women Lawyers and former secretary of the some of the women was their name and date of Florida Association for Women Lawyers. She is admission. We did not even have a residence or co-chair of the First 150 Research Committee.

xvii

Florida’s Law Schools, the Florida Supreme Court, and the First 150 Women Lawyers

Approximately 60 of Florida’s first 150 women lawyers and first five African‑American women lawyers graduated from Florida law schools. Several others attended the law schools, but were admitted to practice law without graduating. Consequently, a brief history of the law schools is appropriate.

Stetson Uni- versity Col- lege of Law is Florida’s first law school. It was Law school class with Annie Jo Law and Herberta Hath- founded in 1900 cock Leonardy (1915) and was original- ly located in Fla- gler Hall on the DeLand campus Flagler Hall, 1910 of Stetson Uni- versity, which was Florida’s first private university founded in 1883. The first woman to graduate from a Florida law school was Mary Stewart How- arth‑Hewitt, who graduated from Stetson in 1908. In 1954, the college of law was moved to St. Petersburg.

Stetson Law Library

The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, as it is currently known, was founded in 1909 on the Gainesville campus of the University of Florida, which is Florida’s oldest public university, having been established originally as the

Above: Law school class with Annie Dorcas Broward Starrett and Bryant Elsie Young Hall at the Douglass University (1910) of Florida

Stetson Moot Court Room

xix East Florida Seminary in Ocala. The Univer- sity of Florida was Florida Agricultural & Mechanical Univer- a men’s school, and sity (FAMU), as it is presently known, was founded women were not per- in 1887 as the State Normal College for Colored mitted by law to enroll Students. The FAMU School of Law was established in its college of law in 1951 and it operated until 1968. To house the law until 1925. The first school, the “Law Wing” was added to the Coleman women to graduate from the University of Florida Library, which is pictured below prior to the con- College of Law did so in 1933 ‑‑ Natalie Marion struction. The first woman to graduate from FAMU Weinstein Berger (LL.B.), Rose Ealine Friedlin (J.D./ School of Law was Bernice Gaines Dorn, pictured transfer student), and Clara B. Floyd Gehan (J.D.). below, who graduated in 1958.

The University of Miami School of Law was established in 1928 as part of the University of Miami, which was chartered by a group of private citizens in 1925. Of the eighteen students in the law school’s initial class, five were women and they constituted 28 percent of the class. Judge Dixie L. Herlong Chastain was the first woman to graduate from the University of Miami School of Law, and she did so in 1930.

Coleman Library-FAMU

The women who did not attend law school were required to take and pass a bar examination, which The University of Miami’s first law school class (1928) was administered by the Florida Supreme Court up until 1925 when the State Board of Law Examiners was created and assumed that duty. Up until 1925, the women would have traveled to the Supreme Court Building in Tallahassee, pictured below, to take the examination, which was administered over the course of 2‑3 days.

xx The Biographies of

Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers

xxi Abbreviations for Source Material B&B (1899) Bench and Bar, State of Florida (1899) (photographic composite)

B&B (1935) Bench and Bar of Florida (1935)

MBD Judge Mattie Belle Davis’s Historical Text

DWL&J The Digest of Women Lawyers & Judges (1949)

FSCBAA Florida Supreme Court Book of Attorneys Admitted 1895-1949

FSCM Florida Supreme Court Minutes

FSCM&BAA Florida Supreme Court Minutes & Book of Attorneys Admitted 1895-1949

FTU The Florida Times-Union

MALD Martindale’s American Law Dictionary

MHLD The Martindale-Hubbell Law Dictionary

MH Miami Herald

75NAWL 75 Year History, National Association of Women Lawyers, 1899-1974

SUCLAL&R Stetson University College of Law Alumni List & Records

UFCLAL&R University of Florida College of Law Alumni List & Records

UMSLAL&R University of Miami School of Law Alumni List & Records

xxii Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers Listed by Year of Admission

1898 Helen E. Martin Crabtree...... 21 Louise Rebecca Pinnell...... 1 1923 1899 Esther Miriam Finney Sumner...... 21 Alice Johnson...... 3 Abbie Elizabeth Lapham Gibbons...... 22

1908 1924 Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt...... 3 Florence M. Hazard Mims...... 22 Stella M. Biddle Fisher...... 23 1909 Emily S. Williams Ziegler...... 23 Nell L. Cowan Bostwick...... 5 Joanna Hamilton Vermilye...... 23

1911 1925 Annie Dorcas Broward Starrett...... 7 Bernice J. Ayer...... 24 Elsie Young Douglass...... 7 Rubye B. Chalk Godwin...... 24 Henriette E. Mednick...... 25 1912 Allie Richardson Barnes...... 25 L. Booth Washington ...... 8 Mary J. Davey...... 25 Beverly C. Cobb...... 26 1913 Jean Gregory Cole...... 26 Minnie E. Kehoe...... 8 Dorothy Dorman...... 26 Clara C. Cain Gore...... 26 1914 Maurine Sharp...... 27 Marie Willard Anderson...... 9 Mattie W. Tompkins...... 27

1915 1926 Annie Joe Law...... 9 Lydia Douglass...... 28 Hedwiga Walicki...... 10 Anne Overman Gibbons...... 28 Sue K. Hicks...... 28 1917 Winifred B. Judge...... 28 Cecile Eleanor Vaught Wysong...... 10 Effie E. Knowles...... 29 Rose G. Baldwin...... 11 Opal Plaisted...... 29 Julia A. Harding...... 12 Herberta Ann Hathcock Leonardy...... 29 Helen Hunt West...... 12 Gertrude Leonore O’Kell Woods...... 32 Rose Shakewitz...... 32 1918 Pauline G. Wallace...... 32 L. H. Shoemaker ...... 13 Marian Borros...... 32 Jane Tillie Wakefield...... 14 Arax M. Gulizian...... 33 Anna Bray Lindsley...... 33 1919 Vivian Selter...... 34 Ella Cramer Kindred...... 15 Louise Pencke...... 15 1927 Madeline A. Jacobson Cox...... 35 1920 Dorothy S. McDougall...... 35 Lena Alfman...... 16 Anna A. Krivitsky...... 36 Jane L. Phillips Armstrong...... 16 Ella Jo Stollberg...... 36 Caroline Marie Healy Uebele...... 17 Zephyr Lillian Thorpe...... 37 Clarice M. Naumburg...... 17 Susan E. Ervin...... 37 Laurine Leonore Goffin...... 37 1921 Mary V. Wakefield Houston...... 38 Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett...... 17 Mary Anne Leddy...... 38 Charlotte Inez Farrington Vogler...... 39 1922 Mollie M. Parker...... 40 Mary Wooster Sutton...... 18 Mary L. Esarey...... 40 Edith Meserve Atkinson...... 19 Victoria Rountree...... 41 Lelia Russell Bryd...... 20 Hilda M. Tilton...... 41 Marie Eleanor “Nell” Cooper...... 20

xxiii 1928 Grace Williams Burwell...... 69 Lenea I. Stromberg Adlehelm...... 41 Ida Maud Hyman...... 70 Irena A. Lawrence...... 42 Ruby Fleming Barney...... 42 1936 Susie H. Bell...... 42 Anna Brenner Mankes Meyers...... 71 Sidney S. Gober...... 42 Kate L. Walton Engelken...... 72 Marjorie Marie Hammer DeShaw...... 73 1929 Patricia LaVerne Pacetti Warren...... 73 Augusta Beyer Colton...... 43 Reba Engler Epstein Daner...... 74 Mabel Claire Altman Hackney...... 43 Mattie Belle Davis...... 75 Bessie Ethel Sims Williams...... 44 1937 1930 Jeannette O. Mullens Smith...... 78 Zorah B. Close...... 44 Daisy Richards Bisz...... 81 Dixie L. Herlong Chastain...... 45 Diana D. Coopersmith...... 84 Marjorie G. Howard...... 46 Rose Elizabeth Deeb Kitchen...... 84 Mae T. Donovan...... 46 Thelma H. Waybright...... 86 Frances Drury...... 47 Pearl Annah Williams...... 86 Edith H. Horn...... 47 Mildred Ernestein Wilson...... 86 Edith E. House...... 48 Betty Speizman Lippmann...... 86

1931 1938 Margaret M. Collins ...... 49 Mary Lou Baker...... 87 Mary Cinthya Vann Racey...... 49 Alma Oyama Carlton...... 88 Lorrain Gould Smith...... 50 Osie Buck Crump...... 89 Mary Gunn Campbell...... 50 Hariette E. R. Cotton...... 50 1940 Carolina Byrd Ramsey...... 51 Lucille Cairns George...... 89 Ethel Jane Steele Brannon...... 51 Jeannette Edythe TeSelle Plump...... 90 Edith McIlvaine James...... 51 Dorothy Louise Schoessel Tessmer...... 91

1932 1941 Dorothy Douglas...... 52 Carlotta Van Cortlandt Washburne Faircloth... 91 Mada Burney Fraser Babcock McLendon...... 52 Lois Ellen Thacker Graessle...... 92 Carmen Ercelle Christian...... 53 Dorothea W. Broadbent Keck Montgomery...... 94 Ethel Ernest Murrell...... 53 Letitia Norman...... 94 Mary Neff Reebel...... 54 Margaret M. Barrett...... 55 1942 Marie C. Broetzman...... 55 Marvel Harriet Gallacher...... 95 Anne E’del Deacon...... 95 1933 Caroline Adams...... 97 Elva Victoria Diaz...... 55 Laura Helen Hyde...... 98 Emma Roesing...... 56 Mary Frances Dewell...... 99 Marjorie M. Varner...... 56 Ethel Dorothea Clarson Watson...... 100 Natalie Marion Weinstein Berger...... 57 Rose Ealine Friedlin...... 58 1943 Clara B. Floyd Gehan...... 58 Mary Irene Schulman...... 101 Esther A. Poppell...... 62 Ila Adele Rountree Pridgen...... 103 Ruth Alberta Clark...... 62 Wilhemina Hawkins...... 63 1958 Mary A. Kennerly Buckles...... 63 Bernice Gaines Dorn...... 106 Lois Rodgers...... 64 Mary Jo Williams Garris...... 64 1965 Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry...... 107 1934 Ruby Burrows McZier...... 108 Edith G. Uman...... 65 Catherine Stewart Howarth Carter...... 66 1968 Frances M. Lovelace...... 67 C. Bette Wimbish...... 109

1935 1969 Rebecca Bowles Hawkins...... 68 Arthenia L. Joyner...... 110 xxiv Louise Rebecca Pinnell (1877 - 1966) Date of Admission: 1898

Although she is not recorded in the career, which spanned over half a cen- Florida Supreme Court min- tury. For the first three years, she utes or its book of attorneys practiced law with her father admitted between 1895 and in Bronson. Judge Pinnell’s 1949, Louise Rebecca Pin- representation of Florida nell was Florida’s first Central & Peninsular Rail- woman lawyer, having road Company appears to Louise Rebecca been admitted by the have led to Ms. Pinnell’s Pinnell should Florida Supreme Court next employment in the ... be cited for in October 1898. law office of Major Alex- bravery, for it Ms. Pinnell was born ander St. Clair-Abrams, in Cuba, Missouri, on because he also repre- took no small March 31, 1877, as one of sented that railroad. degree of courage five children of Ethan Al- In 1901 Ms. Pinnell be- to fly in the face len and Frances Collier Pin- gan working with Major St. of tradition in nell. Her father was a prac- Clair-Abrams, a prominent ticing lawyer in Missouri and attorney, seasoned politician, a conservative later a probate judge. Ms. Pinnell Civil War veteran, and founder of Southern society, received her early education in the public the town of Tavares in Lake County. and to open up a schools of Crawford County, Missouri, and He moved from Tavares to Jacksonville masculine field later graduated from Steelville College in in 1895 and practiced corporate defense. that state. The family moved to Bronson, Not surprisingly, a substantial portion of activity to Levy County, Florida, in the 1890s and of his practice was railroad litigation, women, proving Ms. Pinnell studied law in her father’s which was a “hot” area in the law. The late that women may office for two years. She had to wait until 1800s saw the completion of Florida’s first be successful she was 21 to take the oral bar examina- railroads, and by the turn of the century, tion at the Florida Supreme Court, which the focus was on regulating the railroads. and useful in she did in May 1898. It was an unusually Major St. Clair-Abrams represented nu- that sacrosanct severe examination, the severity of which merous railroad companies in various profession of the was probably occasioned by the fact that regulatory actions, from rate challenges law. To all such women were not encouraged to enter the to the establishment of stations. He also legal profession. represented railroads in personal injury pioneers among Following the bar examination, Ms. actions. Over the 19 years that Ms. Pinnell women, honor and Pinnell had to wait five months while the worked with Major St. Clair-Abrams, one glory! Florida Supreme Court decided her fate. must assume that she worked on many of “They just didn’t know what to do with these railway cases, because railroad law me,” Ms. Pinnell said of the justices. Even is the common thread in her career. This though she passed the oral examination, assumption is supported by the fact that the justices were still puzzled over the Major St. Clair-Abrams appears to have unique problem of admitting a woman to been general counsel to Henry Flagler’s practice law in Florida. Finally, in October Florida East Coast Railway from 1909 to 1898, the Florida Supreme Court approved 1916, and the railway was Ms. Pinnell’s Ms. Pinnell’s admission to the bar and next employer. she thus became Florida’s first woman Ms. Pinnell began working for Florida lawyer. East Coast Railway in October 1920 as Unfortunately, research has not uncov- an attorney in the law department and ered any legal work directly attributed to assistant secretary of the company. While Ms. Pinnell, but much is known of her legal working for Florida East Coast Railway,

1 she was associated with its general coun- Ms. Pinnell was also active in civic sel, William Alexander Blount, a promi- and legal organizations. During the First nent attorney who became Florida’s first World War, she worked in the Red Cross president of the American Bar office, as well as with the reg- Association. Ms. Pinnell also istration boards, which were worked with Scott M. Loftin, involved in draft question- who succeeded Blount as the naire work in Duval County. railway’s general counsel, and She was a charter member Women have who was Florida’s second Amer- of the Jacksonville Y.W.C.A.; made wonderful ican Bar Association president. president of the Jacksonville progress in this The 1920s were a decade of Business and Professional century. They tremendous expansion for the Women’s Club; member of the railroads in Florida. Conse- American Bar Association; have proved that quently, one may assume that Florida State Bar Associa- they can go into Ms. Pinnell’s work during this tion, which later became The almost any field time included land acquisition Florida Bar; Jacksonville Bar and be successful by Florida East Coast Railway. Association; and the National Ms. Pinnell worked for the railway for 25 Association of Women Lawyers, for which if they work at it. years, after which she worked in private she served as state vice-president of the Law practice is practice until she retired. Florida council in 1934-35, 1935-38, and hard work and In describing her work, Ms. Pinnell said: 1938-39. demands a lot of “Law is something you never really stop Louise Rebecca Pinnell never married studying if you hope to be a credit to the and lived in the Mandarin area of Jackson- study, but it’s a profession. Until I retired . . . I studied ville with her two sisters in a home they fine field for a constantly. You have to. Each case is dif- owned on the water. She was a woman woman and offers ferent from every other one.” Ms. Pinnell in control of her life and her assets, and many rewards. If said she helped prepare many cases for she firmly believed, as her mother had criminal court, but she never argued one. taught her, that it was ability, not gender, I could pass the “I always preferred real estate title work, that determined the profession a person bar examination it seemed more suited to me. That has chose. Ms. Pinnell died, following a lengthy studying in my seemed to be true of many women lawyers illness, at the age of 89 in Jacksonville on father’s office and who just don’t care to go into court. But May 22, 1966. they may find a special niche in the field During her 60-year career, Louise reading his books, that is perfect for their abilities.” Rebecca Pinnell was a role model for a woman today Many of Ms. Pinnell’s colleagues spoke other women lawyers. She felt that women shouldn’t have warmly of her. For instance, in 1958, would do well to consider the law as a any trouble. She Harold Clark, then president of the Jack- profession. In 1958, she said: “Women have sonville Bar Association, said that he had made wonderful progress in this century. has the advantage heard of Ms. Pinnell’s work in legal circles They have proved that they can go into of modern courses long before he began his practice in Jack- almost any field and be successful if they of study at fine sonville in 1942. “She has been referred to work at it. Law practice is hard work and schools. And as the dean of women lawyers in Florida,” demands a lot of study, but it’s a fine field he said. “She is well-known and recog- for a woman and offers many rewards. If there are more nized throughout the state for her legal I could pass the bar examination study- women in the abilities.” J. Henry Blount, county attorney ing in my father’s office and reading his field now to keep and past president of the Jacksonville Bar books, a woman today shouldn’t have any her professional Association, stated in 1958: “I have known trouble. She has the advantage of modern [Ms. Pinnell] since I was admitted to the courses of study at fine schools. And there company. bar in 1914. She is highly respected and are more women in the field now to keep well thought of both as a citizen and a fine her professional company.” lawyer.” Ms. Pinnell was honored at the Biographer Lucy Worthington Black- Jacksonville Bar Association’s June 1958 man aptly stated the tribute to be paid to meeting for having practiced 50 years or this trailblazing woman: “Louise Rebecca more in Florida. She was the only woman Pinnell should . . . be cited for bravery, for in a group of 12 who were honored, and she it took no small degree of courage to fly was the only one of two who had practiced in the face of tradition in a conservative 60 years. Southern society, and to open up a mas-

2 culine field of activity to women, proving The Women of Florida 69 (1940); Pearl that women may be successful and useful Adams, “Florida’s First Woman Lawyer,” in that sacrosanct profession of the law. FTU, Nov. 2, 1958, at 55; Charlton W. Te- To all such pioneers among women, honor beau, A History of Florida (1971); IV W.T. and glory!” Cash, The Story of Florida 513 (1938); Sources: B&B (1899) (photo); B&B The Florida Bar Journal 500 (July 1966); (1935) (photo); Pleasant Daniel Gold, MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 History of Duval County Florida 493-94 & 1949); 75NAWL; MBD. (1928); Lucy Worthington Blackman,

Alice Johnson Date of Admission: 1898 or 1899

Alice Johnson is the only other woman in this book not mentioned in either the Florida Supreme Court minutes or its book of attorneys admitted between 1895 and 1949. She is included as Florida’s second woman lawyer because she is pictured in the Bench & Bar, State of Florida (1899). Ms. Johnson lived in Live Oak, Florida, and was admitted to practice law sometime between October 1898, when Louise Pinnell was admitted, and 1899, when the photographic composite was assembled. She appears in the composite above John B. Johnson, also of Live Oak, who may have been a relative with whom she studied law. Source: B&B (1899) (photo).

Mary Stewart Ms. Howarth- Howarth-Hewitt Hewitt’s father, (1886 - 1976) a prominent Date of Admission: 1908 attorney and eventually a Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt, pursue a legal career. criminal judge, born in DeLand in 1886, was In 1906 Ms. Howarth- the daughter of Judge Isaac A. Hewitt obtained an A.B. de- was very Stewart and Katherine Brinly gree from the University of enthusiastic and Stewart, a homemaker. Her Michigan. In 1907 she began supportive of grandfather, T.E.C. Brinly of attending John B. Stetson his daughter’s Louisville, Kentucky, initially University College of Law and came to DeLand in 1875 and was the only woman in her decision to served on the first town coun- law school class. Her daughter, pursue a legal cil. Her father, a prominent at- Dr. Mary S. Howarth-Jacobs, career. torney and eventually a criminal explained that her mother was judge, was very enthusiastic and very determined and strong-willed supportive of his daughter’s decision to and she told her daughter that she en-

3 countered no resistance at law school. early women lawyers, such as Mary Anne In 1908 Ms. Howarth-Hewitt was the Leddy (1927), Mae Donovan (1930), and first woman to graduate from Stetson Edith Horn (1930). College of Law. She was admitted to Law was not Ms. Howarth-Hewitt’s the bar on June 20, 1908, following only business, however, because she and an oral examination administered by her husband organized the Surety Bank the Florida Supreme Court, and thus of DeLand. The bank’s policy was to loan became Florida’s first woman lawyer money only to people who lived within a recorded in the supreme court records. 20-mile radius of DeLand. The bank was Ms. Howarth-Hewitt practiced law with very successful and still exists today. her father in DeLand. Ms. Howarth-Hewitt was also actively On June 1, 1912, she married busi- involved in the operation of the Stewart nessman and contractor Casper Howarth & Howarth family orange groves, which of Pennsylvania. The couple moved to at one time consisted of more than 700 Pennsylvania, and she was admitted to acres; several ferneries; and her husband’s the Pennsylvania bar in 1914 and the business, Robert Howarth & Sons, Roof- In 1908 Ms. United States District Court in 1915. ing, Sheet Metal, and Structural Steel, in Howarth- While maintaining a legal practice in Chester, Pennsylvania. Hewitt was the Pennsylvania, Ms. Howarth-Hewitt also Mr. Howarth became the first Republi- first woman to raised three daughters, Catherine, Mary, can county commissioner in DeLand and and Sara, who were born 18 months apart, also served on the school board. He retired graduate f rom and she opened the first day care center in 1933 and died that same year. He was Stetson College in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She also 20 years his wife’s senior. Their daughter of Law. She found time for community service and was Mary recalls the marriage as idyllic. Mr. was admitted on numerous boards and committees. Ac- Howarth had known Mary Stewart as cording to her grandson, John B. Carter, a child. His business in Chester, Penn- to the bar on Ms. Howarth-Hewitt was very proud of sylvania, was not far from the John B. June 20, 1908, the fact that she was a founding member Stetson Hat Company, and he was a very following an and president for a number of years of good friend of John B. Stetson. Mr. Stetson oral examination the Chester, Pennsylvania, chapter of the introduced him to Judge Isaac A. Stewart Women’s Christian Temperance Union. and his family on one of Mr. Howarth’s administered In 1925 Mr. Howarth suffered a heart trips to Florida. Mr. Howarth thus watched by the Florida attack and the family returned to live in Mary Stewart grow to womanhood and Supreme Court, DeLand. was always in love with her. The couple and thus became Once in DeLand, Ms. Howarth-Hewitt never exchanged cross words or argued. resumed her practice in her family’s law Ms. Howarth-Hewitt was very family- Florida’s first firm, Stewart and Stewart, with her father oriented, and while she always practiced woman lawyer and her brother, Tom B. Stewart, who grad- law, her children were her first priority. recorded in the uated from Stetson in 1913. Her daughter, A nanny assisted with the child care. Ms. supreme court Catherine Stewart Howarth Carter, who Howarth-Hewitt was proud of her children graduated from Stetson in 1934, later and was heard to say: “I’m going to have records. joined the firm. From its beginning, Stew- three daughters who are going to be doc- art & Stewart; then Stewart, Howarth & tors.” She was not far off, because two of Carter; then Carter & Carter, did a great her daughters, Mary and Sara, went on to deal of real estate law, much of it involved become surgeons and Catherine followed with wills and trusts. The of- in her mother’s footsteps by graduating fice was located in the Stewart from Stetson and becoming a lawyer. Building. Ms. Howarth-Hewitt Ms. Howarth-Hewitt was a widow from practiced law all of her life, 1933 until 1948 or 1949, when she married although her practice was Mr. Hewitt, a retired businessman from not extensive in later years. New Jersey. Unfortunately, Mr. Hewitt Her legal career led her to lived little more than a year. argue cases before the United Ms. Howarth-Hewitt later moved to States Supreme Court and to Memphis, Tennessee, when daughters teach Constitutional Law at Mary and Sara began attending medical Stetson. She also maintained school. Although she initially thought of at- close friendships with other tending medical school with her daughters,

4 she eventually decided against it. She was got driver’s licenses, we were always admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1936. chauffeuring her around somewhere to Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt was do some business here or there. We used a member of Chi Omega, Phi Delta Phi to say grandmother had “Wheelitis” -- and International Legal Fraternity, Women’s the only cure was to feel wheels turning Christian Temperance Union, and League under her. Life with her was never dull.” of Women Voters. She was a Republican Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt died in and a member of the Episcopal Church. January 1976 at the age of 91 in DeLand, She is listed in Who’s Who Among Women where she was living with her daughter, Lawyers (1939), and Florida Who’s Who Dr. Mary Howarth-Jacobs. (1953-54). Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R; Grandson John B. Carter wrote of MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 his grandmother: “I think grandmother & 1949); B&B (1935) (photo); Arthur E. Up through was constitutionally incapable of sitting Rancke, Jr., Alyce Hockaday Gillingham, at least 1940, quietly and knitting, crocheting, or doing & Maxine Carey Turner, Volusia The Ms. Cowan some “lady-like” activities. When she ate West Side (West Volusia Historical Soci- at our house, she would challenge us all ety 1986); “Brinly - Stewart - Howarth - operated the to a game of Chinese checkers as soon as Carter Families,” Reflections - West Volusia “Nell L. Cowan the meal was over. She wanted us to learn County (West Volusia Historical Society); Bostwick how to play Mah Jong, but we failed. Not MBD; conversation with Dr. Mary How- Legislative infrequently, she would have to leave to arth-Jacobs; e-mail and correspondence go get somebody out of jail. In later years from John B. Carter (photos). Bureau” in when I, and then my brothers and sister, Tallahassee. She maintained a legislative bill information booth in the Nell L. Cowan Bostwick corridor between the Senate and (1883 - 1970) House in the Date of Admission: 1909 Old Capitol. It Nell L. Cowan Bostwick that avenue, because she is was her function was born on August 18, said to have been admitted to publish briefs 1883, in Sanford, Florida, to practice law on May 5, on pending to William Henry Cowan 1905, after reading the law and Janice Powell Cowan. in Hillsborough County. legislation, which She graduated from high Thus, Ms. Bostwick may she mailed to her school in Sanford and later actually be Florida’s third subscribers, most pursued her studies in At- woman lawyer. of whom were lanta and New York. She Throughout her legal ca- taught school for two years reer, Ms. Bostwick operated lobbyists. in Orange County near the “Nell L. Cowan Bostwick Orlando and later moved Legislative Bureau” in Tal- to Tampa. She relocated to lahassee. She maintained a Jacksonville in 1907. legislative bill information The Florida Supreme booth in the corridor between Court minutes reflect that the Senate and House in the “Nell L. Cowan” was admitted to practice Old Capitol. It was her function to publish law in that court on June 8, 1909, upon briefs on pending legislation, which was motion based upon her status as an attor- mailed to her subscribers, most of whom ney practicing law in the circuit courts of were lobbyists. She thus became identified the state. At that time, attorneys could be with political life at the Capitol. admitted to practice law by a circuit court It is interesting to note that Ms. Bost- after having passed an examination given wick was not the first woman lawyer to by judges. Ms. Bostwick obviously pursued operate a legislative reporting service.

5 Myra Bradwell, who unsuccessfully sought send overseas to the soldiers and in send- admission to the Illinois bar in 1868, ing packages to the soldiers. She was of the and who was later denied admission by Episcopal faith. the United States Supreme On October 26, 1926, Nell Court because of her gender, L. Cowan married William operated the Chicago Legal Moreau Bostwick, Jr., a prom- News, which reported legisla- inent attorney in Jackson- tion in Illinois. The Chicago ville, Florida. Mr. Bostwick Legal News had a nation- was an active member of the wide circulation, which raises Jacksonville bar for almost the question whether Ms. 40 years; he devoted himself Bostwick was inspired in her entirely to civil practice with Mrs. Bostwick pursuit by Myra Bradwell. special preference to bank- gave generously According to son Charles ing. They had two children in service and Bostwick, his mother also ran Myra Bradwell -- William Cowan Bostwick and effort for the a similar legislative service in Charles Warren Bostwick. Georgia. Attorney Charles F. Mills first met Ms. upbuilding of Charles Bostwick also explained that in Bostwick when he lobbied for the County the state and 1905 the legislature only had one copy of Commission of Dade County during the to all sorts of each bill. So, if someone wanted to kill a 1955 legislative session. Mr. Mills came worthwhile bill, that person simply had to physically to the information booth to check the obtain the bill and then nothing could be progress of certain bills. He recalled that community done. It was after his mother’s involve- the first question Ms. Bostwick asked him, movements. ment that duplicates and triplicates of as she did with any person she met, was, For instance, bills were made. “When were you born?” After Mr. Mills told she worked Ms. Bostwick also had a partnership her his birth date, she replied, “Well, you’re in Duval County with attorney E. T. Mc- a Leo. We’ll get along fine.” She was a tirelessly in the Ilvaine for some time. strong believer in astrology. fight against the Ms. Bostwick gave gener- Through his years of lob- citrus canker in ously in service and effort for bying, Charles Mills came to 1913 and 1915, the upbuilding of the state know Ms. Bostwick and her and to all sorts of worthwhile family quite well. He shared which threatened community movements. For an interest in boating with Ms. to destroy the instance, she worked tirelessly Bostwick and her son William, citrus industry in the fight against citrus can- both of whom belonged to the in Florida, and ker in 1913 and 1915, which Ponte Vedra Yacht Club. Mr. threatened to destroy the Mills described Ms. Bostwick as she assisted in citrus industry in Florida, and being interested in almost ev- the passage of she assisted in the passage of erything. She was a real high- the income and the income and inheritance achiever and very outgoing. inheritance tax tax amendment to the state Timidity was not something constitution. she knew. Rather, she spoke her amendment to the She was also active in the mind and people always knew state constitution. Parent-Teachers Association where they stood with Nell L. since 1933, having served as historian Cowan Bostwick. Once you met her, you and membership chair of West Riverside would never forget her. School, as well as membership chair of Ms. Bostwick continued working until John Gorrie, Jr. High School in Jackson- six months before her death in 1970. ville. She was interested in the Boy Scouts, Sources: FSCM; FTU, June 20, 1970, at as well as other movements for the benefit B-11; conversations with Charles F. Mills, of youth. During World War I, she assisted Barbara Bostwick Rogers, Mrs. William in making articles for the Red Cross to “Kitty” Bostwick, and Charles Bostwick.

“People always knew where they stood with Nell L. Cowan Bostwick. Once you met her, you would never forget her.”

6 Annie Dorcas Broward Starrett (1890 - 1923) Date of Admission: 1911 Annie Dorcas ... was involved Annie Dorcas Broward of its Delta Delta Delta in her father’s Starrett was the eldest chapter. She and her aunt, political life as daughter of Governor Na- Elsie Young Douglass poleon Bonaparte Bro- (1911), entered Stetson evidenced by ward (1905-09) and Annie University College of Law the fact that Isabell Douglass Broward. to obtain a legal education she, her mother, She was born in Jack- so that they could assist and her oldest sonville in 1890, and in Napoleon Broward in the January 1892 her father’s United States Senate. Un- sisters sat in the 30-foot yacht was chris- fortunately, Senator-elect legislature for tened the “Annie Dorcas.” Broward died in October the debate on the Dorcas, as she was known 1910 prior to assuming hotly contested by her family, was involved office. Both women nev- in her father’s political life ertheless graduated from Buckman as evidenced by the fact Stetson in May 1911. Ms. Education that she, her mother, and Starrett was admitted to Bill in 1905, her oldest sisters sat in the legislature for the bar by virtue of the diploma privilege which would the debate on the hotly contested Buck- on June 11, 1911. According to Susan man Education Bill in 1905, which would Sharpe, Ms. Starrett never practiced law. reorganize reorganize Florida’s higher education She married and sadly died in childbirth Florida’s higher system. on June 23, 1923, in Jacksonville. education system. According to family member Susan Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R Sharpe, Ms. Starrett attended Florida (photo); Samuel Proctor, Napoleon State College for Women, the predecessor Bonaparte Broward: Florida’s Fighting to Florida State University, while her fa- Democrat (1950); MBD; conversations with ther was governor, and she was a founder Susan Sharpe.

Elsie Young Douglass (1877 - 1964) Date of Admission: 1911

Elsie Young Douglass was born on July Florida (1905-09). Because of the 3, 1877, in Petersburg, New Jersey. She death of her parents, Ms. Doug- was one of at least three children born to lass lived with the Browards. Captain Alexander Douglass and Marga- Like the other Broward wom- ret Hutchinson Douglass, who resided in en, Elsie Young Douglass was New York City. Later the Douglass family involved in Governor Broward’s moved to St. Johns Bluff in Jacksonville, political life while he was sheriff and her sister, Annie Isabell Douglass, of Duval County, house represen- married Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, tative, and governor. In fact, she who subsequently became governor of and Mrs. Broward would sit in

7 the visitors’ gallery of the Florida House of Revenue Service. She worked in that field Representatives while Napoleon Broward until her retirement in 1947. sat in the Senate’s gallery and the three In an interview for The Florida Times- would compare notes of the discussions Union, Ms. Douglass said that the only so he would have a detailed report of time she felt that her gender interfered legislative activity. When Napoleon Bro- was when she worked at the Internal ward became governor in January 1905, Revenue Office in Washington and her Elsie Douglass became one of his personal supervisor was away. He never gave her secretaries. (Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett command of the office, because “[h]e was (1921) also served as one of Governor afraid it would ruin my rapport with the Broward’s secretaries.) Ms. Douglass also men if they had to take orders from me.” served for a time as Governor Albert W. One of her great moments while in Gilchrist’s (1909-13) secretary. Washington was meeting Franklin D. Her godchild, Susan Sharpe, related Roosevelt while he was Assistant Sec- In an that Ms. Douglass, like Annie Dorcas Bro- retary of the United States Navy under ward, the governor’s eldest daughter, en- President Woodrow Wilson. She said, “His interview for tered Stetson University College of Law to secretary and I were good friends, so he The Florida obtain a legal education so she could assist introduced me to Mr. Roosevelt. He is the Times-Union, him when he went to the United States only person I ever met who, though he dif- Ms. Douglass Senate. Although Senator-elect Broward fered with me, made me think he might died in October 1910 before he could as- be right.” Ms. Douglass then said that one said that the sume office, Ms. Douglass continued her of her greatest virtues was tolerance, and only time she law school education and graduated from stated her advice to others: “Don’t be thin- felt her gender Stetson. She was admitted to the bar un- skinned.” interfered der the diploma privilege on October 17, Ms. Douglass died in Jacksonville on 1911. October 15, 1964. was when she Ms. Douglass went to Washington Sources: FSCM; SUCLAL&R (photo); worked at with Senator Nathan Bryan, who took Samuel Proctor, Napoleon Bonaparte the Internal Broward’s place in the United States Sen- Broward: Florida’s Fighting Democrat Revenue Office ate, first working as his secretary, then as (1950); “She Conquered a Man’s World 50 an attorney during his six-year term. The Years Ago” and “Miss Elsie Douglass Dies,” in Washington Estate Tax Law was passed at that time, FTU, Oct. 4, 1962 & Oct. 16, 1964 (photo); and her and Ms. Douglass joined the Internal conversations with Susan Sharpe. supervisor was away. He always avoided giving her command of the office, L. Booth Washington because “[h]e Date of Admission: 1912 was af raid it L. Booth Washington, a practicing attorney in the state of New York, was admitted would ruin my to practice law by the Florida Supreme Court on May 12, 1912, based upon her status rapport with as a practicing attorney with more than five years of experience. the men if they Source: FSCM. had to take orders f rom me.” Minnie E. Kehoe Date of Admission: 1913

Minnie E. Kehoe was admitted to prac- by the Florida Supreme Court. She was tice in Florida on January 17, 1913, after originally from Pensacola, but later moved passing the bar examination administered to Miami, where many of her family were

8 and are members of the bar and the judi- maker (1918), a Jacksonville attorney, ciary. In Miami she served many years as reported that there were only 16 or 17 the official court reporter of the probate women attorneys as of 1923, one of whom court. She later returned to Pensacola, was Minnie Kehoe. Ms. Shoemaker thought where she died. that Ms. Kehoe was “the only one who has According to Richard W. Ervin, Retired done any great amount of actual courtroom Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, Ms. work.” She practiced with her father. Kehoe may have been the daughter of Mr. Sources: FSCM&BAA; MBD; corre- Kehoe, who was a member of Congress for spondence from Justice Richard W. Ervin; the East Coast District. MALD (1929 & 1930); Women Lawyers’ An article written by Ms. L. H. Shoe- Journal (Aug. 1923).

Marie Willard Anderson (1892 - 1983) Date of Admission: 1914

Marie Willard Anderson was born on The couple had one daughter, Marie May 9, 1892, in Philadelphia, Pennsylva- W. Anderson, who became a journal- nia. She was the daughter of O. O. Willard ist and editor at the Miami Herald. and Lisette Barbour Willard, who later It does not appear that Ms. Anderson moved to Bartow. She graduated from ever practiced law. She indicated Stetson University College of Law in that she was a “housewife” when she 1914 and was admitted to the bar under completed Stetson alumni forms in the diploma privilege on June 9, 1914. On 1949. November 8, 1914, she married Robert Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL& H. Anderson, who had graduated from R (photo); MH, Jan. 28, 1964 (obitu- Stetson the previous year. Mr. Anderson ary of Robert H. Anderson) & July was a state representative, bar leader, 2, 1996 (obituary of Marie Willard and later a circuit court judge in Miami. Anderson (daughter)).

Annie Joe Law (1888 - ) Date of Admission: 1915

Annie Joe Law of Brooksville, Florida, graduated from Stetson University College of Law in 1915 and was admitted to the bar under the diploma privilege on June 10, 1915. She practiced in Brooksville. In 1929 and 1930 she was employed in the Hernando County Attorney’s Office. Her name appears in just one appellate opinion in the Southern Reporter, which shows that she represented a syndicate of landowners suing to enforce a trust in 1933. Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R; B&B (1935); MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939 & 1949); Lockhart v. Mundon Hill Farms, Inc., 150 So. 233 (Fla. 1933).

9 Hedwiga M. Walicki (1892 - 1970) Date of Admission: 1915

Hedwiga Walicki was born on May 2, Madison, Tampa. Ms. Walicki returned to 1892. She took the bar examination at the Mr. Baya’s offices, as she was listed as an Florida Supreme Court and was admitted associate in the firm Baya and Baya in to practice law on June 11, 1915. 1949. In the mid-1950s, she was once again A review of the Tampa City Directory listed as a lawyer with a business address shows that in 1917, Ms. Walicki was a of 215 Madison. In 1960 and 1961, she was stenographer for attorney Harry P. “Jes- listed as a secretary for Harry Baya Con- sie” Baya at his office at 206 Curry Build- struction Co., Inc. In 1962 she was listed Niece Susan ing, Tampa. In 1918 she was listed as an at her home address of 105 West Adalee, attorney in Mr. Baya’s office. Her listing Tampa, at which time she was presumably Vaught Tygart returned to “stenographer” in 1919 and retired as she would have been about 70 recalls that there continued as such into the 1920s. In 1942 years of age. were no lawyers Ms. Walicki was listed as a clerk for the Hedwiga M. Walicki died on November in her aunt’s United States Selective Service System 28, 1970. Local Board. In 1944 she was listed as Sources: FSCM&BAA; Tampa City immediate family a lawyer at her own residence, and in Directory (1917-62); MHLD (1939, 1945 and offered 1946 she had a business address of 215 & 1949). that her aunt probably did not attend college, but rather read the law with a practicing attorney. Ms. Cecile Eleanor Vaught Wysong Wysong was (1892 - 1981) admitted to Date of Admission: 1917 practice law on Cecile Eleanor Vaught tors, Inc., in Jacksonville. April 21, 1917, Wysong was born in Solon, Sometime after her ad- af ter passing Indiana, on March 12, 1892, mission to the bar, Cecile an examination to Susan Emeline Higbie Eleanor Vaught married and Charles Larkin Vaught. Mr. Wysong, but it does not administered She was one of five children appear that the marriage by the Florida to survive to adulthood. The was of any great length and Supreme Court. children grew up on a farm the couple had no children. and then the family moved Ms. Wysong was a member to Miami and later to Jack- of a Unitarian Church. Like sonville. all the Vaughts, she was a Niece Susan Vaught Republican. In fact, niece Tygart recalls that there Susan Tygart recalls that were no lawyers in her when she took her future aunt’s immediate family and offered that husband to meet her Aunt Cecile and her aunt probably did not attend college, Aunt Lois, he was in the Florida House but rather read the law with a practicing of Representatives. She said if he had not attorney. Ms. Wysong was admitted to been elected as a Republican, she would practice law on April 21, 1917, after pass- have had to lie, because a Democrat would ing an examination administered by the not have gone over very well. Florida Supreme Court. She was a corpo- Susan Tygart remembers her aunt rate attorney for Turpentine & Resin Fac- as a person who loved clothes, dressed

10 very well, and had lots of hats. All of the moved into a house on East 18th Street in Vaughts had red, red hair, freckles and blue Springfield with her mother and sister. She eyes. Even when she was elderly, she kept died on June 10, 1981, in Jacksonville. her hair bright red. Ms. Wysong lived for Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1929 & many years in a garage apartment. When 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); FTU, the expressway was built, her property June 1981; conversation with Susan was purchased to build a ramp, and she Tygart (photo).

Rose G. Baldwin (1890 - 1980) Date of Admission: 1917 Ms. Baldwin never practiced Rose Gillespy Baldwin and studied under at- law in her own was born on October 19, torney Fred B. Noble in 1890, in Birmingham, Ala- Jacksonville. One of her name, but she bama, the daughter of Mar- close friends, Helen Hunt worked with her garet Mortimer Jordan and West, was a member of husband on many James McAdory Gillespy. the same class and both interesting cases. She graduated from Sophie were admitted to practice Newcomb College with a law in Florida on October The two would major in fine arts. Accord- 19, 1917, after taking an of ten discuss ing to her son, Lorenzo examination at the Flor- cases at home. Wilson Baldwin, Jr., her ida Supreme Court. Ms. According father was an attorney in Baldwin never practiced Birmingham, Alabama, law in her own name, but to their son, who practiced until his she worked with her hus- Mr. Baldwin death in 1919. band on many interesting represented a In 1915 Rose Gillespy cases. The two would black man in married Lorenzo Wilson often discuss cases at Baldwin, a graduate of home. According to their a case before Bowdoin College in Bruns- son, Mr. Baldwin repre- Judge Gibbs in wick, Maine, sented a black man in a case before Judge St. Augustine, and Columbia Gibbs in St. Augustine, which resulted in which resulted in Law School, who the first verdict in favor of a black man over was a law clerk a white man. Mr. Baldwin also represented the first verdict to a judge for Helen Hunt West in a suit against Stetson in favor of a one year before University. Additionally, he represented black man over a moving to Jack- some of the heirs of English composer white man. sonville and es- Frederick Delius. tablishing a law Rose Baldwin had a lifelong interest in practice. The the arts, particularly weaving, pottery and couple had two the mountain crafts of North Carolina. She children, Rose made marionettes and staged elaborate Gillespy Bald- productions. During World War II, she was win (Mrs. Chan active in the Red Cross arts and crafts pro- Westing-house gram at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville. Horne) and She also bred and trained wire-haired fox Lorenzo Wilson terriers and beagles. She was affectionately Baldwin, Jr. known as “Queen Bee” by her family and Ms. Baldwin friends. Rose Gillespy Baldwin died in had developed Jacksonville on March 20, 1980. an early inter- Sources: FSCM&BAA; biography written est in the law by Lorenzo Wilson Baldwin, Jr. (photos).

11 Julia A. Harding Date of Admission: 1917

Julia A. Harding obtained her under- law firm of Marks, Marks & Holt, which graduate degree from North Carolina Uni- specialized in corporations, insurance and Ms. West versity Women’s College in Greensboro, probate. She is not listed as a member of a graduated f rom North Carolina. She took the bar examina- law firm in 1930, but rather had her own Florida State tion given by the Florida Supreme Court office in the Graham Building, and later and was admitted to practice on October moved to the Burgiss Building. College for 19, 1917. She resided in Jacksonville at the Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1929 & Women in 1913 time of her admission. In 1929 Ms. Hard- 1930); MHLD (1939 & 1945). and studied law ing was an associate with the Jacksonville under attorney Fred B. Noble in Jacksonville with her f riend Rose Gillespy Helen Hunt West Baldwin (1892 - 1964) (1917). Before Date of Admission: 1917 taking the bar examination in Helen Hunt West distinguished herself ments made by President Hulley “clearly 1917, Ms. West early in life mostly by her own volition. applie[d] to an infraction of the rules or the admitted feeling Born in 1892 in Oakland, Florida, Ms. proprieties of this coeducational boarding the “weight of all West’s family consisted of her parents, school, and may not be contorted into an Aaron and Lillian Hunt, and her sister, imputation of unchastity.” Notably, that the women of the Clyde. Her parents supported her decision witness was encouraged and supported by world on [her] at an early age to enter the legal profes- Dr. Hulley to join the faculty at University shoulders. [She] sion. She attended school in St. Augustine, of Florida’s law school. just knew that after which she enrolled at Stetson Uni- In 1922 Helen Hunt West filed a second versity. suit against Stetson University and Dr. if [she] didn’t In 1907, at the age of 15, Ms. West Hulley for malicious expulsion by a learning make the grade, became embroiled in an incident that institution. Once again, although the jury the headlines would result in two lawsuits against awarded her $25,000, the Florida Supreme would read, Stetson University and its president, Dr. Court reversed, concluding that Ms. West Lincoln Hulley, and would almost impede was not expelled, but suspended, and that ‘Woman Fails.’” her graduation from college. The incident the private institution, “standing in loco Helen Hunt arose out of an annual schoolgirl prank parentis” as to the “mental training, moral West scored on April Fool’s Day at the dormitories. and physical discipline, and welfare of the the highest In the first lawsuit in 1912, Helen Hunt pupils,” had acted within its rights with no West sued President Hulley for libel and evidence of maliciousness. marks and slander based on statements he allegedly In the interim, Ms. West graduated from was admitted made to four people that imputed “fornica- Florida State College for Women in 1913 and to practice on tion” on her part, and which threatened studied law under attorney Fred B. Noble in October 19, 1917. her reputation if she sued and he told all Jacksonville with her friend Rose Gillespy that he knew. Although a jury awarded Ms. Baldwin (1917). Before taking the bar exami- West $15,000, the Florida Supreme Court nation in 1917, Ms. West admitted feeling the reversed the judgment, noting that during “weight of all the women of the world on [her] the trial two of the witnesses had retracted shoulders. [She] just knew that if [she] didn’t their statements and the third witness’s make the grade, the headlines would read, credibility had been impeached. The court ‘Woman Fails.’” Helen Hunt West scored the focused on the fourth witness’s testimony highest marks and was admitted to practice and concluded that the alleged state- on October 19, 1917.

12 That same year, Helen Hunt West teewoman. She came in second, but since marched in front of the White House as a the other female candidate had also failed member of the militant National Woman’s to acquire a majority vote, Secretary of Party (NWP). She drew the attention State R. A. Gray refused to place either of and praise of the NWP’s foremost leader, their names on the second primary ballot. Ms. Hunt Alice Paul, who declared Helen Hunt “a Ms. West filed a petition seeking a writ of born feminist.” Ms. Hunt became the first certiorari from the Florida Supreme Court became the woman to register to vote in Duval County requesting that the run-off ballot reflect first woman to in 1920 after the adoption of the 19th her name and that of the other candidate. register to vote Amendment permitting women to vote. The Florida Supreme Court denied the in Duval County Although Ms. West maintained a law request. Coupled with the failure of the practice, she was first and foremost a Equal Rights Amendment, for which she in 1920 af ter the journalist and activist. She served as the blamed Franklin D. Roosevelt for his lack adoption of the society editor for The Florida Times-Union of support, she ultimately switched to the 19th Amendment for 14 years, editor of the Southern Club Republican Party. permitting Woman during the 1920s, and reporter for Throughout her life, Helen Hunt West the Pensacola Journal. She lobbied the remained very active in the National women to vote. legislature at the state and national level, Woman’s Party, particularly during the tackling inequities regarding women and 1930s when she served as acting chair of illegitimate children and protective labor its congressional committee (1935-38), lob- laws which potentially curtailed women’s byist (1935-39), and editor of its national employment opportunities. As a charter magazine, Equal Rights (1937-40). member of the Junior League organized On January 26, 1964, Helen Hunt West in 1923, she helped found the Panhellenic died after a brief illness. With a legacy League of Jacksonville. already rich from her contributions as a In 1927 she married the city editor of political activist, journalist and lawyer, The Florida Times-Union, Byron McGo- Helen Hunt West’s contributions contin- In 1935 she nigal West. Ms. West would continue to ued after death. Her extensive library successfully make inroads as a women’s suffragist and collection was donated in her memory to lobbied the political activist. She made an unsuccess- Jacksonville University by the Panhellenic legislature to ful bid for Congress in the Second Florida League of Jacksonville, which funded a Congressional District. She campaigned scholarship in her name. Most of Helen adopt a state for David Stoltz, who became governor Hunt West’s papers now reside in the election law, in 1932. In 1935 she successfully lobbied Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College known as the the legislature to adopt a state election in Massachusetts, the foremost library on “50-50,” that law, known as the “50-50,” that guaran- the history of women in America. teed women’s equal representation on a Sources: FSCM&BAA; Hunt v. Stetson guaranteed political party’s executive committee. The University, 57 So. 607 (Fla. 1912); Hulley women’s equal following year, Helen Hunt West ran for v. Hunt, 102 So. 637 (Fla. 1924); correspon- representation the post of Democratic National Commit- dence from Lorenzo Wilson Baldwin, Jr. on a political party’s executive committee. The following year, Helen L. H. Shoemaker Hunt West ran (1889 - 1972) for the post of Democratic Date of Admission: 1918 National Committee- L. H. Shoemaker was born in Bluffton, mission, she established an independent woman. Indiana, on February 7, 1889, and moved private practice in the Lynch Building, to Jacksonville in 1910. She was admitted later known as the American Heritage to practice law on April 19, 1918, after Life Building, in Jacksonville. having passed the examination given by Attorney Mike Dunay came to know Ms. the Florida Supreme Court. After her ad- Shoemaker when the two had offices on

13 the same floor of the American Heritage lawyers. She wrote: Life Building from 1966 to 1972. Accord- “At the present time there are about ing to him, Ms. Shoemaker maintained a sixteen or seventeen women who have “spartan” office with none of the modern successfully passed the state bar ex- Ms. Shoemaker conveniences. She had no secretary and amination. At least half of these are from maintained a did all her own typing on an old Smith (not Jacksonville. In Pensacola there is a Miss “spartan” office Smith-Corona) typewriter. She took small Kehoe who has been practicing with her cases of last resort that other attorneys father for several years. Miss Kehoe is, I with none of would not take. believe, the only one who has done any the modern Like her office, Ms. Shoemaker was a great amount of actual courtroom work. conveniences. “no frills” woman. She wore old-fashioned One or two in Jacksonville are doing a She had no clothing and her steel-gray hair up in a bun. little court work. I believe there will be She was likeable and nice, but maintained several women lawyers appearing before secretary and her reserve. Mr. Dunay remarked that he our judges in the actual prosecution and did all her own and his wife had tea at Ms. Shoemaker’s defense of cases this year. typing on an home twice, and while she trusted him, she “My personal experience and informa- old Smith (not never allowed a close friendship. In fact, he tion is that the men do not feel the least re- twice asked her what “L. H.” stood for and sentment at having women for opponents. Smith-Corona) she refused to say. Mr. Dunay recalled that In fact, I think they are very considerate, typewriter. She Ms. Shoemaker never married. never taking advantages and always ready took small cases Ms. Shoemaker was honored by The to render any assistance. Of course, they of last resort that Florida Bar and Jacksonville Bar Associa- resent certain women, just like they resent tion for “50 years or more of distinguished certain men, but I cannot consider these other attorneys service to the public, the bench, and the isolated cases indicative of their attitude would not take. bar of Florida.” toward women in general.” She was a past president of the Florida Ms. Shoemaker died in Jacksonville on Federation of Business and Professional July 29, 1972, after an extended illness. Women’s Clubs and was a Baptist. Sources: FSCM&BAA; MHLD (1949); Ms. Shoemaker wrote an article pub- FTU, July 29, 1972, at p. D-2; Florida lished in the Women Lawyers’ Journal Bar Directory; conversation with Mike (Aug. 1923) on the status of Florida women Dunay.

Jane Tille Wakefield overcame the Jane Tillie Wakefield stigma of ten (circa 1894-96 - ) attached to Date of Admission: 1918 immigrants. She Jane Tillie Wakefield overcame many married Emerson Harold Wakefield on was the daughter challenges on her path to obtaining a April 5, 1923, in Bartow. of John Tillie, Florida license to practice law. She passed Ms. Wakefield practiced law in Bartow who was born the bar examination given by the Florida between 1918 and 1923. She may have in Scotland, and Supreme Court and received her license continued to practice in Bartow until the on April 19, 1918. She also overcame the early 1930s, although she was no longer a Bertha Tillie, stigma often attached to immigrants. Jane resident of Bartow in 1935. She was a sole who was born Tillie Wakefield was the daughter of John practitioner, and her practice consisted of in Germany and Tillie, who was born in Scotland, and Ber- “general action” cases. Her location from spoke German as tha Tillie, who was born in Germany and 1930 forward is unknown. She died in a spoke German as her first language. state other than Florida. her first language. Jane Tillie Wakefield was born in New Sources: FSCM; Bartow newspapers York between 1894 and 1896. Her parents (1910-30); 14th U.S. Census; Florida Death relocated to Bartow, Florida, and the fam- Index; City of Bartow Street Guide & Di- ily was residing there in 1910 when Ms. rectory of Householders (1921-22); probate Wakefield’s mother died. Ms. Wakefield’s file of John Tillie; Polk County marriage father was employed as a carpenter. She records. 14 Ella Cramer Kindred Date of Admission: 1919

Ella Cramer Kin- ington, D.C., and De- dred was born in Pough- Land. Ms. Kindred was keepsie, New York. She active in the Daughters attended Lyndon Hall of the American Revo- School in Poughkeepsie lution (DAR), Colonel and received an A.B. Arthur Erwin Chap- degree from Vassar Col- ter, based in DeLand. lege. She was elected state Ella Cramer In 1902 Ella Cramer vice-regent of the DAR Kindred and married Dr. John Jo- in 1919 and became her husband ... seph Kindred, a medical state regent later that doctor from New York year. She also served attended John City. Dr. Kindred was a the DAR as state chair- B. Stetson member of the United person of historic spots University States House of Repre- and chairperson on leg- College of sentatives from 1911-13 islation in the United and again from 1921-29, States Congress. Law and both representing the 14th District in New Dr. Kindred was a professor of medi- graduated York State. Ella Cramer Kindred and her cal jurisprudence at Stetson University in 1919. Ms. husband had a winter home in DeLand, from 1933-37. His death in 1937, at the Kindred was Florida. They attended John B. Stetson age of 73, was noted in The Florida Bar University College of Law and both gradu- Journal and the Biographical Dictionary admitted to ated in 1919. Ms. Kindred was admitted to of the American Congress, 1774-1949. The practice law practice law under the diploma privilege Kindreds had one child, John Cramer under the on June 2, 1919, as was her husband. Ms. Kindred, who was a physician in New diploma privilege Kindred was also admitted to practice York City. before the United States Supreme Court. Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R (pho- on June 2, 1919, Ms. Kindred and her husband divided to); 1 History 1892-1933, Daughters of the as was her their time between New York City, Wash- American Revolution of Florida (1933). husband. Ms. Kindred was also admitted to practice before the United States Louise Pencke Supreme Court. ( - 1989) Date of Admission: 1919

Louise Pencke of Tampa, Florida, She later moved to Miami and served took the bar examination administered as a court reporter for several years. In by the Florida Supreme Court and was 1941 she became executive secretary of admitted to practice law on October 25, the Miami Board of Realtors, a position 1919. She is listed in the 1927 Tampa she held for 13 years. She was married City Directory as having an office at to Mr. William L. Pencke and died in 1101 Wallace S. Building. Ms. Pencke Miami in 1989. practiced law in Tampa until 1931, Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1929 when she became executive secretary & 1930); Tampa City Directory (1927); to Governor Doyle E. Carlton (1929-33). MBD.

15 Lena Alfman (1890 - ) Date of Admission: 1920

Lena Alfman of Pensacola took the bar years. She maintained offices in the Con- examination given by the Florida Supreme gress Building and at 27 N.E. 2nd Avenue Court and was admitted to practice law on in Miami. She later moved to Texas. April 23, 1920. Ms. Alfman served as gen- Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1929 eral master in Dade County Circuit Court & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); and as a court reporter in Miami for many MBD.

Jane L. Phillips Armstrong (1900 - 1961) Date of Admission: 1920

Jane L. Phillips Arm- turned to journalism, however, and, after strong was born on June 26, a stint on the Largo Sentinel and other 1900, in Pinellas County, county newspapers, she moved to Cuba Florida. Ms. Armstrong in 1930 with her husband, Richard H. was the daughter of Mr. Armstrong, a long-time international news and Mrs. Charles A. service correspondent in Cuba and Latin Phillips of Pinellas America. County and was a de- Ms. Armstrong joined the U. S. Foreign scendant of Thomas Service in Havana, Cuba, in 1933 and held McMullen, one of the posts as foreign staff officer in Havana; seven brothers who Mombasa, British East Africa (now Kenya); settled the county in Auckland, New Zealand; and Manila, Philip- the 1840s. She attend- pines. She retired in November 1961, after ed school in Largo, 12 years with the Department of State, and Florida, and graduated died on February 5, 1962, in Washington, from Stetson University D.C., at the age of 61. College of Law in 1920. Aside from many relatives in Pinellas She was admitted to prac- County, Ms. Armstrong was survived by tice law under the diploma a daughter, Mrs. Phillis A. Danielson, of privilege on May 28, 1920. Washington, D.C., and three grandchil- Although she never practiced law, Ms. dren. Armstrong was admitted to the Florida Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R bar as one of its youngest members, and (photo); Largo Sentinel, Feb. 1962; August was the first woman attorney to require 5, 1955, letter from Federal Records Center removal of the disability of nonage. She of the General Services Administration.

Although she never practiced law, Ms. Armstrong was admitted to the Florida bar as one of its youngest members, and was the first woman attorney to require removal of the disability of nonage.

16 Caroline Marie Healy Uebele (1900 - 1991) Date of Admission: 1920

Caroline Marie Healy Uebele was born publication, Pioneers in the Law: on April 25, 1900, in Rochester, Wisconsin. The First 150 Women (Oct. 28, Her father, William Healy, was an attorney 1998). in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She graduated In 1925 she married Walter F. from Stetson University College of Law in Uebele and gave up the practice 1920 and was admitted to practice law in of law to raise her family. She Florida on May 28, 1920. She also attended continued to be active in her the University of Wisconsin Law School. community and was a member Ms. Uebele moved to Burlington, Wis- of the Burlington School Board consin, where she practiced from 1923 to and the Daughters of the Ameri- 1925 in the law office of Nettie Elizabeth can Revolution. She died on May Karcher, who was admitted to the Wiscon- 5, 1991. sin bar in 1915. She was the 44th woman Sources: FSCM&BAA; admitted to practice law in Wisconsin and SUCLAL&R (photo); State Bar of is included in the State Bar of Wisconsin Wisconsin (photo).

Clarice M. Naumburg Date of Admission: 1920

Clarice M. Naumburg took the bar examination administered by the Florida Su- preme Court and was admitted to practice law on October 23, 1920. At the time of her admission, she resided in Jacksonville. Source: FSCM&BAA.

Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett (1874 ‑ 1931) Date of Admission: 1921

The daughter of Philip and Mary Cohen 1890s. Ms. Corbett relocated to Tallahas- Dzialynski, Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett see in the mid-1890s and studied law at was born in Savannah, Georgia, on Octo- night. Her uncle, Morris Dzialynski, had ber 17, 1874. Raised principally at Fort been mayor of Jacksonville in the 1880s Meade, Florida, Ms. Corbett graduated and later served for years as a municipal from the Summerlin Institute in Bartow judge there. in 1888. She attended the East Florida A discrepancy exists as to when Ger- Seminary in Gainesville, beginning in trude Dzialynski Corbett was admitted January 1889, and completed business to practice law. The Florida Supreme school courses in Tampa in the early Court minutes reflect that the court did

17 not admit her until April 23, 1921, follow- was retained in that capacity during the ing her successful completion of the bar four-year term he served [1905-09].” examination administered by the Florida The uncertainty regarding Ms. Corbett’s Supreme Court. According to a family his- date of admission may be explained by the tory, however, Ms. Corbett was admitted fact that attorneys could be admitted at the to the bar as early as 1898, which might local level after passing an examination have made her Florida’s first woman given by circuit court judges. For the purpose lawyer. Her sister-in-law, Bertha Zadek of this book, the Florida Supreme Court’s re- Dzialynski wrote: cords are controlling; therefore, Ms. Corbett’s “Gertrude wanted to take a business date of admission is considered 1921. course and we invited her [about 1893- As an attorney, Ms. Corbett associ- 94] to stay with us in Tampa. When she ated with the Jacksonville firm of Cooper, completed her training she went to work Knight, Adair, Cooper & Osborne. In Janu- in Tampa for an attorney, Mr. [Thomas ary 1914, she received an appointment as M.] Shackleford [who would later serve Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for as Florida Supreme Court Justice from Florida with responsibilities for enforce- 1902-17]. The next year she had a better ment of the new federal income tax. She offer from a law firm in Gainesville where held that position for four years. she became a private secretary to Mr. On September 15, 1915, Gertrude Dzi- Hampton. . . . alynski married John Archibald Corbett. “Gertrude was a “Gertrude was a brilliant woman and Remaining active in business and Demo- ambitious. Not content to settle down to a cratic Party affairs, Ms. Corbett held, at brilliant woman mediocre job as stenographer, she secured various times, the position of Democratic and ambitious. a position in Tallahassee, studied law in National Committeewoman from Florida; Not content to night school, and in 1898 was admitted to president of the Jacksonville Business settle down to a the bar. She was among the first women and Professional Women’s Club; presi- to be accorded this privilege in Florida, if dent of the Martha Reid Chapter, United mediocre job as indeed she was not herself the first. Daughters of the Confederacy; president stenographer, “She went to Jacksonville and opened of the Temple Sisterhood of Jacksonville’s she secured an office but she was too far in advance Congregation Ahavath Chesed; and presi- a position in of the times. Clients shied away from a dent of the Duval County Chapter of the woman lawyer and there was no alterna- League of Democratic Women Voters. In Tallahassee, tive but to close the office. She then went April 1921, she helped found the Florida studied law in to work for a law firm in Jacksonville. League of Women Voters. night school, Later she became secretary to Senator- Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett died in and in 1898 was elect William J. Bryan and was to have Jacksonville on January 24, 1931. gone to Washington in that capacity but Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1929 & admitted to the he died before taking the seat. She then 1930); Dzialynski family history compiled bar.” became secretary to Napoleon Bonaparte by Bertha Zadek Dzialynski; correspon- Broward in his campaign for governor and dence from E. Canter Brown, Jr.

Mary Wooster Sutton (1866 - ) Date of Admission: 1922

Mary Wooster Sutton was first admit- years of experience. It does not appear ted to the New Jersey bar in 1913. She that Ms. Sutton remained in Florida, was subsequently admitted to practice however, because in 1930 she was living law by the Florida Supreme Court on in Red Bank, Monmouth County, New May 5, 1922, based upon her status as Jersey. a practicing attorney with at least five Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1930).

18 Edith Meserve Atkinson (1890 - 1983) Date of Admission: 1922

The daughter of Freedom prevention. Edith M. Atkin- and Sarah Meserve, Judge son became Dade County’s Edith Meserve Atkinson was first elected woman judge and born on November 20, 1890, continued to serve in that ca- in Portland, Maine, where pacity until 1933. A portrait of her family had resided for Judge Atkinson hangs in the In 1921 over 100 years. She was one Dade County Courthouse. of seven children, and her After taking office, Judge the Florida father passed away after an Atkinson began the difficult Legislature extended illness when she task of organizing the juvenile created the was only seven. She attended court according to standards Juvenile Court school in Maine, but her phy- set by the Children’s Bureau sician later cautioned her in Washington, D.C. She was of Dade County about her health and advised invited to speak before civic and provided for her to relocate to a warmer organizations, Parent-Teach- the appointment climate. Thus, Judge Atkinson moved to ers Association (PTA) groups, and church of a judge for a Miami with some friends in 1912. groups to inform the public of the juvenile Once in Miami, she became secretary to court’s needs. She secured paid probation four-year term. attorney Henry F. Atkinson, who wrote the officers for the court and a detention home In January first charter for the City of Miami. The two for children, thus becoming a pioneer in 1924, it was were wed in 1916. Judge Atkinson aspired organizing the juvenile court system in suggested to to become a lawyer and practice with her Dade County. husband. Through a 1918 newspaper ar- As the presiding judge, she received Edith Atkinson ticle, she learned that Stetson University support from the members of the Dade that she become College of Law accepted women. She en- County Bar Association for the instigation a Democratic rolled and graduated with an LL.B. degree of free legal services for the poor. This was candidate in in 1922. She was admitted to practice law the beginning of free legal aid in Miami. under the diploma privilege on June 8, In keeping with her belief in delinquency the June 1924 1922. Her goal to practice law with her prevention, and in an effort to keep chil- primary. She husband was never realized, however, be- dren from being referred to court, Judge received 5,612 cause he was elected Circuit Court Judge Atkinson became interested in the work votes and of the 11th Circuit in Florida, a position he of the Visiting Teachers’ Association as a maintained until his death on December means of contact between the school and thereby defeated 12, 1939. Ms. Atkinson thus began the the home. She was also instrumental in two male practice of law alone. organizing Miami’s recreation department lawyers. In 1921 the Florida Legislature cre- and the Boys’ Clubs of Miami. ated the Juvenile Court of Dade County Judge Atkinson’s concern about the and provided for the appointment of a limited activities for girls in Dade County judge for a four-year term. In January led her to organize the first Girl Scouts 1924, it was suggested to Edith Atkinson Council in Dade County in May 1929, that she become a Democratic candidate which was chartered by Girl Scouts of in the June 1924 primary. She received the U.S.A. in December 1929. During the 5,612 votes and thereby defeated two Depression, her special attention to the male lawyers. Prior to taking office, Judge council saved it from being disbanded. She Atkinson closed her practice and traveled became a board member of the Girl Scouts throughout the country, visiting juvenile National Organization in the Southeast- courts to learn as much as possible about ern District. In 1976 the Girl Scouts of the the court system, particularly delinquency U.S.A. published a book of hidden heroines

19 of this country and chose Judge Atkinson Stephen’s Episcopal Church, where he as one of the selected heroines. was warden for several years. A Bruns- Judge Atkinson was a life member of designed window in the recreation hall the American Bar Association, Florida of the church bears the Atkinson name State Bar Association, and Dade County as donor. In later life she attended First Bar Association, for which she was the first Presbyterian Church of Greater Miami. Judge Atkinson woman secretary. She was also a life mem- She was an avid golfer, hiker and swim- aspired to ber of the Mercury Club of Miami, which mer, and loved art, music and literature. provided eyeglasses for needy children. She had an extensive library with many become a lawyer An honorary member of the Soroptimist rare editions, traveled extensively, and and practice with Club of Coral Gables, she participated in attended operas in many of the European her husband. their project to help cleft-palate children. opera houses. Through a Through her honorary membership in Edith Meserve Atkinson died on August the United Daughters of the Confederacy, 14, 1983, at 92. After a lifetime of dedicated 1918 newspaper she supported a scholarship program for service, and wishing to continue support- article, she young Southern college girls. As a patron ing the Girl Scouts and other community learned of the Women’s Cancer Society of the Uni- programs, she left the residual portion of that Stetson versity of Miami, she was a recipient of its her estate to the Dade Foundation in the Outstanding Service Award. She was also “Judges Henry F. and Edith M. Atkinson University a member of Alpha Xi Delta, American Pen Memorial Fund” so that her good works College of Law Women, and Phi Delta Delta Legal Fra- might be continued. accepted women. ternity. She is listed in Who’s Who Among Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R She enrolled and Women Lawyers (1939). (photo); MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD The Atkinsons were members of St. (1939, 1945 & 1949); MBD. graduated with an LL.B. degree in 1922. She was admitted to practice law under the Lelia Russell Bryd diploma privilege (1897 - ) on June 8, 1922. Date of Admission: 1922 Lelia Russell Bryd of Miami graduated eral years, maintaining from Stetson University College of Law in an office in the Seybold 1922 and was admitted to practice law in Building. She married Florida on June 8, 1922. Of the 21 people Mr. D. L. Bryd. in her class at Stetson, four others, Marie Sources: FSCM&BAA; (Nell) Cooper, Edith M. Atkinson, and SUCLAL&R (photo); Helen E. Martin Crabtree, were women. MALD (1929 & 1930); Ms. Bryd practiced law in Miami for sev- MBD.

Marie Eleanor “Nell” Cooper (1895 - 1978) Date of Admission: 1922

Marie Eleanor “Nell” Cooper of Miami M. Atkinson, and Helen Martin Crabtree attended Florida State College for Women in 1922. She was admitted to practice law for four years. Then, after attending Stetson in Florida on June 8, 1922. Ms. Cooper was University College of Law for two years, she an associate in the law firm of Shutts & graduated with Lelia Russell Bryd, Edith Bowen in Miami and practiced law in that

20 firm for many years. She was a member of died in 1978 at the age of 82. Ms. Crabtree Phi Delta Kappa, Kappa Delta; the Dade Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R County Bar Association; and the American (photo); B&B (1935); MALD (1929); MHLD has the Legion Auxiliary. She was born in 1895 and (1939 & 1945); MBD. distinction of being the first woman to practice law in Palm Beach Helen E. Martin Crabtree County. Date of Admission: 1922

Helen E. Martin Crabtree of West Palm Crabtree. She has the distinction of Beach graduated from Stetson University being the first woman to practice law College of Law in 1922 and was admitted in Palm Beach County. She died at to the bar on June 8, 1922, along with the age of 76 from lung cancer. her classmates Lelia Russell Bryd, Marie Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL& “Nell” Cooper, and Edith M. Atkinson. R (photo); undated letter from Tom Shortly thereafter she married Mr. S. Crabtree to Stetson. B. Crabtree and they had one son, Tom

Esther Miriam Finney Sumner (1901 - ) Date of Admission: 1923 Ms. Sumner was Esther Miriam Finney 1925 to 1940, and then a harpist for Sumner was born in Wil- served as a librarian in the Baltimore kes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the Dade County Law on January 17, 1901, the Library for many years. Symphony daughter of Dr. A. Gordon She was a member of the Orchestra for Finney, D.D.S., and Dr. Dade County Bar Asso- several years. Josephine H. Finney, M.D. ciation, Phi Delta Delta, She then studied She attended the Peabody and Sigma Phi Gamma, Conservatory of Music and is listed in Who’s Who law at the in Baltimore, Maryland, Among Women Lawyers University of and was a harpist for the (1939). She continued to Maryland and Baltimore Symphony Or- be listed as a member of later at Stetson chestra for several years. The Florida Bar in 1957. Ms. Sumner then stud- Ms. Sumner married University ied law at the University Reverend Harold Loy College of Law, of Maryland and later at Sumner on November 26, f rom which she Stetson University Col- 1947. She was a Democrat graduated in lege of Law, from which she grad- and Protestant by faith. uated in 1923. She was admitted Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL& 1923. to practice law by the Florida R (photo); B&B (1935) (photo); Supreme Court on May 28, 1923. MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD Ms. Sumner was an associate (1939, 1945 & 1949); DWL&J; with Price, Price & Hancock in Florida Bar Journal (Supp. July Miami. She practiced law in Miami from 1957); MBD.

21 Abigail Elizabeth Lapham Gibbons (1902 - 1951) Date of Admission: 1923

Abigail (Abbie) Elizabeth on December 11, 1923. Mr. Gibbons, who Lapham Gibbons was born studied business and business law at on July 9, 1902. She was the Stetson, achieved prominence in the citrus daughter of Arthur and Viva industry. He was also involved in other Lapham, pioneers in Cocoa, ventures, including a mail-order business Florida. She distinguished selling tropical jellies and preserves. herself academically, graduat- The couple had three children, Nan- ing from Cocoa High School in nette (Mrs. Robert) Chumbley, Patricia 1920 as the valedictorian of her (Mrs. Charles) Reed, and Douglas Gibbons, class, and later joining Phi Beta Jr. Kappa at Stetson University. Abbie Gibbons maintained an active She graduated from Stetson intellectual life, was keenly interested in University College of Law in education and writing, and started book 1923 and was admitted to prac- clubs to share her love of literature. She is tice by the Florida Supreme remembered as an example of brilliance, Court on July 27, 1923. compassion and humor. Ms. Gibbons is Ms. Gibbons clerked brief- survived by her two daughters and several ly for a county judge in Titusville, Brevard grandchildren. Abbie Gibbons County, following her graduation. Her Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R maintained an greatest satisfaction, however, came in (photo); W.T. Cash, The Story of Florida active intellectual the role of partner and helpmate to her 201-02 (1938); conversations with Nan- life, was keenly husband, Douglas Jerrold Gibbons, whom nette Chumbley; correspondence from she met at Stetson. They were married Patricia Reed. interested in education and writing, and started book clubs to share her love of Florence M. Hazard Mims literature. She Date of Admission: 1924 is remembered as an example of brilliance, Florence M. Hazard Mims graduated from Stetson compassion and University College of Law in 1924 and was admitted to humor. practice law by the Florida Supreme Court on March 28, 1924. She practiced in Tampa. The Southern Re- porter shows her representing criminal defendants in two cases in 1928 and 1938. Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); B&B (1935); MALD (1929 & 1930); Cross v. State, 119 So. 380 (Fla. 1928); Benjamin v. State, 187 So. 901 (Fla. 1938).

22 Stella M. Biddle Fisher (1891 - ) Date of Admission: 1924

Stella M. Biddle Fisher was born in session of 1919, and assistant secre- 1891 in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. She tary to the secretary of the Senate in was an applicant to the University of the extra session, June 6, 1925. After Florida College of Law, but at the time being admitted to the bar, she prac- she applied, women were not permit- ticed law in Gainesville beginning ted by law to enroll at the college of in 1928. Ms. Fisher was active in the law. Consequently, she was one of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Associa- petitioners who advocated a change in tion as secretary and treasurer from the law regarding women entering the 1928 until at least 1935, and was a University of Florida, and that law was member of the Florida State Bar and changed in 1925 so as to permit women to American Bar Associations. She was sec- enroll. Even without graduating from law retary of the University of Florida College Ms. Fisher school, Ms. Biddle was admitted to prac- of Law Alumni Association. Ms. Fisher, was one of the tice law on April 26, 1924, after passing who was married, was also a member of petitioners who the bar examination given by the Florida the Order of the Eastern Star. Supreme Court. Sources: FSCM&BAA; UFCLAL&R; advocated a Ms. Fisher was recording secretary of B&B (1935) (photo); MALD (1930); Allen change in the the Florida State Senate in the regular Morris, Florida Handbook. law regarding women entering the University of Florida, and that law was Emily S. Williams Ziegler changed in 1925 ( - 1961) Date of Admission: 1924

Emily S. Williams Ziegler was born in Her obituary stated she was a “re- Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. She graduated tired attorney.” She was survived by from Stetson University College of Law her husband, Morris W. Ziegler, of De- in 1924 and was admitted to practice law Land; a son, Morris W. Ziegler, Jr., of by the Florida Supreme Court on May 24, Tamaqua, Pennsylvania; a daughter, 1924. Mary Catherine Cates, of Pottsboro, At the time of her death on or about Texas; and grandchildren. November 5, 1961, Ms. Ziegler had been Sources: FSCM&BAA; SUCLAL& a resident of DeLand for 39 years and was R (photo); DeLand Sun News, Nov. 6, a member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church. 1961.

Joanna Hamilton Vermilye (1886 ‑ ) Date of Admission: 1924

Joanna Hamilton Vermilye was born attended Chicago Kent College of Law and in Ironton, Ohio, on August 15, 1886, to was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1915. She Thomas and Adelaide Cooke Hamilton. She practiced law in Chicago for five years. 23 Ms. Vermilye was admitted Second Edition indicate that to practice law in Florida on she practiced in West Palm October 29, 1924. The Martin- Beach from 1926 until at least dale‑Hubbell Law Dictionary 1952, handling primarily prop- (1940) indicates that Ms. Ver- erty law cases. milye attended the University Ms. Vermilye was a member Women were not of Florida at some point. Be- of the Palm Beach County and allowed officially cause women were not allowed Florida State Bar Associations to officially enroll at University and the Women’s League for to enroll at of Florida College of Law until Better Government, for which University of 1925, and because Ms. Vermi- she served as correspondence Florida College lye was a licensed attorney in secretary. She was Presbyte- of Law until Illinois, one may reasonably assume that rian and a Democrat. She was listed as she attended classes at the law school to “Mrs. Joanna Vermilye” in 1924 when she 1925 .... assist her in taking the bar examination passed the bar examination and as “Mrs. at the Florida Supreme Court. George W. Krick” in Who’s Who Among Ms. Vermilye practiced law in Miami Women Lawyers (1939). for one year and then began practicing in Sources: FSCM&BAA; B&B (1935) West Palm Beach in 1925. Cases in the (photo); MALD & MHLD (1929‑40, 1945 Southern Reporter and Southern Reporter & 1949).

According to the Bernice J. Ayer Florida Supreme (1905 - ) Court minutes, Date of Admission: 1925 Bernice J. Ayer Bernice J. Ayer was born in 1905. She or graduate. According to the Florida and several attended George Washington University Supreme Court minutes, Bernice J. Ayer other attorneys, in Washington, D.C., and studied law at and several other attorneys, including including the University of Florida and Cumber- Rubye Chalk, from Lebanon, Tennessee, Rubye Chalk, land University in Lebanon, Tennessee, took the bar examination administered from which she received her LL.B. The by the newly created State Board of Law f rom Lebanon, University of Florida College of Law, Examiners and were admitted to practice Tennessee, while allowing women to monitor classes, law in Florida on May 5, 1925. In 1939 Ms. took the bar did not allow women to officially enroll as Ayer was a partner in the firm Koegler & examination law students until 1925. Consequently, Ayer with William F. Koegler, and their while Ms. Ayer might have studied at offices were in the Olympia Building in administered Florida, at the time she attended classes Miami. by the newly she probably could not officially enroll Sources: FSCM&BAA; MHLD (1939). created State Board of Law Examiners and were admitted to practice law in Rubye B. West Florida on May 5, 1925. Chalk Godwin (1899 - ) Date of Admission: 1925

Rubye B. West Chalk Godwin was born Virginia Adams West. on August 25, 1899, in Pelham, Georgia. In 1925 she and several other attor- Her parents were James Thomas West and neys from Lebanon, Tennessee, including

24 Bernice Ayer, took the bar examination When she completed her social security administered by the newly created State application on November 24, 1936, she Board of Law Examiners, and they were listed her name as “Rubye West Godwin,” admitted to practice law in Florida on May which suggests that she was married at 5, 1925. Lebanon is where Cumberland least twice. Her employer at that time University is located and Bernice Ayer was was Albany Loan and Finance Company a graduate of that school; therefore, one in Albany, Georgia. might reasonably assume that Ms. Chalk Sources: FSCM&BAA; social security also attended Cumberland. application.

Henriette E. Mednick Date of Admission: 1925 Henriette E. Mednick took the bar examination administered by the newly created State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law on May 5, 1925. At the time of her admission, she resided in Jacksonville. Source: FSCM&BAA. Mary J. Davey of Ohio was admitted to practice law in Florida on June Allie Richardson Barnes 10, 1925, based Date of Admission: 1925 on her status Allie Richardson Barnes graduated died a few years later. According to Justice as a practicing from Stetson University College of Law Richard W. Ervin, Ms. Barnes was married in 1925 and was admitted to practice law to Ben Barnes, a lawyer in Marianna or attorney in Ohio by the Florida Supreme Court on June 3, Chattahoochee. with five years of 1925. Ms. Barnes practiced law in Lake Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1929 & Wales. According to attorney C. B. Myers, 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); cor- experience. when he began practicing in Lake Wales respondence from C. B. Myers and Justice in 1948, Ms. Barnes was elderly and she Richard W. Ervin.

Mary J. Davey Date of Admission: 1925 Mary J. Davey of Ohio was admitted to practice law in Florida on June 10, 1925, based on her status as a practicing attorney in Ohio with five years of experience. Reviews of Martindale’s American Law Dictionary (1929 & 1930) and The Martindale-Hubbell Law Dictionary (1939) fail to reveal her as practicing in either Ohio or Florida. Sources: FSCM&BAA.

25 Beverly C. Cobb Date of Admission: 1925 Beverly C. Cobb of Clearwater took the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on December 5, 1925. Sources: FSCM&BAA.

Jean Gregory Cole Ms. Gore was Date of Admission: 1925 a member of Jean Gregory Cole of St. Petersburg took the bar examination administered by the the National State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on Decem- Association of ber 5, 1925. Women Lawyers Source: FSCM. and served as the Florida delegate on its council of delegates Dorothy Dorman f rom 1947 to Date of Admission: 1925 1949. She was Dorothy Dorman of Winter Haven took the bar examination administered by the also a member State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on Decem- of the Florida ber 5, 1925. Sources: FSCM&BAA. Association of Women Lawyers, Professional Women’s Club, Clara C. Cain Gore (1895 - ) and Kappa Date of Admission: 1925 Beta Pi International Clara C. Cain Gore was born in Alexan- for many years with her husband, Dick Legal Sorority, der City, Alabama, on January 16, 1895. “Dixie” F. Gore, in the law firm Gore Her parents were James W. and Mary & Gore. From 1938 to 1946, she was a and she chaired Duncan Cain. She received her LL.B. member of the legal staff of the Railroad the Women’s from George Washington University in the Retirement Board in Washington, D.C. Forum, Miami District of Columbia and was president of Ms. Gore was a member of the National Chamber of the law school senate during her senior Association of Women Lawyers and served year. Ms. Gore was admitted to practice as the Florida delegate on its council of Commerce. in the District of Columbia in 1923. She delegates from 1947 to 1949. She was was admitted to the Alabama bar in also a member of the Florida Association 1924. She then took the bar examination of Women Lawyers, Professional Women’s administered by the State Board of Law Club, and Kappa Beta Pi International Le- Examiners and was admitted to practice gal Sorority, and she chaired the Women’s law in Florida on December 5, 1925. At Forum, Miami Chamber of Commerce. She the time of her admission, she resided was a Democrat. Her last known address in Miami. She was also admitted to the was Fairfax, Virginia. Oklahoma bar in 1931 and to the United Sources: FSCM&BAA; MALD (1930); States Supreme Court in 1937. DWL&J; 75NAWL; Social Security Death Ms. Gore practiced law in Dade County Index; MBD.

26 Maurine Sharp In The Digest (1901 - ) of Women Date of Admission: 1925 Lawyers & Judges (1949), Maurine Sharp was born in Williams- In The Digest of Women Lawyers & Ms. Sharp burg, Kentucky, on May 11, 1901. She was Judges (1949), Ms. Sharp was listed as an the daughter of Lucretia Sharp and J. N. attorney working for the Department of was listed as Sharp, a former United States District At- Revenue, Commonwealth of Kentucky, in an attorney torney for the Eastern District of Kentucky Frankfort, Kentucky. Thus, she followed in working for the and Commonwealth Attorney for the 34th her father’s footsteps by devoting herself Department Judicial District. She received her LL.B. to public service. from the University of Kentucky and was She was a member of the American of Revenue, admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1925. She Bar Association and Association of Public Commonwealth was admitted to practice law in Florida Administrators. She spoke French and of Kentucky, on December 5, 1925, and in Tennessee in enjoyed sailing. in Frankfort, 1929. Source: FSCM&BAA. Kentucky. Thus, she followed in her father’s footsteps by devoting herself Mattie W. Tompkins to public service. (1888 - ) Date of Admission: 1925

nance and utility committees. Some of the Mattie W. Tompkins was born on May decisions she was involved with include 11, 1888, in Arlington, Virginia, to Me- the purchase of land for an airport, the tellus W. and Mary Frances Louise Blaine establishment of a “serving room” where Tompkins. She was educated in the public local women could work for the schools of Virginia and attended Wash- Works Progress Administration, ington College of Law from 1921 to 1924, the adoption of the first garbage when she graduated with an LL.B. Ms. control ordinance, and the estab- Tompkins was admitted to the District of lishment of the first telephone Columbia bar on February 10, 1925. She system in the city. took the exam administered by the State She was a member of the Board of Law Examiners and was admit- Highlands County Bar Associa- ted to practice law in Florida on December tion; Business and Professional 5, 1925. Women’s Club, for which she Ms. Tompkins practiced in Avon Park, served as state chair of the legal Highlands County, Florida, as an associate committee and local president; with the firm S. C. Pardee and S. C. Pardee, and Kappa Beta Pi International Jr., and she maintained a general practice, Legal Sorority. She is listed in specializing in real estate and probate work. Who’s Who Among Women Law- Ms. Tompkins was elected to the Avon yers (1939). She was a Baptist Park City Council in September 1939 and a Democrat. and served the City of Avon Park until Sources: FSCM&BAA; B&B October 1947, when she lost the election (1935) (photo); MALD (1929 by five votes. During her tenure on the & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); city council, she served on the parks, fi- DWL&J; MBD.

27 Lydia Douglass (1887 - ) Date of Admission: 1926 Lydia Douglass of Miami passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 22, 1926. She maintained an office in the Seybold Building in Miami. Sources: FSCBAA; MALD (1929).

Anne Overman Gibbons Date of Admission: 1926 Anne Overman Gibbons of Fort Lauderdale passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 22, 1926. Source: FSCBAA.

Sue K. Hicks was a partner with John Penny in the law firm Sue K. Hicks Penny & Hicks, Date of Admission: 1926 with offices at Sue K. Hicks of Miami passed the bar examination administered by the State Board 60 West Flagler of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 22, 1926. She was a partner with John Penny in the law firm Penny & Hicks, with offices at 60 Street, Miami. West Flagler Street, Miami. Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939).

Winif red B. Judge Date of Admission: 1926 Winifred B. Judge of Miami passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 22, 1926. She practiced in Miami for several years, maintaining offices in the Meyer-Kiser Bank Building and at 10 Haleyon Avenue in Miami. She later moved to New York City. Sources: FSCBAA; MALD (1929 & 1930); MBD.

28 Effie Knowles (1892 - 1984) Date of Admission: 1926

Effie Knowles was born on March 26, million acres of land taken from them in 1892, in Key West, Florida, into an old Ba- the early 19th Century. They won the suit. hamian family. While working for a lawyer, The Indians received a settlement of more In 1955 Ms. she acquired enough legal knowledge to than $12.5 million and Ms. Knowles was Knowles and pass the bar examination administered awarded a $150,000 fee for her efforts. by the State Board of Law Examiners, Ms. Knowles’s life later took a tragic attorney Roy and she was admitted to practice law in turn. An October 11, 1983, article in the L. Struble began Florida on March 22, 1926. Miami Herald disclosed that Ms. Knowles a 21-year fight Ms. Knowles initially practiced in Miami, had been declared incompetent in 1980, on behalf of maintaining offices in the Seybold Building and it was eventually discovered that her and Bank of Bay Biscayne Building. In 1934 attorney and a friend had squandered her the Seminole she moved to Washington, D.C., to work for sizeable fortune. Sadly, Ms. Knowles died Indians, the Justice Department. She spent most of at North Shore Medical Center in Miami arguing that her legal career in the tax division. on September 20, 1984, at the age of 92, the government In 1953 she left government work, re- just prior to a scheduled review of her turned to Miami, and reentered private competency case. owed the Indian practice. In 1955 she and attorney Roy L. Sources: FSCBAA; MALD (1929 & tribe for 32 Struble began a 21-year fight on behalf 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); “‘Fight- million acres of of the Seminole Indians, arguing that the ing Lawyer’ Loses Fortune in Old Age,” land taken f rom government owed the Indian tribe for 32 MH, Oct. 11, 1983; MBD. them in the early 19th Century. They won the suit. Opal Plaisted Date of Admission: 1926 Opal Plaisted of Miami passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 22, 1926. Source: FSCBAA.

Herberta Ann Hathcock Leonardy (1893 - 1981) Date of Admission: 1926

Parliamentarian extraordinaire, dis- City, Florida, was one of four children born tinguished lawyer, dedicated teacher, and to Dr. W. C. and Janie Victoria Mobley world traveler: each accurately describes Hathcock. Dr. Herberta Ann Hathcock Leonardy. This She came from a family of physicians, multifaceted woman, born in Atlanta on and was admitted to a women’s medical November 27, 1893, and raised in Plant school in Philadelphia after completing

29 a Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B.) degree She and John Leonardy set up a thriv- at Stetson University in 1916. Her fam- ing law practice in Sanford, Leonardy & ily, however, thought that being a doctor Leonardy, which lasted about 15 years. was no job for a woman, and they refused During that time, she practiced both civil to send her. “My father and grandfather and criminal law -- dissolving marriages, were really rather advanced for their era. forming corporations, and specializing in But in those days it was hardly considered insanity law. In the late 1930s, Dr. Leonar- “My father and respectable for a woman to be a telephone dy was liaison officer for the Florida State grandfather operator, much less a doctor,” she Hospital in Chattahoochee, and were really explained in an interview with she was in charge of matters The Gainesville Sun. concerning restoration of rather advanced Dr. Leonardy managed to legal sanity, estates, and for their circumvent the family ob- old age assistance. era. But in jections by registering at Dr. Leonardy those days it Stetson University College found the practice of law of Law without her father’s exciting and enjoyed the was hardly knowledge. “My father courtesies she was ex- considered sent me to do graduate tended by all of the judg- respectable for work, and I decided to es and lawyers. Yet to a a woman to study law. He had no idea reporter of The Gainesville what I was up to until he Sun, she commented on one be a telephone received the bill, and then of the universal complaints operator, much it was too late to do anything facing most lawyers: “The less a doctor....” about it,” she recalled with a hint trouble with practicing law is that of mischief gleaming in her eye. After you never have time to sit down and the first year of law school, however, she relax. If you win a case today, you may very had to drop out for several years to earn well lose one tomorrow. You never can have the money to complete her education. She that feeling that you and your client and married John Leonardy and taught first everyone is in perfect harmony.” through eighth graders in two country She and John Leonardy separated in schools, then returned to graduate from the mid-1930s, but they remained friendly Stetson College of Law with an LL.B. following their divorce. Their son, John in 1926. She was the only woman in her Leonardy, Jr., recalled that his father was “My father class. “I had an awfully good time,” she a politician and an elected representative sent me to do remembered. “My family was sure all that to the Florida State Legislature. He lost education would ruin my reputation, but much of his wealth in the 1929 stock mar- graduate work, it didn’t seem to hurt it at all.” ket crash. Neither Dr. Leonardy nor John and I decided Dr. Leonardy was admitted to practice Leonardy, Sr., remarried, and he was killed to study law. law in Florida on June 20, 1926, and to in an automobile accident in 1958 at the He had no idea the United States District Court the same age of 87. year. She vividly recalled the day in 1930 Dr. Leonardy and her son moved to Mi- what I was up to that she was admitted to the United States ami in 1939, where she worked one year until he received Supreme Court. “I had on the swanki- as a librarian at the University of Miami the bill, and then est coat dress I could find,” she told The School of Law and taught Parliamentary it was too late Gainesville Sun. “I thought I looked very Law in its evening division. She also taught elegant and conservative. However, the at Ponce de Leon Junior High and Coral to do anything marshall didn’t seem to agree at all. He Gables Senior High. “I’ve always had good about it.” instructed me to take off my hat (of course rapport with my students. I don’t know -- Herberta my hair was a mess), and I also had to why, we just share a special relationship,” Leonardy remove the orchid the state of Florida had she said in 1979. Her son John recalled, sent me. He also wanted me to take off my however, that his mother’s rapport with coat. I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t the school board was not as congenial. In have anything else on underneath it, so a dispute with the Dade County School at that he finally desisted. When I at last Board over salaries, Dr. Leonardy, who was appeared before those austere gentlemen, then the very determined president of the feeling terrifically impressed, I looked like Dade County Teachers’ Association, sued something the rats had dragged in!” the school board on behalf of the teachers

30 and won. The school board tried to get in some instances discrimination against Principal Harry Rath to fire her, but he women does exist, although I never ex- decided that she was too valuable to his perienced it personally, but I think ERA staff and resisted. would work hardships on women in the Her expertise in parliamentary law, lower brackets of society,” she said. “The trouble which began in law school and developed Despite all the success she attained with practicing during her years as a practicing attorney, in her career, she regarded her son as led her to national recognition. She was her life’s greatest accomplishment. John law is that you the president of the National Associa- George Leonardy, Jr., became a doctor and never have time tion of Parliamentarians, founder of the practices internal and allergy medicine in to sit down Florida Association of Parliamentarians, Atlanta, Georgia. and relax. If and president of the Florida Registered Dr. Leonardy was an enthusiastic trav- Parliamentarians. A firm believer in par- eler who visited almost every country in you win a case liamentary law, she wrote two successful the world. She spent six summers doing today, you may books, Leonardy’s Parliamentary Law graduate work at the National University very well lose Chart and Elementary Course in Parlia- of Colombia, South America, from 1947 to one tomorrow. mentary Procedures, and countless articles. 1952. Two years before her death, at age Dr. Leonardy taught practically every 85, she made an exhausting but fascinat- You never registered parliamentarian in the state, ing trip to China. When examining her can have that and trained hundreds of local civic lead- personal belongings after her death, her feeling that you ers and club members in parliamentary son found six airline tickets for pending and your client procedure. She served as parliamentarian trips around the globe. for 15 national organizations. “It’s the most Dr. Leonardy was a member of the and everyone useful thing,” she said. “If you’re going to Florida State Bar and Seminole County is in perfect run a good meeting, at least a fundamental Bar Associations, as well as the National harmony.” knowledge of parliamentary law is very Association of Women Lawyers and the important. If the presiding officer follows Dade County Association of Women correct procedure, the meeting will be Lawyers. She was also a member of the eminently fair and impartial.” Dade County Federation of Women’s Throughout her distinguished career, Clubs, American Association of University Dr. Leonardy was in constant competition Women, Daughters of the American Revo- with men, yet she never felt discriminated lution (state regent, honorary state regent, against because of her sex. “To tell you parliamentarian), League of Women Vot- Her son felt the truth, I really don’t think that I en- ers (state president), Cocoplum Women’s she always countered any major roadblocks at all. Of Club, Florida Education Association (state course, men have always been competitive retirement chairperson), Phi Delta Delta moved toward with me, but never obstructive. In fact, International Legal Fraternity, Delta her goals, no they all seemed glad to have me – I never Kappa Gamma, Dade County Classroom matter how much heard any complaints at all,” she said in Teachers’ Association (president), and resistance she an interview two years before her death. Beta Sigma Phi Honorary Society. She was Her son commented that she was a member of the First Methodist Church encountered. a woman ahead of her time. He could of Coral Gables and was a Democrat. “She was a only speculate what she might have ac- Dr. Leonardy was the recipient of the very determined complished had she lived today and not medal as the Most Outstanding Citizen woman,” he said had to compete so vigorously in a world of Seminole County by the Federation of so markedly controlled by men. Yet, he Women’s Clubs and was named one of the proudly. “If felt she always moved toward her goals, ten outstanding women in Dade County she couldn’t go no matter how much resistance she en- by Theta Sigma Phi. She is listed in Who’s against them, she countered. “She was a very determined Who Among Women Lawyers (1939) and went around, but woman,” he said proudly. “If she couldn’t go Florida Who’s Who (1953-54). against them, she went around, but never Herberta Ann Hathcock Leonardy died never retreated.” retreated.” in her sleep of natural causes on June 3-4, Dr. Leonardy did not consider herself 1981, at the age of 87 while visiting her son a feminist, and felt that the Equal Rights in Atlanta. “I’ve had an adventuresome sort Amendment (ERA) was unnecessary be- of life, and a pleasant one. On the whole I cause women already had enough protec- can’t complain, and if I had it all to do over, tion under existing laws. “I’m sure that I believe I’d live it much the same.”

31 Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); For Women in Law,” The Gainesville Sun, “ [I]f I had it MALD (1930); DWL&J; Joey Conner Mc- Apr. 15, 1979; conversation with Dr. John all to do over, I Cormick, “Dr. Leonardy Has Blazed Trails G. Leonardy, Jr.; MBD. believe I’d live it much the same.”

--Herberta Leonardy Gertrude Leonore O’Kell Woods Date of Admission: 1926

Gertrude Leonore O’Kell Woods for George M. O’Kell, who was born in graduated from Stetson University 1874 and admitted in 1916. Whether this College of Law in 1926 and was admit- was a spouse or relative is unknown. ted to practice law under the diploma Stetson records show that she married privilege on June 20, 1926. She is listed Tom Woods. in Martindale’s American Law Diction- Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (pho- ary (1929) in Miami under the listing to).

Rose Shakewitz Date of Admission: 1926 Rose Shakewitz of Fort Lauderdale passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on July 26, 1926. Source: FSCBAA.

Pauline G. Wallace Date of Admission: 1926 Ms. Borros was Pauline G. Wallace of Miami passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on July 26, a remarkable 1926. woman. She Source: FSCBAA. attended law school classes at night, because she supported her Marian Borros divorced mother (circa 1891 - 1988) by working Date of Admission: 1926 during the day. Marian Borros was born in Pagoda, New istered by the State Board of Law Examin- Jersey, around 1891. She graduated from ers at Leon High School in Tallahassee in Fordham Law School in New York. Ms. 1926, and was admitted to practice law in Borros passed the bar examination admin- Florida on November 15, 1926.

32 Ms. Borros started her practice in Day- she represented clients “not for just the tona Beach with referrals from a bank for money.” She also clerked for Judge Par- probate, trust and estate cases. kinson in Daytona Beach. According to her cousin and heir, Ann Her cousin reported that Ms. Borros Henglein, who lives in Ms. Borros’ home loved sports, especially snow skiing. She at 693 Buena Vista in Ormond Beach, Ms. died in her own home, financially secure, Borros was a remarkable woman. She on April 29, 1988, at the approximate age attended law school classes at night, be- of 97. She was “lots of fun.” cause she supported her divorced mother Sources: FSCBAA; conversation with by working during the day. In practice, Ann Henglein. Ms. Lindsley commented that being a liberal Northern Democrat Arax M. Gulizian made working Date of Admission: 1926 in the attorney Arax M. Gulizian of Orlando passed the bar examination administered by the State general’s office Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on November in a conservative 15, 1926. Southern Source: FSCBAA. environment an interesting experience. Anna Bray Lindsley (1895 - 1968) Date of Admission: 1926

Anna Bray Lindsley was born on Janu- Her son, Philip Lindsley, recalls that she ary 29, 1895, in New York City. She was commented that being a liberal Northern one of four children of Philip Edward Democrat made working in the attorney and Margaret Bray. She was of Irish general’s office in a conservative Southern background and the first in her family to environment an interesting experience. receive a college degree. After being admit- In St. Petersburg, she met Howard ted to the Florida Bar, Lindsley and they married on May 15, Ms. Lindsley obtained 1929. Their first son, Howard, was born her LL.B. from Wash- in 1931. Her husband died in November ington College of Law, 1932, however, just weeks before the birth American University, of their second son, Philip. She never re- in 1930. Thereafter, she married. worked as a junior at- Ms. Lindsley was admitted to practice torney with the Farm law in Florida on November 15, 1926, after Credit Administration passing the bar examination administered (1932-37); as an assis- by the State Board of Law Examiners, and tant attorney with the was admitted to the U.S. District Courts Interstate Commerce in 1927. She probably obtained her legal Commission, where she education from clerking experience and drafted law; and then reading of the law. Prior to being admitted as an attorney and edi- to the bar, she was a stenographer, secre- tor until her retirement tary and law clerk with the U.S. Shipping from government service Board Emergency Fleet Corporation from in 1953. According to her 1917 until 1925. Then she served as a son’s recollections, her secretary and legal clerk to Florida’s at- employment there was torney general from 1925 through 1929. stressful, partially due

33 to a very tough female boss! He also recalls with whom his mother associated. After her being astonished that he would begin leaving Mr. Battisti’s law office, Ms. Lind- his government service at the same pay sley practiced out of her home. grade at which she had retired, a G-7. Other organizations in which Ms. Lind- During the Washington years, she sley held membership were Florida Asso- joined the National League of American ciation of Women Lawyers and American Pen Women. She was proud to belong to Federation of Senior Citizens. She also this organization, which promotes develop- contributed to government publications ment of the creative talents of professional and is listed in Who’s Who in American women in the arts. In addition, she was a Women (4th ed. 1966-67). Gray Lady A.R.C. from 1950 to 1953. Philip Lindsley recalls that his mother Following her retirement from the was very proud of being an attorney, en- Philip Lindsley federal government, Ms. Lindsley moved joyed being around attorneys, and loved recalls that his to Coral Gables where she worked until the law. According to him, she was a 1958 with attorney Charles Battisti. pioneer in her time, though she probably mother was very Mr. Battisti has pleasant recollections didn’t think much about it. She was an proud of being of Ms. Lindsley. He remembers that she independent woman, widowed with two an attorney, was about 5’8” tall and had a straight very young sons, and working out of the enjoyed walk, almost military in style. She was a home in a full-time professional position. straightforward, wonderful person. Ms. Anna Bray Lindsley died on October 7, being around Lindsley practiced probate and divorce 1968, at the age of 73 and was buried with attorneys, and law, carrying her own case load of clients. her husband in the Arlington National loved the law. According to Mr. Battisti, there were about Cemetery. According to 25 lawyers in the Coral Gables bar at that Sources: FSCBAA; Social Security time and they all knew each other. Philip Death Index; MH (obituary); correspon- him, she was a Lindsley distinctly remembers the names dence and conversations with Philip Lind- pioneer in her of Anna Brenner Meyers (1936) and Dixie sley (photo); conversation with Charles time, though she Chastain (1930) as other women attorneys Battisti; MBD. probably didn’t think much about it. She was an independent woman, widowed Vivian Selter with two very (1895 - ) young sons, Date of Admission: 1926. and working out of the home Vivian Selter was born in Chicago, in a full-time Petersburg and began practicing there Illinois, on April 15, 1895, to Albert beginning in 1927, specializing in professional E. and Alice J. Mitchell Selter. She probate, titles, chancery, and tax. position. graduated from high school in She served as an attorney for Downers Grove, Illinois, in 1912, the Times Publishing Com- and received her B.S. from John pany, and is listed in Who’s B. Stetson University in 1916, Who Among Women Lawyers her M.A. from Stetson in 1918, (1939). and her LL.B. in 1926 from La Ms. Selter was a member of Salle Extension University. She the Florida State Bar and St. passed the bar examination ad- Petersburg Bar Associations, ministered by the State Board of Pilot Club, and West Coast Bird Law Examiners and was admitted Club. She was a Christian Scien- to practice law in Florida on Novem- tist and a Republican. ber 15, 1926. At the time of her admission, Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); she resided in DeLand. MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 Ms. Selter established an office in St. & 1949).

34 Madeline A. Jacobson Cox ( - 1990) Ms. Cox was Date of Admission: 1927 Tallahassee’s second woman Madeline A. Jacobson her, as did Dan D’Alemberte, father of lawyer; Cox was born in Brook- Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, Florida State Anna Bray lyn, New York, to Isaac University President. W. Jacobson, who was On December 22, 1936, she married Lindsley (1926) an attorney, and Ernes- Herbert F. Cox, who was a justice of the nominated her tine Aschner Jacobson. peace. This was the first marriage in the for admission. She received her LL.B. Florida Supreme Court and was performed Ms. Lindsley degree from Brooklyn by Chief Justice J. B. Whitfield. Law School, St. Law- Ms. Cox served in the United States was, in fact, rence University, and Navy as a Yeoman 1st Class during World secretary to the was admitted to prac- War I and was honorably discharged. She attorney general tice law in New York in 1920. Initially, she was prominent in army and navy relief at the time, so practiced in Brooklyn. She was admitted to work. practice law in Florida on March 19, 1927, She was a member of the Orange Ms. Cox was and practiced in Tallahassee. County Bar Association in New York; the only woman The April 11, 1927, edition of the Tal- New York State Bar, Florida State Bar, practicing law lahassee Daily Democrat indicated that and Tallahassee Bar Associations; Order in Tallahassee Ms. Cox was Tallahassee’s second woman of the Eastern Star; and American Legion lawyer; Anna Bray Lindsley (1926) nomi- in Tallahassee. then. nated her for admission. Ms. Lindsley was, Ms. Cox is listed in The Digest of Women in fact, secretary to the attorney general at Lawyers & Judges (1949) as having a the time, so Ms. Cox was the only woman Montgomery, New York, address. She died practicing law in Tallahassee then. Dur- on June 27, 1990. Her last known resi- ing 1927 Ms. Cox wrote a column for the dence was in Westchester, Connecticut. Tallahassee Daily Democrat entitled “In Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); and Around Tallahassee.” In 1932 she MALD (1929 & 1930); “In and Around On December authored “Law of Interest to Women.” Town,” Tallahassee Daily Democrat, Apr. 22, 1936, she Ms. Cox taught a law course in the eve- 27, 1927 & May 14, 1927; Florida Supreme married Herbert nings for those who wanted to “read the Court historical journal excerpts; MBD; law.” Grace Williams Burwell (1935) and Social Security Death Index; e-mail from F. Cox, who Rose Deeb Kitchen (1937) studied under Lauren Jorgensen and Deeno Kitchen. was a justice of the peace. This was the first marriage in the Florida Supreme Court and was performed by Dorothy S. McDougall Chief Justice J. Date of Admission: 1927 B. Whitfield. Dorothy S. McDougall of Brunswick, Georgia, passed the bar examination admin- istered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 22, 1927. Source: FSCBAA.

35 Anna A. Krivitsky (1893 - 1973) Date of Admission: 1927

Anna A. Krivitsky was vantaged, usually women. He recalled that born in Russia on August she later moved to St. Petersburg, where 16, 1893, to Ely and Alma she was very successful. Krivitsky. She graduated She was a member of the Tampa and from Northfield Seminary Florida State Bar Associations, as well as in Massachusetts, and then the Professional and Business Women’s Club. obtained a Bachelor of She was also a member of the Phi Delta Delta Philosophy degree and Legal Society, American Bar Association, J.D. from the University of International Federation of Women Lawyers, Chicago in 1922 and 1925, and National Association of Women Lawyers. respectively. She took the Ms. Krivitsky is listed in Who’s Who Among bar examination adminis- Women Lawyers (1939). tered by the State Board of Law Examin- In 1954 Ms. Krivitsky semi-retired to ers in 1927 and was admitted to practice Treasure Island in Pinellas County. She law in Florida on March 22, 1927. She was director of the Gulf Beaches Bar As- practiced law in Tampa from 1927 until sociation and the St. Petersburg Bar As- She created quite 1954, maintaining an office in the Stovall sociation, as well as the Ladies Auxiliary a stir in the legal Professional Building on Morgan Street. of the St. Petersburg Bar Association. community when The Hillsborough County Bar Associa- She was also a member of the Sunshine she sought to tion’s centennial history book includes an Women’s Club in Treasure Island. account of Ms. Krivitsky when she rep- Ms. Krivitsky was married to Howard E. establish during resented Walter Whitehead, a “confessed Joseph. She was Jewish and a Democrat. the trial that the daylight burglar,” in a trial before Crimi- She died in Treasure Island on June 6, sheriff had given nal Court Judge W. Raleigh Pettaway in 1973. narcotics to the November 1927. She created quite a stir in Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); the legal community when she sought to MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939); defendant in an establish during the trial that the sheriff DWL&J; St. Petersburg Times, June 8, attempt to obtain had given narcotics to the defendant in an 1973, at 15-B; Hillsborough County Bar his confession. attempt to obtain his confession. Association centennial history book; cor- According to attorney Edward Cutler of respondence from Raymond T. Elligett, Jr.; Tampa, most of Ms. Krivitsky’s cases were e-mail from attorney Edward Cutler. family law and cases involving the disad-

Ella Jo Stollberg (1903 - 1967) Date of Admission: 1927

Ella Jo Stollberg was born in Florida on March 22, 1927. 1903 in Atlanta, Georgia. She She maintained a general practice in received her LL.B. degree from Hollywood and Miami Beach for many Atlanta Law School and was years. Cases in Southern Reporter and admitted to the Georgia bar in Southern Reporter Second Edition show 1923. She passed the examina- that she was active in the practice of law tion administered by the State until 1966, primarily in property, zoning, Board of Law Examiners and and wills and trusts. was admitted to practice in Ms. Stollberg was a member of the Na-

36 tional Business and Professional Women’s in Florida Women of Distinction (1956). Club and Broward County Bar Associa- Ms. Stollberg was married to Raymond tion. She headed the Fiesta Tropicale in A. Wilcox. She died in February 1967. Hollywood, which was created as an an- nual tourist celebration. Ms. Stollberg Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); served as vice president of the Hollywood MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939); 1 Chamber of Commerce and was on the Eloise N. Cozens, Florida Women of Dis- board of directors of the Children’s Home tinction (1956); Florida Bar Journal, Vol. Society of Broward County. She is included 41, p. 255; MBD.

Zephyr Lillian Thorpe Date of Admission: 1927 Zephyr Lillian Thorpe was admitted to practice law in Florida on June 13, 1927, under the diploma privilege after graduating from Stetson University College of Law. Other women in her law school class included Laurine L. Goffin, Mary V. Wakefield Houston, Mary Anne Leddy, Lenea Stromberg Adlehelm, and Charlotte F. Vogler. With only 26 graduates that year, the six women represented 23 percent of the class. Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo).

Susan E. Ervin Ms. Goffin (1897 - ) served as state Date of Admission: 1927 vice-president Susan E. Ervin of St. Petersburg passed the bar examination administered by the in the National State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on July 26, 1927. She was an associate in the St. Petersburg law firm of Spear, Viney, Skelton Association of & Pearce. The law firm had a general civil practice in all courts and specialized in Women Lawyers real estate, land title, and probate matters. It represented Alexander National Bank in 1930-33. in liquidation and was the approved counsel for New York Title & Mortgage Co. Sources: FSCBAA; MALD (1929 & 1930).

Laurine Lenore Goffin ( - 1948) Date of Admission: 1927

Laurine Lenore Goffin was the daugh- of Law Examiners on July 26, 1927. ter of Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Goffin, who owned She practiced in Jacksonville until a packing company in Jacksonville. She her sudden death in 1948. Ms. Gof- graduated from Stetson University Col- fin served as state vice-president in lege of Law in 1927 with classmates the National Association of Women Mary V. Wakefield Houston, Mary Anne Lawyers in 1930-33. Leddy, Lenea Stromberg Adlehelm, Zephyr Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R Thorpe, and Charlotte F. Vogler, and was (photo); MALD (1930); 75NAWL; let- admitted to practice law under the di- ter dated July 31, 1948, from Mr. & ploma privilege through the State Board Mrs. Goffin to Stetson University.

37 Mary J. Wakefield Houston Date of Admission: 1927 Mary J. Wakefield Houston of DeLand graduated from Stetson University College of Law in June 1927 and was admitted to practice law in Florida under the diploma privilege through the State Board of Law Examiners on July 26, 1927. She and the five other women in her law school class, Laurine Goffin, Mary Anne Leddy, Lenea Stromberg Adlehelm, Zephyr Thorpe, and Charlotte Vogler, comprised 23 percent of the graduating class. Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo).

Mary Anne Leddy (1883 - 1964) Date of Admission: 1927

Mary Anne Leddy was born in 1883 V. Wakefield Houston, Lenea Stromberg in New York City and was the daughter Adlehelm, Zephyr Thorpe, and Charlotte of Michael and Ellen (Donovan) Leddy. F. Vogler, and was admitted under the di- Prior to 1914, she performed stenogra- ploma privilege through the State Board phy and secretarial work, was an office of Law Examiners on July 26, 1927. manager, and was an advertising Ms. Leddy maintained a private prac- manager at the Sheldon School in tice in Miami for many years, with offices Chicago. She moved from Chicago in the Bank of Bay Biscayne Building and to Miami in 1914 and worked as the Meyer-Kiser Bank Building. According an office manager in a Miami law to Dr. Mary Howarth-Jacobs, the daughter office until 1924. She graduated of Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt (1908), from Stetson University College Ms. Leddy and her mother were good of Law in June 1927 with class- friends. mates Laurine L. Goffin, Mary Ms. Leddy was a member of the Florida State Bar Association, Phi Delta Delta, and Alpha Xi Delta. She was a registered Democrat and a Catho- lic. She was listed in Who’s Who in American Women (1958-59). Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R; MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); MH, Apr. 8, 1964 (photo); conversation with Dr. Mary Howarth-Jacobs.

(L-R): Mary Anne Leddy, Mattie Belle Da- vis (1936), Daisy Richards Bisz (1937), and Henry K. Gibson. April 8, 1938.

38 Charlotte Inez Farrington Vogler (1907 - 1990) Ms. Vogler Date of Admission: 1927 was a charter The daughter of Charles E. Farrington her children and assist her husband in member of and Inez Penn Farrington, Charlotte Inez his medical practice in lieu of an active the National Farrington Vogler was born on February law practice of her own. She also became Organization 9, 1907, in Clayton, New Mexico, as one of involved in community service. She was for Women four children. Her mother a signatory of the public was educated as a teacher library charter and its first (N.O.W.) and, but never worked outside volunteer librarian. She as she was in her the home. Her father was was a charter member of 60s, she became an aspiring lawyer, and the League of Women Vot- known as the when he heard there was ers of South Palm Beach going to be a boom in Flor- County, serving on its board “Grandmother” ida, he moved the family for many years and as presi- of N.O.W. in to Fort Lauderdale in the dent for one term. She was a Palm Beach fall of 1913 and set up his charter member of the First County. She practice there. Ms. Vogler Presbyterian Church of graduated from high school Delray Beach and chaired was among the in 1921 at the age of 14. She the board of the Church 100,000 who received her A.B. degree of the Palms when it was marched in from Stetson University in organized. Ms. Vogler was Washington, 1924 and her law degree also a staunch supporter from Stetson College of Law of the Civil Rights Move- D.C., in 1976 in 1927, along with classmates Laurine ment in the 1960s and in support of the L. Goffin, Mary V. Wakefield Houston, served on the Palm Beach passage of the Mary Anne Leddy, Lenea Stromberg County Community Action Equal Rights Adlehelm, and Zephyr Thorpe. She Council, President Lyndon was admitted to practice law in Florida Johnson’s Anti-Poverty Amendment. under the diploma privilege on July 26, Program. She was involved She was quoted 1927. Her two brothers, Otis and Cecil in causes ranging from as saying, “God Farrington, also became lawyers. Head Start to programs in His infinite Ms. Vogler worked alongside her father for migrant children in the 1960s and for a few years and then taught American 1970s. wisdom gave the History at Fort Lauderdale Central High Ms. Vogler was a charter member of female as much School. the National Organization for Women brains as the On September 17, 1933, Charlotte Inez (N.O.W.) and, as she was in her 60s, she male. There’s Farrington wed Charles William Vogler became known as the “Grandmother” from Frankfort, Kentucky. The couple of N.O.W. in Palm Beach County. She no way you can moved to Kansas City, Missouri, so that Mr. was among the 100,000 who marched in keep the women Vogler could finish his degree in osteopathy. Washington, D.C., in 1976 in support of the of the world Ms. Vogler worked in a law office there to passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. down now!” help her husband through medical school. Ms. Vogler made passage of the Women’s Although the country was in a deep depres- Rights Amendment in Florida her top sion, Ms. Vogler often spoke of the “happy priority and lobbied in Tallahassee for times” they spent during that period. The many years for its passage. Ms. Vogler couple had two sons, Lewis Dickson Vogler was quoted as saying, “God in His infinite and Jerrell Watson Vogler. wisdom gave the female as much brains Dr. Vogler opened his practice in Delray as the male. There’s no way you can keep Beach in 1937. Ms. Vogler chose to raise the women of the world down now!”

39 Ms. Vogler was always thinking ahead sues until the time of her death. for the good of the community, state and Tragically, Charlotte Inez Farrington country. She thoroughly researched each Vogler died on September 27, 1990, at the politician running for office and voiced age of 83 as the result of a house fire that her opinions on the candidates’ qualifica- totally destroyed her home. tions. People considered her an expert on Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); political issues and called her for advice MBD; conversations with Cecil Farrington on “who or what to vote for.” Her opinions and niece Lisa Vogler (photo). were frequently sought on a variety of is-

Mollie M. Parker Date of Admission: 1927 Mollie M. Parker passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners and was admitted to practice law in Florida on October 27, 1927. From 1927 Source: FSCBAA. to 1930, Ms. Esarey was an associate with Winters, Foskett & Wilcox in Mary Logan Esarey West Palm (1898 - 1980) Beach, which Date of Admission: 1927 specialized in real estate, Mary Logan Esarey did no trial work. Ms. probate and was born in Tobinsport, Esarey was a recognized Indiana, on April 15, advocate for the Equal corporate 1898, to Logan and Lau- Rights Amendment. matters. She then ra Pearson Esarey. She Her memberships in- became a sole received her B.A. in 1919 cluded the Florida State practitioner with and her LL.B. in 1924 Bar, Palm Beach County from Indiana University Bar, and American Bar an office in Bloomington, Indiana. Associations; National ... in West Palm She was a member of Association of Women Beach. the Order of the Coif. Lawyers; American Judi- She was admitted to the cature Society; Business Indiana bar in 1924, and and Professional Women’s practiced in Blooming- Club of West Palm Beach; ton and Indianapolis, Order of the Eastern Star; Indiana, from 1924 to National Federal Busi- 1925. ness and Professional Ms. Esarey was admitted to practice Women’s Clubs; and Alpha Omicron Pi. law in Florida on November 5, 1927. From She was listed in Who’s Who Among Women 1927 to 1930, she was an associate with Lawyers (1939). Winters, Foskett & Wilcox in West Palm Ms. Esarey resided in Lake Worth and Beach, which specialized in real estate, enjoyed yard work and gardening. She probate and corporate matters. She then was a Methodist and died on February 21, became a sole practitioner with an office 1980. at 505 Guaranty Building in West Palm Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); Beach. She maintained a general practice, MALD (1929 & 1930); MHLD (1939, 1945 specializing in chancery and probate, but & 1949); DWL&J.

40 Victoria Rountree (1902 - 1986) Date of Admission: 1927

Victoria Rountree was born on October 26, 1902. After passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners, Ms. Rountree was admitted to practice law in Florida on November 5, 1927. She practiced in Tampa, maintaining an office in the Wallace S. Building. She later moved to California. Ms. Rountree died in October 1986. Sources: FSCBAA; Tampa City Directory (1928); Social Security Death Index. Ms. Adlehelm and her five classmates, Laurine L. Goffin, Mary V. Wakefield Hilda M. Tilton Houston, Mary (1888 - 1972) Anne Leddy, Date of Admission: 1927 Zephyr Thorpe, and Charlotte Hilda Meadows Tilton, the daughter of in Athens, Clarke County, Georgia, right F. Vogler, Susie Colbert and David Meadows, was next to the county where she was born, on comprised born on October 17, 1888, in Danielsville, October 15, 1972, two days before her 84th 23 percent Madison County, Georgia. At the age of birthday. At the time of her death, she was 39, she was admitted to practice law in living with her relative Ada Tilton. of Stetson’s Florida on November 5, 1927, after passing Sources: FSCBAA; Social Security graduating the bar examination administered by the Death Index; Georgia Death Index. class in 1927. State Board of Law Examiners. She died Ms. Stromberg maintained a practice in West Palm Beach. She was a founding member Lenea I. Stromberg Adlehelm of the Florida (1905 - ) Association of Date of Admission: 1928 Women Lawyers on June 30, 1951. Lenea I. Stromberg Adlehelm graduat- Stromberg maintained a practice in West ed from Stetson University College of Law Palm Beach. She was a founding member in 1927 and was admitted to practice law of the Florida Association of Women Law- under the diploma privilege through the yers on June 30, 1951. Ms. Adlehelm later State Board of Law Examiners on January moved to Indian Lake, New York, where 21, 1928. She and her five classmates, Lau- she practiced law. rine L. Goffin, Mary V. Wakefield Houston, Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R; MALD Mary Anne Leddy, Zephyr Thorpe, and (1929 & 1930); MBD; e-mail from Sharon Charlotte F. Vogler, comprised 23 percent Christenbury. of Stetson’s graduating class in 1927. Ms.

41 Irena A. Lawrence Date of Admission: 1928 Irena A. Lawrence was admitted to practice law in Florida on March 24, 1928, after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. Source: FSCBAA.

Ruby Fleming Barney (1889 - 1970) Date of Admission: 1928

Ruby Fleming Barney was born on firm specialized in general practice, bank- Ms. Barney June 23, 1889, in Hickman, Kentucky. In ing, trusts, railroads, municipal securities, was an associate 1910 she received her A.B. degree from real estate, probate and corporation law. at Fleming, the University of Kentucky in Lexington, She was a member of the Florida State Hamilton, and she studied law at George Washington Bar and American Bar Associations, as University in Washington, D.C. She moved well as Phi Delta Delta. She was also a Diver and to Jacksonville in 1928 and was admit- member of Riverside Baptist Church. Jones, which ted to practice law in Florida on July 14, Ms. Barney died in Jacksonville on maintained 1928, after passing the bar examination February 11, 1970, at the age of 80. She an office in administered by the State Board of Law was survived by her husband, Walter V. Examiners. Barney, and two sons, John Barney and the Barnett Ms. Barney was an associate at Flem- Walter F. Barney. National Bank ing, Hamilton, Diver and Jones, which Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 Building in maintained an office in the Barnett Na- & 1949); Florida Bar Journal (1965); FTU, Jacksonville. tional Bank Building in Jacksonville. The Feb. 1970; MBD. The firm specialized in general practice, banking, trusts, railroads, Susie H. Smith Bell municipal (1884 - ) securities, real Date of Admission: 1928 estate, probate Susie H. Smith Bell was admitted to practice law in Florida on October 27, 1928, and corporation after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. law. Florida Supreme Court records show her as “Mrs. A. H. Bell,” and The Martindale- Hubbell Law Dictionary (1939) lists both A. H. Bell and Susie H. Bell as attorneys in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Source: FSCBAA. Sidney Sommerville Gober ( - 1990) Date of Admission: 1928 Sidney Sommerville Gober was born in was admitted to practice law in Florida on Oakland, Maryland. She received a law December 4, 1928, after passing the bar degree from Cumberland University and examination administered by the State

42 Board of Law Examiners. She moved to Livingston Chapter of the Daughters of Jacksonville in 1941. Ms. Gober worked the American Revolution and an active as an attorney in the trust department member in the Business and Professional of Atlantic National Bank (First Union Women’s Club of Jacksonville. Trust) and in the law firm of Lewis Paul Ms. Gober died on May 22, 1990, at the Isaac & Castillo, P.A. She was a member age of 82. She was preceded in death by of Florida State Bar Association, South her husband, William A. Gober. Carolina bar, and Georgia bar. Sources: FSCBAA; FTU, May 1990. She was a past regent of the Katherine

According to attorney Edward Cutler, Augusta he first met Ms. Hackney in 1929 when he arrived Beyer Colton in Tampa to Date of Admission: 1929 serve as assistant Augusta Beyer Colton graduated from Stetson University to Matthew H. College of Law in 1929 and was admitted to practice law in McCloskey, Florida under the diploma privilege on May 21, 1929. Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo). Jr., President of McCloskey and Company, a shipbuilding company. Ms. Hackney was assigned to be Mr. Cutler’s Mabel Claire Altman Hackney first secretary. (1903 - 1999) He described Date of Admission: 1929 her as quite knowledgeable Mabel Claire Altman Hackney was shipbuilding company. Ms. Hackney was about Florida born in 1903. She received her bachelor’s assigned to be Mr. Cutler’s first secretary. law, which he degree from Florida State College for He described her as quite knowledge- Women. It is unclear where or how Ms. able about Florida law, which he was was well versed Hackney obtained her legal education, well versed in as an attorney working in as an attorney but she was admitted to practice law in for the shipyard. In 1939 Ms. Hackney working for the Florida on October 21, 1929, after pass- maintained a law office in the Hinson shipyard. ing the bar examination administered Building in Tampa. by the State Board of Law Examiners. Mabel Claire Altman married James According to attorney Edward Cut- H. Hackney, a Tampa attorney. She died ler, he first met Ms. Hackney in 1929 in 1999. when he arrived in Tampa to serve as Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939 & assistant to Matthew H. McCloskey, Jr., 1945); e-mail from attorney Edward President of McCloskey and Company, a Cutler.

43 Bessie Ethel Sims Williams (1898 - ) Date of Admission: 1929

Bessie Ethel Sims Wil- Williams. She also served as an assistant liams was born in Palmetto, cashier for the Daytona Bank & Trust Florida, on May 17, 1898, Company. Ms. Williams is listed in Who’s to L. and Lola I. Sims. She Who Among Women Lawyers (1939) and attended Williams College The Digest of Women Lawyers & Judges in Williamstown, Mas- (1949), the latter of which indicates that sachusetts. After passing she was a housewife as well as an attor- the bar examination ad- ney. ministered by the State Ms. Williams was a member of the Board of Law Examiners, Sarasota County and Florida State Bar Ms. Williams was admitted Associations, Order of the Eastern Star, to practice law in Florida on and Business and Professional Women’s October 21, 1929. Club. She was a Democrat. Ms. Williams practiced Ms. Williams and her husband had three in Palmetto in 1929 and then children -- Joyce E. Williams; Charles M. in Sarasota starting in 1930. She Williams, Jr.; and Marilyn Williams. and her husband, Charles M. Williams, Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); were partners in the firm Williams & MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); MBD. Ms. Williams practiced in Palmetto in 1929 and then in Sarasota starting in Zorah B. Close 1930. She and (1898 - possibly 1963) her husband, Date of Admission: 1930 Charles M. Williams, were Zorah B. Close was the estate law. partners in the first woman from Polk Ms. Close was married to firm Williams & County to be admitted to Mr. Owens at the time she the bar. She was the daugh- began her career as a lawyer, Williams. ter of D. F. and Sue Close but began practicing under and was born in Thomas, her maiden name in an office West Virginia, in 1898 in the Lakeland State Bank and moved to Lakeland, Building in 1930. During Florida, in August 1926. 1931 she worked at 104 She worked for Judge H. South Florida Avenue in Zorah B. Close E. Oxford and read the law Lakeland, which may have was the first in his Lakeland office. She been for the firm of Oxford woman f rom took the bar examination and Cuts. administered by the State Ms. Close took a position Polk County to Board of Law Examiners in the state comptroller’s of- be admitted to on February 17, 1930, and fice in Tallahassee in 1933. the bar. was admitted to practice She had offices in both Lake- on March 15, 1930. Judge H. C. Petteway land and Tallahassee in 1935. That year, administered the oath on March 28, 1930, she also received a degree from Southern at which time she intended to concentrate College in Lakeland, where she attended her practice in probate, estate and real classes after becoming a lawyer. She was

44 also a member of the Professional and There is no record of death for Zorah Business Women’s Club. B. Close in the Social Security Death In 1936 Ms. Close was employed in Index. The Florida State Archives index Tallahassee in the state comptroller’s indicates that a “Z. Owens” died in 1963, office as a clerk. She lived at various ad- but the old record is not legible. As a dresses in Tallahassee during the years consequence, her relatives have not been that followed, but by 1948 she was no traceable. longer listed in the city directory. Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); Ms. Close’s father, D. F. Close, was Lakeland Evening Ledger & Star Tele- listed as residing at 421 Wilson Avenue in gram, Mar. 28, 1930, at 9; Tallahassee Tallahassee in 1948; it is suspected that & Lakeland City Directories; Social she cared for him during his later years Security Death Index; death records in and the residence was listed in his name, Florida State Archives; conversation with which was common at that time. librarian for the City of Lakeland. Judge Chastain became Dade County’s second woman judge in the juvenile court Dixie L. Herlong Chastain and the third (1909 - ) woman judge Date of Admission: 1930 overall in Dade Judge Dixie L. Herlong Chastain was diploma privilege through the State Board County. born on May 15, 1909, to Mr. and Mrs. of Law Examiners on June 6, 1930. She J. H. Herlong. Her father, who was a was admitted to the United States District civil engineer, and mother, a housewife, Courts the same year. always assumed that In 1930 Judge she would go to college. Chastain became em- Judge Chastain reports ployed with attorney that she got sick at the Tom Ferguson. She had sight of blood, which a general practice in At the time ruled out becoming a Miami from 1930 to doctor, so the alternative 1956. She twice ran for of her judicial was to become a lawyer. judge of county court, appointment, She attended John but lost. After 26 years women B. Stetson University in practice, Dixie Her- constituted only as an undergraduate long Chastain “retired” from 1925 to 1926, and in 1956, but she began two percent of then pursued her LL.B. work as an investigat- The Florida and L.I. certificate at ing attorney with the Bar. the University of Miami Juvenile and Domestic School of Law. While in Relations Court in Dade law school, Judge Chas- County. In 1957 she was tain was secretary-trea- a referee in delinquency surer of the law school, and dependency cases. secretary of Rho Beta On May 27, 1965, Omicron, secretary-treasurer of Beta Chi, Judge Chastain was appointed by Gov- member of Zeta Phi, and assistant pros- ernor Haydon Burns to fill a newly cre- ecuting attorney for the student associa- ated third judgeship in the Juvenile and tion. She graduated magna cum laude in Domestic Relations Court of Dade County. 1930, becoming the school’s first woman Thus, Judge Chastain became Dade Coun- graduate. She also pursued graduate ty’s second woman judge in the juvenile studies in sociology and government at court and the third woman judge overall Duke University in 1930. Judge Chastain in Dade County. (Edith Meserve Atkinson was admitted to practice law under the (1922) was elected in 1924 to be the first

45 woman judge in the juvenile court, and nile Court Judges, Florida Juvenile Offi- Mattie Belle Davis (1936) became judge cers Association, Juvenile Council of Dade of the metropolitan court in 1959.) At the County, World Peace Through Law, Dade time of her judicial appointment, women County and American Bar Associations, constituted only two per- Phi Delta Delta Legal Fra- cent of The Florida Bar. Of ternity, Chi Omega Sorority, the 188 women lawyers in Soroptimist International of By revision of the state, 85 lived in Miami Northeast Miami, and the the Constitution and 65 were members of Young Democratic Club of of Florida, she the Florida Association of Dade County. She has been Women Lawyers. president of the Univer- became a circuit By revision of the Con- sity of Miami Law School judge in 1973, stitution of Florida, she Alumni Association. She is a and while on the became a circuit judge in member of Central Baptist circuit bench, she 1973, and while on the cir- Church of Miami and has cuit bench, she was appoint- also been active in many was appointed ed administrative judge for civic and welfare activities. administrative the juvenile judges in Dade In 1935 she married Mr. judge for the County. The county commis- R. B. Chastain, a business- juveniles judges sioners named the juvenile man who also worked in law court building, which was enforcement, and they had in Dade County. being built during this time, the “Dixie three children -- R. Bryan Chastain, Jr.; The county Herlong Chastain Building.” Judge Chas- Richard H. Chastain; and Dixie Chastain commissioners tain served on the circuit bench until her Lemons. Throughout her career, Judge named the retirement in December 1978 at the age of Chastain balanced her legal practice with 70. By recall appointment in 1979, Senior homemaking and family. juvenile court Judge Chastain began serving part-time as Judge Dixie Herlong Chastain cur- building, which acting circuit judge on the juvenile court rently resides in Miami. was being bench into the mid-1990s. Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (photo); built during Judge Chastain chaired an adoption MH, Mar. 14, 1965; Florida Association for committee and has been a member of Women Lawyers program (June 18, 1995); this time, the the International Association of Juvenile MBD; conversations with Judge Chastain “Dixie Herlong Court Justices, National Council of Juve- (photo). Chastain Building.” Marjorie G. Howard Date of Admission: 1930 Marjorie G. Howard was admitted to practice law in Florida on June 6, 1930. Al- though the supreme court’s records indicate that Ms. Howard was admitted under the diploma privilege as a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, the university’s records do not support that fact. Sources: FSCBAA; MBD.

Mae T. Donovan (1886 - 1971) Date of Admission: 1930 Mary “Mae” Thorn Donovan was she married Eugene Alcorn Donovan, also born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of Philadelphia. In 1921 Mr. Donovan on December 1, 1886. On June 8, 1910, became interested in the opportunities

46 in Florida and accepted Daytona Beach, where she established a a transfer from his em- home law office. She was first listed as an ployer, Prudential Life attorney in the Daytona Beach City Direc- Insurance. The Donovans tory in 1935. She practiced in Daytona moved to Daytona Beach Beach for the remainder of her life. with their two children, Ms. Donovan was a member of Phi William Paul and Jean Delta Delta and the Volusia County Bar Mae. Mr. Donovan later Association. She was also a member of went into business for the Daytona First Church of Christian himself in real estate and Scientists and the Order of the Eastern general insurance. In ad- Star (O.E.S.). From 1931 to 1932, she dition, he held positions served as the worthy grand matron of as the coroner, justice of the O.E.S for the state of Florida. In ad- the peace (1926-47), city dition, she held a paid position as grand clerk, and tax assessor. secretary of the O.E.S. for many years. Meanwhile, Ms. Dono- Mae Donovan was widowed on July 2, van pursued a career in 1948. She continued to live and practice the law. She attended law in Daytona Beach until her death. In Stetson University College of 1971 Mae Donovan, who was then resid- Law in DeLand from 1927 to ing with her son, William Paul Donovan, 1929 with her best friend Edith died at the Clyatt Memorial Center on Ms. Donovan Horn. It does not appear that September 27 at the age of 84. She was pursued a career either woman graduated from survived by her son, four grandchildren, in the law. She law school, but they were both and five great grandchildren. attended Stetson admitted to practice law in Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); Florida on June 16, 1930, after Daytona Beach City Directory; Pleasant University College passing the examination administered by Daniel Gold, History of Volusia County of Law with her the State Board of Law Examiners. (1927); Stetson University records of at- best f riend Edith In 1930 Mae Donovan was employed tendance; obituary; conversations with Horn. as a legal secretary for Naji A. Akras in relatives Dorothy Donovan, Bonnie Do- Daytona Beach. In the mid-1930s, the bosz, and Paul Donovan (photos). Donovans moved to 120 Broadway in

Frances Drury (1904-1964) Date of Admission: 1930 Frances Drury was admitted to practice law in Florida on June 16, 1930, after pass- ing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. Source: FSCBAA.

Edith H. Horn (1888 - 1954) Date of Admission: 1930 Edith H. Horn was born in 1888. She returned to school in the 1920s and married Harry A. Horn, an attorney in obtained her undergraduate degree Daytona Beach, and the couple had two from Stetson University. Ms. Horn then children, Beverly and Helen. Ms. Horn attended Stetson College of Law with

47 her best friend, Mae T. Donovan, and was attorney. His grandmother did not have admitted to practice law in Florida on enough business to keep her office open June 16, 1930. (It is unclear whether Ms. and so she joined her husband and worked Horn actually graduated from law school, at his law firm, Horn & Ossinsky, on Main but she was admitted after passing the bar Street in Daytona Beach. Mr. Bushman examination administered by the State recalls that his grandfather, Harry A. Horn, Board of Law Examiners.) was a city attorney for Daytona Beach and Grandson Al Bushman recalls that Ms. that his grandmother did insurance work. The U.S. Horn opened her own office in Daytona She went to the office on a daily basis and Attorney for Beach after she graduated. His mother ex- worked until she died of a heart attack in plained to him that those were Depression 1954. Mr. Horn died in 1958. the Southern years, so money was scarce. Additionally, Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); District of his grandmother was faced with the fact MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); conversations Florida asked that people would simply not use a female with Al Bushman and daughter Beverly. Ms. House to join his staff in 1929 in Jacksonville. She remained Edith E. House in this position (1903 - 1987) for the next 34 Date of Admission: 1930 years, handling everything f rom The daughter of Lucius and ard B. Russell (D-Ga.). The day Ms. Lell House, Edith Elizabeth House arrived in St. Petersburg, condemnation House was born on November she received another offer from work and 1, 1903, in Winder, Georgia. the Clearwater firm of Baskin counterfeit Her father was a bank pres- and Jordan. She accepted the money cases to ident and her mother was latter offer and spent the a homemaker; she had next four years in general moonshining and two brothers. Edith would practice, until W. Patrick drug violations. often accompany her fa- Hughes, the U.S. Attorney In 1963 when ther to his office. When for the Southern District the Middle interviewed in 1984 by The of Florida, asked her to join Florida Times-Union, she his staff in 1929 in Jack- District was commented that “what he sonville. She remained in created, Ms. did was a lot more interesting this position for the next 34 House was than what my mother did all years, handling everything named acting day.” When she was 13, Edith’s from condemnation work and father told her that Georgia had counterfeit money cases to moon- U.S. Attorney finally passed legislation allowing women shining and drug violations. When the for the Southern to practice law. Her goal was set. Southern District of Florida was divided District.... Ms. House graduated from the Univer- in 1963 and the Middle District created, sity of Georgia College of Law as co-vale- Ms. House was named acting U.S. Attorney dictorian in 1925, in the first graduating for the Southern District by Judge David class to include women. She worked W. Dyer. She held that position in Miami her way through law school by tutoring for eight months and retired on December blind students, and later she became the 14, 1963. first recipient of a private financial aid Upon retiring, Ms. House moved back to endowment grant at the law school. She Jacksonville. In 1984 she told The Florida was admitted to practice law in Florida Times-Union how she had been spending on June 16, 1930, after passing the bar her time. She said, “I kept up my Florida examination administered by the State Bar membership, and I read the journals, Board of Law Examiners. keep house, play a little poker and grow a Ms. House was asked to work in St. few tomatoes.” Petersburg by the uncle of Senator Rich- Since 1983, the Women Law Students’

48 Association at the University of Georgia school courtroom. Hers was the 57th por- Law School has sponsored “The Edith trait placed there and the first female. House Lecture Series,” which brings out- Ms. House died in Jacksonville on standing women lawyers to the law school. December 14, 1987, at the age of 84. She Recent lecturers have included Anne never married and had no children, but Coughlin, University of Virginia law profes- was survived by several cousins. sor, and Sarah Weddington, who changed Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); history when she successfully argued Roe FTU, 1984; University of Georgia, Women’s Since 1983, v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court. Law Students’ Association records; MBD; Ms. House was further honored by her conversations with cousins Anne D. Burke, the Women alma mater in April 1984 when her por- Peggy Harrell, Julia Harrison, Lucille Law Students’ trait, commissioned by the Women Law McDonald, Marty Patrick Ogletree, and Association at Students’ Association, was placed in the Clyde Patrick. the University of Georgia Law School has sponsored “The Edith House Margaret M. Collins Lecture Series,” (1897 - ) which brings Date of Admission: 1931 outstanding women lawyers Margaret M. Collins was born on May associate of J. V. Walton, a prominent to the law school. 16, 1895, to E. H. and Harriet Hall Mc- attorney in Palatka and father of Kate L. Ilvaine. (There were several McIlvaines Walton Engelken (1936). Ms. Collins was who were attorneys in Jacksonville at widowed and had two children -- David this time, but it is unknown whether N. Collins and Harriet H. Collins. She she was related to them.) Ms. Collins was Presbyterian and a Democrat, and was admitted to practice law in Florida is listed in Who’s Who Among Women on March 14, 1931, after passing the bar Lawyers (1939). examination administered by the State Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 Board of Law Examiners. She was an & 1949).

Mary Cinthya Vann Racey (1909 - 1973) Date of Admission: 1931

Mary Cinthya Vann Racey was born in 1909 in Tampa, Florida, to J. Frank Vann and was subsequently admitted Mary Augusta Vann. Ms. Racey to the South Carolina bar in pursued her undergraduate 1944. degree at Duke University and Ms. Racey practiced in the University of Miami, which Miami for many years and awarded her an A.B. degree, maintained an office in the and she received her LL.B. Ingraham Building. She also from the University of Miami worked in the legal depart- School of Law in 1931. She ment of the City of Miami. was admitted to practice law Ms. Racey was one of the in Florida under the diploma first women to be commis- privilege on June 5, 1931, and sioned in the Women’s Army

49 Corps (WAC) during World War II. She was Mary Cinthya Vann Racey died in discharged as a captain. Atlanta, Georgia, on October 21, 1973, In 1948 she moved to Tallahassee and following a long illness. did legal editing for the Municipal Code Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (pho- Corporation. She was a member of Chi to); Tallahassee Democrat (Oct. 22, 1973); Ms. Racey was Omega and Phi Delta Delta International MBD. one of the first Legal Fraternity women to be commissioned in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during Lorrain Gould Smith World War II. Date of Admission: 1931 Lorrain Gould Smith received an LL.B. degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1931 and was admitted to practice law in Florida under the diploma privilege on June 5, 1931. Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R; MBD.

Mary Gunn Campbell (1894 - 1958) Date of Admission: 1931 Ms. Campbell practiced law Mary Gunn Campbell was born in Wal- cluding mortgages and title searches, and ton County, Florida, on March 20, 1894. she also handled uncontested divorces. in Marianna, She was the daughter of Bill Campbell of She practiced in Marianna until her death Florida, as an DeFuniak Springs, born during his first on July 10, 1958. associate with marriage, and she had two siblings, three Mary Gunn Campbell was a member John H. Carter, half-sisters, and one half-brother. She of the First Presbyterian Church in Mari- received her education at Florida State anna. She never married or learned to Sr., and John H. Normal School and Palmer College and drive. Several nephews and nieces, their Carter, Jr.... Her was admitted to practice law on June 15, spouses and children survive her. primary practice 1931, after passing the bar examination Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935); MHLD focused on real administered by the State Board of Law (1939, 1945 & 1949); conversations with Examiners. relatives, Angus Andrews, Helen Asbell, estate, including Ms. Campbell practiced law in Mari- Elizabeth Barnes, Herman Blackwell, Tom mortgages and anna, Florida, as an associate with John Blackwell, and Mayme Steele, and with title searches, and H. Carter, Sr., and John H. Carter, Jr., and Ruth Cox and Francis C. Jones; grave- she also handled was a member of both the Jackson County stone at Magnolia Cemetery in DeFuniak and Florida State Bar Associations. Her Springs. uncontested primary practice focused on real estate, in- divorces. She practiced in Marianna until her death on July 10, 1958. Hariette E. R. Cotton Date of Admission: 1931 Hariette E. R. Cotton was admitted to practice law in Florida on June 15, 1931, after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. Source: FSCBAA.

50 Carolina Byrd Ramsey Date of Admission: 1931 Carolina Byrd Ramsey was admitted to practice law in Florida on June 27, 1931, after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. Source: FSCBAA. Ethel Jane Steele McMasters Brannon (1904 - 1957) Date of Admission: 1931 Senator Pepper ... recommended Ethel “Jane” Steele McMasters Bran- Army, which allowed her to travel over- non was born in 1904 in Roanoke, Virginia, seas and participate in the Nuremberg Ms. Brannon as one of seven children in her family. War Trials in 1946. She then traveled to for a civilian Her father, John Steele, was a Trieste, Italy, where she was position in farmer, and her mother, Jenny part of the post-war military the United Lee Doran Steele, was a nurse. government. Ms. Brannon received her Upon her return from States Army, undergraduate degree from Europe, Ms. Brannon resided which allowed Otterbein College in Wester- in Tampa, Florida, where she her to travel ville, Ohio, and her law degree had practiced law before the overseas and from Ohio State University war. She formed a partnership in Columbus, Ohio. She was with George A. Gibbs in the participate in the admitted to practice law in firm Gibbs & Brannon, with Nuremberg War Florida on October 31, 1931, offices in the Tampa Theatre Trials in 1946. after passing the bar examina- Building. Her nephew recalls She then traveled tion administered by the State that she had a varied legal Board of Law Examiners. practice and handled many to Trieste, Italy, According to her nephew, divorce cases. She was a lo- where she was Jack Steele, Ms. Brannon worked at some quacious woman, who told many amusing part of the post- point for the late Claude Pepper (1900- stories. war military 89), who served one term in the Florida Ms. Brannon was twice married, once to Legislature in 1928, representing Taylor Mr. McMasters, a navy doctor, from whom government. County, and numerous terms in both she was widowed, and then to Mr. Bran- the United States Senate and House of non. She died in Tampa in 1957. Representatives. It was Senator Pepper Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 who recommended Ms. Brannon for a & 1949); conversations with Jack Steele civilian position in the United States (photo).

Edith McIlvaine James (1902 - 1970) Date of Admission: 1931 Edith McIlvaine James was born on 1931, after passing the bar examination September 7, 1902. She was admitted administered by the State Board of Law to practice law in Florida on October 31, Examiners. She practiced law in Jack-

51 sonville for some years, then moved her in 1956-57. Edith McIlvaine James passed practice to Miami. She was president of away in August 1970. the Florida Association of Women Lawyers Sources: FSCBAA; MBD.

Dorothy Douglas (1896 - 1995) Date of Admission: 1932 Dorothy Douglas was born in Dunedin, Dunedin community. She did a great deal of Pinellas County, Florida, on August 31, 1896, volunteer work, including making clothes for into a family of seven children. The Bench orphans, as well as for children of members and Bar of Florida (1935) indicates that Ms. of her church. She was a member of the Douglas’s legal education was obtained at Order of the Eastern Star and received the Blackstone Institute, where she received Past Worthy Matron Award for her charity an LL.B. in 1930. However, according to work. her sister, Ruth Douglas Webb, Ms. Doug- Ms. Douglas traveled extensively through- las never attended law school. Rather, out the world, both with tour groups and she worked as a secretary for Mr. Casler alone, with the exception of China. Her sister in Clearwater, and he encouraged Ms. saved 10,000 slides Ms. Douglas took while Douglas to study law. She was admitted traveling. to practice law in Florida on March 12, Dorothy Douglas never married. She died 1932, after passing the bar examination on July 27, 1995. administered by the State Board of Law Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); Examiners. She maintained an office in MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); First Presby- Dunedin. terian Church of Dunedin records; MBD; Ms. Douglas was very active in the First conversations with relatives Ruth Douglas Presbyterian Church of Dunedin and in the Webb and Donald Scott Douglas.

Mada Burney Fraser Babcock McLendon (1909 - 1999) Date of Admission: 1932 Judge Mada Burney Fraser Babcock 1932, and she was admitted to practice McLendon was born on October 16, law in Florida under the diploma privilege 1909, in Putnam County. She was a on May 23, 1932. Because of the Great long-time resident of Lake Wales, mov- Depression, Judge McLendon was unable ing there with her family when she was to practice law until June 1936. five. Her father was a section foreman She was elected municipal judge of for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Lake Wales for five consecutive terms from Company. Judge McLendon attended 1938 until 1948. During 1942, she was elementary school in Lake Wales in a requested by the Selective Service Board one-room school. She enrolled in Stetson for Polk County to assist citizens in filling University in DeLand in September out selective service questionnaires. This 1927. The Bachelor of Law degree was volunteer work led her to assisting the de- conferred upon her by Stetson in May pendents of men in military service in the

52 preparation of applications for financial offices and was worthy matron in 1955. assistance. On March 4, 1989, at Stetson Univer- Judge McLendon was a member of the sity’s homecoming, Judge McLendon was Judge McLendon Florida State Bar and American Bar Associ- presented with the Stetson Lawyers’ As- ations, American Association of University sociation annual “Ben C. Willard Memorial closed her Women, Business and Professional Women’s Award.” law office on Association-International, Women’s Club of Judge McLendon closed her law office December Lake Wales, Florida Federation of Women’s on December 31, 1979, but continued to 31, 1979, but Clubs, Lake Wales Area Chamber of Com- attend legal seminars and remained a merce, Lake Wales Chapter 107, and the member in good standing of The Florida continued to Order of the Eastern Star (O.E.S.). She was Bar. She was admitted as an attorney and attend legal a member of Associate Reformed Presbyte- counselor in the United States Supreme seminars and rian Church in Bartow. Court on November 16, 1981, at 72. She remained a Judge McLendon helped organize the officially retired from the practice of law Business and Professional Women’s Club on October 1, 1993. member in good of Lake Wales, serving as its president. Judge McLendon was the widow of Bry- standing of The She also served as district director for all ant Milton McLendon and Caral Sanford Florida Bar. the clubs in Dade, Hillsborough, Pinellas Babcock. She died on March 3, 1999, at the She was admitted and Polk Counties, and was voted Woman age of 89, in Lake Wales. of the Year. Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); as an attorney As a member of the first board of direc- “Judge Mada Babcock McLendon, Lake and counselor in tors of Lake Wales Library Association, Wales Municipal Judge, Dies,” Polk County the United States she assisted in the drive to raise money Democrat, Mar. 4, 1999; MBD; correspon- Supreme Court for construction of the present library. As dence from Kingswood Sprott, Jr.; conver- a member of the O.E.S., she served in eight sation with cousin Roger Hewitt. on November 16, 1981, at 72.

Carmen Ercelle Christian Date of Admission: 1932 Carmen Ercelle Christian graduated from the University of Miami School of Law with an LL.B. degree and was admitted to practice law in Florida under the diploma privilege on June 1, 1932. She also attended the University of Miami for her undergraduate degree, and during those years she was a member of the Y.W.C.A. and women’s athletic program. Although little is known of her legal career, records show that Ms. Christian was a practicing attorney in 1957 and 1958. Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (photo); MBD.

Ethel Ernest Murrell Ms. Murrell (1905 - 1991) toured Europe Date of Admission: 1932 and the Orient lecturing on Ethel Ernest Murrell King-Smith of Washington, D.C, and the was born in Laramie, Sorbonne in Paris, France. She toured Eu- women’s rights Wyoming, on May 12, rope and the Orient lecturing on women’s before moving to 1905, to John W. and rights before moving to Miami. Miami. Ethel Connor Ernest. She married John Moore Murrell in She was educated in 1931. The couple never had children of Chevy Chase, Maryland, their own, but her husband had a son from and was a graduate of his first marriage, John Moore Murrell, Jr.,

53 who practiced law with his father at the 1946. She was elected chairperson of the business address of 707 Biscayne Building, National Woman’s Party, a nonpolitical Miami. organization devoted to raising the status Ms. Murrell received her LL.B. from the of women, in 1951. University of Miami School of Law and In 1943 she was elected state vice- was admitted to practice law in Florida president for the National Association under the diploma privi- of Women Lawyers, and lege on June 1, 1932. She she was a national officer practiced law with her (fourth vice-president) During her husband in Miami. in 1943-44. Ms. Murrell campaign for Ethel Ernest Murrell was also a member of women’s rights, was a professional lec- the Florida State Bar, turer and leader in pro- Dade County Bar, and she wrote a moting women’s equality. American Bar Associa- daily column, She promoted a three- tions; Business and Pro- “Law for the point program to achieve fessional Women’s Club Ladies,” which women’s equality under General Federation; Phi the law in the new state Delta Delta International was carried in constitution. She started a Legal Fraternity; and So- eight Florida ten-year campaign in 1933 roptimist Club, Inc., Mi- newspapers, and to get the state legislature ami (first president). She she conducted to pass an act endowing was secretary-treasurer of married women with the Conor Hotel Company in a legal forum same property rights as Laramie, Wyoming. over radio men. During her campaign for women’s She engaged in writing and publishing station WKAT. rights, she wrote a daily column, “Law for poetry since 1933 and was a member of the As chair of a the Ladies,” which was carried in eight Miami League of American Pen Women Florida newspapers, and she conducted a (president) and Vivian Yeiser Lamarmore Florida State legal forum over radio station WKAT. As Poetry Society. She wrote a college text Bar Association chair of a Florida State Bar Association entitled Law for the Ladies, Practical Law, committee, committee, she drafted, sponsored, and and a book of verse, Three Cornered Tune. she draf ted, through various organizations, worked She also collected and sculpted masks. for the passage of the Florida Married Several years after Mr. Murrell’s death sponsored, and Women’s Act in 1943, as well as for legisla- in 1982, Ethel Ernest Murrell married Mr. through various tion permitting women to serve on grand Arthur Williams. She died in Miami on organizations, and petit juries in Florida. Ms. Murrell June 10, 1991, at the age of 88. worked for the tried to get the Equal Rights Amendment Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); made a part of the Florida Constitution in 75NAWL (photo); DWL&J; MBD. passage of the Florida Married Women’s Act in 1943, as well as for legislation permitting Mary Neff Reebel women to serve (1909 - 1981) on grand and Date of Admission: 1932 petit juries in Florida. Mary Neff Reebel was born on Delta Delta Legal Fraternity and February 13, 1909. She graduat- was in the student senate during ed from the University of Miami law school. School of Law in 1932 with an She is reported to have served LL.B. degree and was admitted as librarian of the Dade County to practice law in Florida under Law Library in 1941 and to have the diploma privilege on June 1, worked as a substitute teacher. 1932. She was a member of Phi She is also reported to have

54 acted as secretary to Ethel Ernest Mur- was survived by her son. rell (1932) and assisted in writing Law Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R for the Ladies. (photos); MBD; conversation with Ms. Reebel tragically died in an auto- Daisy Richards Bisz. mobile accident in November 1981. She

Margaret M. Barrett Date of Admission: 1932 Margaret M. Barrett was admitted to practice law in Florida on July 16, 1932, after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. Source: FSCBAA.

Marie C. Broetzman (1905 - 1993) Date of Admission: 1932

Marie C. Broetzman was minorities and blacks and visited death born in Coblenz, near Bonn, row inmates. In addition to her will-draft- Ms. Broetzman Germany, on September 16, ing work, she helped prisoners with their conducted 1905. She moved to Jack- cases. She was a member of the Jackson- a private sonville with her family. ville Bar Association and received a 50- practice in her She worked for the City year certificate from The Florida Bar. of Jacksonville in its civil She was a member of the Business and Jacksonville engineering department, Professional Women’s Club. A friend, Ms. home, charging went to night school, and Devol, described Ms. Broetzman as having small fees to then studied law. She was known all the judges and being a wonder- neighbors and admitted to practice law in ful, giving woman. She spoke German and Florida on November 19, 1932, English, and perhaps Spanish. She was also parishioners after passing the bar examination remembered for aiding Cuban refugees. f rom the administered by the State Board of Law Marie C. Broetzman died on August 17, Catholic Church. Examiners. 1993. She was survived by her brother’s She helped Ms. Broetzman conducted a private daughter, Marie Broetzman, of Lynchburg, practice in her Jacksonville home, charg- Virginia. minorities and ing small fees to neighbors and parishio- Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); blacks and ners from the Catholic Church. She helped MBD; conversation with Ms. Devol. visited death row inmates. Elva Victoria Diaz (1908 - ) Date of Admission: 1932

Elva Victoria Diaz was born in 1908 and received her undergraduate degree from the Florida State College for Women. She earned her law degree from Stetson University College of Law and was admitted to practice law in Florida under the diploma privilege on June 8, 1933. She practiced in Tampa. Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935); MHLD (1939).

55 Emma Roesing (1894 - 1983) Date of Admission: 1933

Emma Roesing was born in of the National Association of Women Chicago in 1894. She received Lawyers (NAWL), which she joined as an LL.B. from Chicago-Kent soon as she was admitted to the bar in College of Law, Chicago, Illinois, 1933. She served several terms as NAWL’s in 1916, and also attended Co- state delegate from Florida (1939-42), lumbia University. She moved then several terms as the southeastern to Florida in 1925 to become regional director, in addition to serving the office manager of the legal on many committees. She was co-chair of department at Florida Power the NAWL annual meetings held in Miami and Light Company in Miami. Beach in 1959 and 1965, and was respon- She then obtained an LL.B. from sible for many of the details that made the University of Miami School of Law in those meetings successful. She attended 1933 and was admitted to practice law in most of the NAWL annual meetings and Florida under the diploma privilege on many joined the organization as a result June 8, 1933. of her invitation and urging. In 1965 Ms. Ms. Roesing After her admission to the bar, Ms. Roesing received the NAWL Outstand- attended most Roesing served as an attorney in the legal ing Service Award for her more than 30 of the NAWL department of Florida Power and Light years of service to the association. She annual meetings Company and as an associate in the law was also a founding member of the Florida firm of Hanks & Preston from 1939 until Association for Women Lawyers (FAWL) and many joined 1943. In 1943 she established her own in June 1951, and she was active in the the organization practice. She was appointed and served Miami Business and Professional Women’s as a result of her ten years as an investigating attorney Club. invitation and for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Emma Roesing died on September 18, Court of Dade County (1943-53). After 1983, at the age of 89. In her will, she made urging. In 1965 retiring from that position, she was in a bequest to her dear friend Judge Mattie she received private practice in Miami’s Congress Belle Davis, which will be used to publish the NAWL Building with her associate, Henrietta S. Judge Davis’s book on FAWL’s history. Outstanding Biscoe (1961), sharing office space with Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R; Mattie Belle Davis (1936) prior to Judge 75NAWL (photo); MH, at 3D, Sept. 20, Service Award Davis’s appointment to the bench. 1983 (obituary); MBD. for her more Ms. Roesing was a dedicated member than 30 years of service to the association. She was also a founding member of the Florida Marjorie M. Varner (1907 - 1993) Association for Date of Admission: 1933 Women Lawyers in June 1951. Marjorie M. Varner was born in Phenix Ms. Varner was admitted to City, Alabama, on March 7, 1907. She practice law in Florida under was the daughter of John I. and Gertrude the diploma privilege on June Davis Varner. She received both her A.B. 8, 1933. and LL.B. from the University of Miami Ms. Varner practiced law in 1931 and 1933, respectively. During law in Miami from 1933 until school she served on the student senate for she retired in 1980. For many two years and was a member of Beta Chi. years she maintained an of-

56 fice in the Biscayne Building. she served as state vice-president in 1943- She was an associate with 44. She was also a member of the National Fred Botts and N. R. Field Woman’s Party, Theosophical Society, and of the firm Botts & Field. the Business and Professional Women’s Attorney Daisy Richards Club. She was a Democrat and Methodist. Bisz recalls seeing Ms. According to Ms. Bisz, Ms. Varner was a Varner in probate court. poet. Ms. Berger Ms. Varner was a mem- Ms. Varner died on August 18, 1993. She practiced law in ber of the Florida State never married. Miami Beach Bar, Dade County Bar, and Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (pho- American Bar Associations, tos); MHLD (1939, 1945 & 1949); 75NAWL; for many years. and the National Association MBD; conversation with Daisy Richards In 1939 she of Women Lawyers, for which Bisz. and Diana Coopersmith (1937) were partners in Natalie Marion Weinstein the law firm Weinstein & Berger Coopersmith. An article in the (1908 - 1999) Miami Herald Date of Admission: 1933 reported their representation Natalie Marion Wein- uled airline business, Cloud stein Berger received her Coach Airlines. Among her of a criminal undergraduate degree in other businesses was Waves defendant, and 1929 from Florida State Motor Inn and Cottage in stated that theirs College for Women. In 1932 Old Orchard Beach, Maine, was the first all- she received an LL.B. de- near Portland, which she gree from the University of operated for 50 years. She feminine firm in Florida College of Law and inherited her love for busi- Florida. was admitted to practice law ness from her parents, who in Florida under the diploma operated a grocery supply privilege on June 10, 1933. business in St. Augustine She was the first of her fam- during the winter and in ily to go to law school. Maine in the summer. Ms. Berger practiced law in Ms. Berger was twice married, Miami Beach for many years. once to Dr. Nathan Cohen of In 1939 she and Diana Cooper- New York, and then to Moe Berg- smith (1937) were partners er of St. Augustine, both in the law firm Weinstein & of whom are deceased. Coopersmith. An article in the Most noteworthy are her Miami Herald reported their many works with Jewish representation of a criminal de- women’s organizations fendant, and stated that theirs and service leagues, such was the first all-feminine firm in Florida. as Hadassah. Ms. Berger’s siblings followed in her Natalie Marion Weinstein Berg- footsteps, and she later practiced with er passed away in August 1999. her sister, Doris Weinstein Sirkin, who Her sister and two brothers sur- was admitted in 1949, and her two broth- vive her. ers, Leonard and Julian Weinstein, under Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL& the firm name of Weinstein, Weinstein & R (photo); MHLD (1939 & 1949); Weinstein. Hers was a general practice. MBD; conversations with niece One of Ms. Berger’s clients, Philip Mann, Sugar Firtel (photo) and Doris succeeded in involving her in a non-sched- Sirkin.

57 Rose Ealine Friedlin Date of Admission: 1933

Rose Ealine Friedlin earned an A.B. under the diploma privilege on June 10, degree at Illinois and transferred her first 1933. Following her graduation, Ms. year of law school credits to the University Friedlin moved to Washington, D.C., and Ms. Gehan of Florida College of Law, from which she served with the Securities and Exchange spoke with graduated with a J.D. degree in 1933. She Commission for many years. Dean Harry was admitted to practice law in Florida Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R; MBD. R. Trusler about enrolling, because women,, while legally allowed to attend Clara Backus Floyd Gehan the University of (1909 - 1992) Florida College Date of Admission: 1933 of Law since Clara Backus Floyd dear young lady may I 1925, were not Gehan was born in persuade you to study encouraged Hawthorne, Alachua law.’” to do so. County, Florida, on Sep- On her first day of law Dean Trusler tember 10, 1909. Her school, all the students parents were George (male) formed two lines reportedly “stood M. Floyd, M.D., a lo- through which she had up and bowed cal country doctor, and to traverse in order to f rom the waist Clara M. Floyd, R.N., enter the law school saying: ‘My dear a nurse from Worces- building. Several fac- ter, Massachusetts. A ulty wives and a secre- young lady may black midwife, “Aunt tary audited law school I persuade you Myriah,” also worked classes before Ms. Ge- to study law.’” with her parents. han, but she was the Ms. Gehan received first woman to matricu- her bachelor’s degree late. She graduated from Brenau College in with honors in 1933 On her first day Gainesville, Georgia, in with a J.D. and received of law school, 1929 and then returned the Harrison Award all the students home to teach Latin in for the highest overall Gainesville High School. Her ambition to average. Commenting on her law school (male) formed enter graduate school was thwarted ini- experience, she said: “I was the first young two lines through tially, because the law prohibited women woman. It wasn’t bad. You felt conspicuous; which she had to from attending the University of Florida you stuck out like a sore thumb. But they traverse in order if the selected courses were offered at (the male students) weren’t rude. Some Florida State College for Women in Tal- ignored me as a matter of principle. I still to enter the law lahassee. In a chance conversation with have some fine friends from law school.” school building. Law Professor Clifford Crandall in the Clara Floyd Gehan was admitted to summer of 1930, she was urged to pursue practice in Florida under the diploma her interest in law school. She spoke with privilege on June 10, 1933, and was a Dean Harry R. Trusler about enrolling, member of The Florida Bar for more than because women, while legally allowed to 50 years. She worked for a short time in attend the University of Florida College Jacksonville for no pay (this was the end of Law since 1925, were not encouraged of the Depression) and then for about $15 to do so. Dean Trusler reportedly “stood per week. Returning to Gainesville, she up and bowed from the waist saying: ‘My worked in the Baxter & Clayton firm for

58 nearly 10 years. An incident in 1963 involving four In 1943 Clara Floyd married Frederick blacks who attempted to purchase movie Gehan and accompanied him to Salt Lake tickets at the all-white Florida Theater City where he was stationed during the led to her appointment by the mayor to war. Ms. Gehan returned home in the fall a newly created Gainesville Advisory Bi- of 1945 to give birth to her only daughter, Racial Committee, which was to help the Julia. Upon Mr. Gehan’s return, he was city integrate peacefully by desegregating hired by the University of Florida to teach public accommodations. The committee An incident in humanities and English. (He had earned successfully persuaded local businesses 1963 involving B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University to open their doors to blacks. By the time four blacks who the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, only of Florida.) Their daughter Julia gradu- attempted to ated from Vassar College in 1967 and one local restaurant had not complied. The later from U.C.L.A. She also took graduate mayor served as the first chair, but Ms. purchase movie courses at the University of Florida. Sadly, Gehan assumed the chairmanship soon tickets at the all- both husband and daughter predeceased thereafter and served until 1965 when the white Florida committee disbanded. Ms. Gehan. Theater led to In May 1946 Ms. Gehan returned to In a taped interview, Frank Orser re- practice law, first with Baxter & Clayton, corded Clara Gehan’s comments on the her appointment then with Jenkins & Jenkins, and Bates committee’s activities. She stated that by the mayor to & Lowery. In 1963 she set up her own she accepted the appointment because she a newly created had her own practice, whereas if she were practice, primarily in real property and Gainesville probate law, but with a mission to assist in a firm, she would have had to have ap- the poor. Her first office was located on a proval of every partner in the firm before Advisory second floor above a shoe store in down- accepting an appointment to a committee Bi-Racial town Gainesville, and her last one was on dealing with a major controversial issue. Committee, On the top of every agenda distributed North East First Street. which was Ms. Gehan became the role model for to the committee, she placed the words, women who followed her in the practice. “Keep calm, keep temper.” The committee to help the She freely gave advice and counsel to had no authority or power of any kind, city integrate young women lawyers to aid in their ac- but by bringing business people into the peacefully by meetings or going out to persuade them, ceptance by the legal community. While desegregating holding firmly to her views and positions, the committee successfully integrated particularly on controversial issues, she the community in two years without any public was not overbearing or dominating but violence. Ms. Gehan recalled that at the accommodations. won over opposition by gentle persuasion time “no [N]egro could buy a movie ticket, The committee or get a meal in a restaurant or snack bar, and southern charm. She was respected successfully and admired by lawyers in the community rent a motel or hotel room, attend white for her knowledge of the law, legal skills, schools, sit in the front of a bus, sit in the persuaded local high ethical standards, and her sensitivity main waiting room of doctors’ offices, and businesses to to the needs of the less-fortunate. in hospitals were confined to one floor open their doors where all patients from maternity to sur- Her competence, distinction as the first to blacks. By woman lawyer locally, and drive to help gical were merged together.” Even in an others led to her being drafted to serve office where she worked at one time, the the time the 1964 the community on numerous committees, lawyers held a meeting to determine how Civil Rights boards and organizations. She was presi- to address Negro clients. They could not Act was passed, be called “Mr.” or “Mrs.” so it was decided dent (1942-43) and director (1952-53) of only one local the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Associa- to call them by the full first and last name, tion. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, she a practice that continued into the 1950s. restaurant had served on the Legal Aid Committee of the Clara Floyd Gehan concluded that not complied. local bar, and she chaired that committee serving on the committee was the most from 1961 until 1963. She was actively challenging and interesting work she had involved in the establishment of the Store- ever done. Not everyone agreed with the front Legal Aid Service, which was the committee’s objectives, but most of the forerunner of Three Rivers Legal Services, businessmen they contacted could see the Inc., and was instrumental in founding the need to overcome segregation in the com- Legal Aid and Defender Clinic at the law munity. She cajoled them by asking them school in 1968. to be “good sports and cooperate!” She was

59 proud of giving time to a worthy cause Florida Association for Women Lawyers and of what the committee peacefully ac- created the “Clara Floyd Gehan Award,” complished. She said, “If you get people which is presented annually. Her daughter behind you, you can by gentle persuasion Julia commented at Ms. Gehan’s retire- accomplish a great deal and do it with ment in 1988, that her mother was “always Ms. Gehan’s more grace.” rather bashful about accepting awards, activities and Other activities and honors include but they mean a lot to her.” Attorney Zelda honors include ... being president of the Altrusa Club (1963- Hawk also recalled her bashfulness about being appointed 64); being appointed by Governor Reubin receiving awards, explaining that although Askew in the 1970s to two terms on the she shared office space with Ms. Gehan, by Governor Judicial Nominating Committee for the she did not learn Ms. Gehan had received Ruebin Askew Eighth Judicial Circuit, which she chaired; the Distinguished Alumna Award from the in the 1970s to helping to form the local “Lady Lawyers” University of Florida in 1979 until she read two terms on in the 1970s, which continue to meet as it in The Gainesville Sun. the Eighth Judicial Circuit Chapter of the Ms. Gehan was always finding ways the Judicial Florida Association for Women Lawyers; to assist others. In 1987 the law school’s Nominating as 1933 class representative, soliciting Legal Information Center hosted a woman Committee for the classmates to contribute to the University law professor and librarian from the Eighth Judicial of Florida College of Law for many years; University of Lagos in Nigeria for three serving on the University of Florida College months. When Ms. Gehan learned of Ms. Circuit, which she of Law Alumni Council (1983-91) and its Reme Jegade’s visit and limited financial chaired; helping campaign committee, which raised funds support, she invited her to attend legal and to form the local to build Bruton-Geer Hall in 1981-82; and social meetings and events, and hosted her “Lady Lawyers” being nominated in 1986 for the Florida for meals and leisure hours at her home. Women’s Hall of Fame. Additionally, she Ms. Jegade was always very grateful for in the 1970s, was a member of Holy Trinity Episcopal this special attention from a distinguished which continue Church, Junior League of Gainesville, female attorney. to meet as the P.E.O. Sisterhood, Gainesville Women’s On August 3, 1992, after spending a Eighth Judicial Club, League of Women Voters, Phi Mu lifetime of practicing law, aiding those in Sorority, Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity, need, and devoting unselfishly of her time Circuit Chapter Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Fraternity, and and talents to making a difference in the of the Florida the Florida State Bar Association. She is community, Clara Floyd Gehan died in Association for listed in Who’s Who Among Women Law- Gainesville at age 82 of Alzheimer’s dis- Women Lawyers; yers (1939). ease. By way of her will, Ms. Gehan set up In recognition of the outstanding con- a Floyd-Gehan Scholarship fund at the serving on the tributions that Clara Floyd Gehan made University of Florida College of Law. University of to the legal profession, various organiza- The following excerpt from the eulogy Florida College tions, and the community, she received the delivered by Zelda Hawk on August 6, of Law Alumni following awards: Gainesville Outstand- 1992, at the memorial service honoring ing Woman Award from the Gainesville Clara Floyd Gehan, is particularly ap- Council and Business and Professional Women’s Club propriate to the mission of the First 150 its campaign (1971); the Headline Award from the Women Lawyers Celebration: committee, which Women in Communication (1976); Dis- “I first heard of Clara Gehan when I was raised funds to tinguished Alumna Award from the Uni- in Law School, but I did not meet her until versity of Florida (1979); The Florida Bar shortly after I was admitted to the Bar build Bruton- Pro Bono Award by the Supreme Court in 1974, when I was working with a local Geer Hall; and of Florida (1982); Distinguished Alumna law firm and Clara had learned that I was being nominated Award from Brenau College (1982); and “a new kid on the block” so to speak. She in 1986 for the the Gainesville Woman of Distinction called me and said she thought it would be Award from the Santa Fe Community a good idea for the local women lawyers to Florida Women’s College (1987). In 1988 she was honored meet for lunch and get acquainted. (There Hall of Fame. by the creation of an annual award in her must have been approximately 10 women name at the University of Florida College lawyers in the Circuit at that time.) She of Law by the Law Association for Women, called the other lawyers and arranged for a women students’ organization. Ms. Ge- us to meet at the Winnjammer, a popular han was once again honored in 1992, when restaurant in Gainesville at that time. the Eighth Judicial Circuit Chapter of the This was the beginning of what was later

60 referred to by Clara as the “Lady Lawyers from dues of all members of the local Bar. Group.” We continued having these infor- However, this year there was apparently mal luncheons which Clara had initiated. a slight feeling of guilt on the part of the They were usually held on a Friday of each men lawyers, or perhaps it was because month and they provided the opportunity the handful of women lawyers started for the women lawyers to discuss cases, the making noises. At any rate, even though latest law, recent judicial decisions in the women lawyers were not invited to this Circuit, and of course our personal lives. dinner, the men found a solution to this I can recall lingering at these lunches potential problem. “She called me for 1½ to 2 hours when time permitted. “They informed the women lawyers that and said she Although Clara practiced primarily in the although they would not be permitted to thought it would areas of real property, wills, and probate, attend this dinner, the women lawyers she was keenly interested in all areas of would have their own dinner at a separate be a good idea the law. She thoroughly enjoyed all of the restaurant of their choice and the Bar for the local discussions at these lunches, whether it Association would pay the bill. These few women lawyers was Judith Brown’s criminal law practice, women accepted this offer. They did indeed Jill White’s immigration law practice or to meet for go to the restaurant of their choice, they lunch and get Ella Soloman’s position as an assistant each had what approximated a 7-course county attorney or various attorneys who meal complete with dessert, champagne acquainted.... practiced in the area of family law or other and a generous tip for their waiter. A This was the areas. On more than one occasion she few days later the bill was presented to beginning of expressed how much she enjoyed these the President of the Bar Association. He gatherings. what was later was aghast at the enormous bill. After “However, it is my opinion, that it was taking this matter up with the Board of referred to by not Clara who was the main beneficiary Directors, it was then decided that in the Clara as the of these meetings. Except for her, most of future women lawyers would be welcomed us were newcomers to the practice of law. ‘Lady Lawyers to the Annual Cedar Key Dinner. I do not We relied upon her wisdom and experience Group .’ remember if Clara was a participant in at times when we were confronted with this “famous dinner,” but I do know that problems in our law practices. Some of us she told us this story with a smile of ap- Although also sought her advice and her suggestions proval.” concerning our personal lives. Clara practiced “At these meetings Clara shared with In concluding the eulogy, Ms. Hawk primarily in the us many of her memories of the practice of stated, “We are indeed grateful for the life areas of real of Clara Gehan. She was our ‘First Lady’ law in earlier days. Most of these memories property, wills, that she recounted related to her satis- of the Law School and our ‘First Lady’ of faction – indeed her love for her chosen the legal profession.” and probate, profession. There were, of course a few sad Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R (photo); she was keenly memories. There were also many memories “Clara Gehan, First Lady of the Law School, interested in all Retires,” Eighth Judicial Bar Newsletter of amusing and humorous events. areas of the law. “There was a particular incident which (Jan. 1989); Madeleine C. Brown, “Award she told us that I would like to pass on. for a Pioneer: First Woman to Graduate She thoroughly For all of you that have heard it, bear with from Law School to be Honored,” The enjoyed all of the me – it’s short. The local Bar Association Gainesville Sun, June 6, 1979; e-mail from discussions at had for many years enjoyed an annual Frank Orser, Librarian, Smathers Library, these lunches....” Cedar Key dinner. From the beginning of University of Florida; e-mail from Judge this celebration, women were not permit- Robert T. Benton; taped conversation of ted to attend this function. For several Ms. Gehan with Frank Orser on March 1, years none of the 7 or 8 women lawyers 1978; Eighth Judicial Bar Newsletter (Oct. complained. Then in approximately 1969 1992); Florida Lawyer (Fall 1992); “A Com- or 1970, the men lawyers were planning munity Honors . . . Women of Distinction,” their annual dinner celebration. And The Gainesville Sun, Mar. 1987; “Pioneer again, no women lawyers were allowed female UF law school graduate dies,” The even though the whole affair was paid for Gainesville Sun, Aug. 4, 1992; MBD.

61 Esther A. Poppell ( - 1990) Date of Admission: 1933

Esther A. Poppell was born in Bal- She was a founding director of Biscayne timore, Maryland. While working as Federal Savings and Loan Association in a legal secretary and Miami, serving as an officer for many years. court reporter during She was a member of the Dade County the day, she studied law Bar Association and was a founding mem- at night. She was admit- ber of the Florida Association for Women ted to practice law in Lawyers, serving as its president in 1953- Florida on July 15, 1933, 54. She also served as Florida’s represen- after passing the bar ex- tative in the Council of Delegates for the Ms. amination administered National Association of Women Lawyers in Poppell was by the State Board of 1951-53. She was a member of the Order of a founding Law Examiners. She the Eastern Star. practiced law in Miami Ms. Poppell is said to have been married director of beginning in 1933 as twice. Her first husband was David Walker. Biscayne an associate with Charles A. Morehead of Richard Goodman, who practiced at the Pal- Federal Savings Hawthorne & Morehead, later Morehead & lot Poppell firm for 26 years, recalls that Ms. and Loan Pallot. The firm, which was located in the Poppell was the mother of a child who died Ingraham Building, maintained a general in the 1926 hurricane. Esther Poppell died Association in civil practice, specializing in real estate, on June 23, 1990, in Miami. Miami, serving corporation, banking and probate law. She Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); as an officer for became a partner in 1959 in the firm of Pal- Dade County Bar Association, Bench & many years. lot, Marks, Lundeen, Poppell & Horwich. Bar of Dade County (1949); MHLD (1932- The firm, which eventually evolved to Pal- 1964); Social Register of Greater Miami; lott & Poppell, was a popular, well-known, 75NAWL; MH, Sept. 28, 1951 & May 26, well-respected Miami firm employing a 1971; Daughters of the American Revolu- staff of over 40 people. Over the years, a tion file in Miami Public Library; conver- She was a number of important members of the bar sations with Daisy Richards Bisz, Richard belonged to the firm, including Marwin Goodman, Richard Horwich, Robert Lit- member of the Cassell, Robert Traurig, and The Honorable man; Judge Victoria Platzer (photo), and Dade County Moie J. L. Tendrich. Ms. Poppell continued The Honorable Moie Tendrich; MBD. Bar Association to work at this firm until her retirement. and was a founding member of the Florida Association for Women Ruth Alberta Clark Lawyers, serving (1912 - 1992) at its president in Date of Admission: 1933 1953-54. Ruth Alberta Clark was born in 1912. attorney in Miami Beach. She graduated from the University of Ruth Alberta Clark married Paul Rowe, Minneapolis and was subsequently admit- but she retained the use of her maiden ted to practice law in Florida on July 15, name for career purposes. Her husband es- 1933, after passing the bar examination tablished the Rowe Motel on Miami Beach administered by the State Board of Law in 1940, which remained in operation until Examiners. Attorney Daisy Richards Bisz 1967. The couple had one daughter, Pauline recalled that Ms. Rowe was a practicing Johnson, who currently lives in Tucson,

62 Arizona. Mr. Rowe predeceased his wife. age of 80 on September 25, 1992. Ms. Rowe was a member of La Gorce Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1945 & and Indian Creek Country Clubs and the 1949); MH, Sept. 27, 1992; MBD; conver- Bal Harbour and Surf Clubs, and she was sations with Daisy Richards Bisz and president of the Miami Beach Garden Club. Pauline Johnson. Ruth Alberta Clark passed away at the

Wilhemina Hawkins (1905 - 1969) Date of Admission: 1933

Wilhemina Hawkins was born in Plant called, until at least 1949, but City, Florida, on May 25, 1905. By 1928 she was laid off after the veterans was working in Bartow, Florida, with the returned to the firm. She then firm of Johnson, Bosarge and Allen as a accepted a position with the stenographer. She “read the law” and was Cason firm in Tampa, handling admitted to practice in Florida on July mostly probate and title work, 15, 1933, after passing the bar examina- and was a partner in the firm tion administered by the State Board of Cason, Hawkins, McWhirter Law Examiners. She then joined the Polk and Henderson at the time of County Bar Association. her death. Ms. Hawkins moved her practice to Wilhemina Hawkins died Tampa between 1942 and 1945, after from cancer in Hillsborough the firm of Bosarge and Johnson closed County, Florida, on August 17, because Mr. Allen took a judicial position 1969, at age 64. Her sole heir and the other two partners went to the was her sister, Louise Lang, war. She worked for many years for the who resides in Bartow. Tampa firm of Fowler and White during Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 World War II, handling title abstracts & 1949); Bartow City Directory (1928); and attending closings, but was never of- B&B (1935) (photo); MBD; Hillsborough fered a partnership in the firm. (Caroline County probate file; Bartow death index; Adams (1942) also worked for Fowler and cemetery visit; conversation with and cor- White during the war years.) Ms. Hawkins respondence from Louise Lang (photos); continued to work for Fowler, White, Gil- e-mail from Edward Cutler. len, Yancey and Humkey, as it was then

Mary Ames Kennerly Buckles (1907 - 1970) Date of Admission: 1933

Judge Mary Ames Kennerly Buckles ginia and she was with the departmental was born on March 13, 1883, in Spearfish, services in Washington, D.C., for several South Dakota, and her family moved to years. West Virginia when she was three years Judge Buckles met her first husband, old. Her father, Daniel E. Ames, was a Clarence Kennerly, in law school at George Presbyterian minister. She was very close Washington University in Washington, to her mother, who lived with her until D.C. The couple moved to Palatka, Florida, she died. She taught school in West Vir- after graduation in 1920. Judge Buckles 63 worked in her husband’s law office and as was practicing law prior to this date, one a public accountant, handling income tax must assume that she exercised the op- work. In 1927 she served as the Clerk of tion of being admitted at the local level the Court in Putnam County. Mr. Kenne- prior to taking the bar examination. She rly was appointed Putnam County Judge maintained an office in Palatka and was Ms. Buckles in 1928. When he moved to Washington a member of the Putnam County Bar As- became Florida’s State, the governor appointed Mary Ken- sociation. second female nerly Buckles Putnam County Judge in Judge Buckles, divorced from her first June 1931. She thus became Florida’s husband, married Mr. J. W. Buckles on judge. second female judge. (Edith Meserve At- March 2, 1935. She had no children. Mary kinson (1922) was a judge in Dade County A. Kennerly Buckles died in Palatka on from 1924 until 1933.) December 7, 1970, at the age of 87. Judge Buckles did not run for the Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 judgeship after her term expired in 1932; & 1949); Putnam County marriage re- instead, she chose to practice law. It was cords; Putnam County archives provided not until July 15, 1933, after passing the a Palatka newspaper obituary; conversa- bar examination administered by the tions with relatives Nancy Brown and State Board of Law Examiners, that Judge Dorothy Kennerly; conversations with Buckles was admitted to practice law by Justice Richard W. Ervin and Judge E. L. the Florida Supreme Court. Because she Eastmore.

Lois Rodgers Date of Admission: 1933

Lois Rodgers was born an attorney from Jacksonville who is still in Atlanta, Georgia, in the practicing at the age of 88, remembers early 1900s. She was listed Ms. Rodgers as a warm and kind lady as “Mrs. S. Lois Wilson” who helped the young attorneys “learn when she was admitted to the ropes.” Mr. Arnold remembers that practice law on July 15, Ms. Rodgers was the secretary to Senior 1933, after passing the bar Circuit Judge Dewitt Gray, but that when examination administered he returned to Jacksonville after World by the State Board of Law War II, Judge Gray was no longer on the Examiners, but she appears bench, and Ms. Rodgers was no longer to have retained her maiden working for the Fourth Judicial Circuit. name for career purposes. According to Ms. Rodgers had one daughter. Walter Arnold, the Bench and Bar of Florida (1935), she Sources: FSCBAA; B&B (1935) (photo); was the secretary to a circuit judge in the conversation with Walter Arnold. an attorney f rom Fourth Judicial Circuit. Walter Arnold, Jacksonville ... remembers Ms. Rodgers as a warm and kind lady who helped the young Mary Jo Williams Garris attorneys “learn (1908 - ) the ropes.” Date of Admission: 1933

Mary Jo Williams Garris was born in She was admitted to practice law in Florida Jasper, Florida, on April 27, 1908, and was on November 4, 1933, after passing the bar the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. P. Williams. examination administered by the State

64 Board of Law Examiners. woman elected to the State Democratic Ms. Garris practiced in Daytona Beach Executive Committee (1934). from at least 1933 to 1935, and was work- She was also on the board ing as an assistant city attorney in 1939. of commissioners of Halifax Prior to 1939, she had served as lieutenant District Hospital. colonel on the staff of one of Florida’s gov- Mary Jo Williams married ernors. She was a member of the Florida Philip F. Garris and they had State Bar and Volusia County Bar Asso- one daughter, Maribelle. ciations and is listed in Who’s Who Among Sources: FSCBAA; B&B Women Lawyers (1939). (1935) (photo); MALD She had the distinction of being the first (1939).

Edith G. Uman (1910 - 1999) Date of Admission: 1934 Ms. Uman spent Edith G. Uman was born did a considerable amount of considerable time on May 15, 1910, to Joseph probate work. The Hills- in her husband’s and Minnie Brown. She borough County Bar As- was admitted to prac- sociation’s centennial law office in the tice law in Florida history states that Tampa Theatre on January 8, 1934, Ms. Uman studied Building and after passing the and prepared cases soon became bar examination ad- throughout her ca- ministered by the reer, but left court interested in State Board of Law appearances to the law. Af ter Examiners. her husband. She much reading of Ms. Uman prac- is listed in Who’s law books, an ticed with her hus- Who Among Women band, Morrice S. Lawyers (1939), as extension course Uman, in the firm having a general by mail, and a Uman & Uman. They civil practice. ref resher course were the first husband Ms. Uman was a f rom attorney and wife legal team in member of the Florida Tampa. Mr. Uman arrived State Bar, Hillsborough R. J. Duff , she in Tampa in 1926 after gradu- County, and Tampa Bar As- sat for the bar ating from Dickinson Law School in sociations, as well as the National examination and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and he brought his Council of Jewish Women. She was a was number one bride to Tampa in 1932. Ms. Uman spent Democrat. considerable time in her husband’s law Ms. Uman and her husband had two of the 43 who office in the Tampa Theatre Building and sons, Dr. Martin A. Uman, who is a pro- passed. soon became interested in the law. After fessor at the University of Florida, and much reading of law books, an extension Myron F. Uman. The family belonged to course by mail, and a refresher course Temple Schaarai. Ms. Uman passed away from attorney R. J. Duff, she sat for the on December 20, 1999. bar examination and was number one of Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 the 43 who passed. & 1949); correspondence and conversa- According to attorney Edward Cutler, tions with Dr. Martin A. Uman and grand- the Uman firm had a varied practice and son Jon Uman (photo).

65 Catherine Stewart Howarth Carter (1913 - ) Date of Admission: 1934

Catherine Stewart Howarth Ms. Carter and her son Brinly S. Carter, Carter was born in Chester, Pennsyl- a fourth-generation lawyer, in DeBary. vania, on September 30, 1913. She is They specialized in wills, trusts, probate one of three daughters born to Casper and real estate, but Ms. Carter also did a Howarth and Mary Stewart Howarth lot of domestic relations law. Upon Brinly (1908). Her mother was the first wom- Carter’s death, the law firm was sold. an to graduate from Stetson University Ms. Carter was a member of the Florida College of Law. Her grandfather, Judge State Bar Association and served on its pro- Isaac A. Stewart, was a prominent at- bate committee and constitution commit- torney and criminal judge in DeLand. tee, the latter of which proposed a revision Ms. Carter received her Bachelor of the Florida Constitution. She was a bar of Arts degree and Bachelor of Law representative during the 1945 and 1947 degree from Stetson. Graduating from sessions of the Florida Legislature. She was law school in May 1934 at the age of 20, also a member of the Volusia County Bar In 1934, Ms. she was the youngest attorney to receive Association, Phi Delta Delta International Carter entered her law degree from Stetson. Because the Legal Fraternity, Pilot Club, and Zeta Tau law required that attorneys be 21 years of Alpha, for which she served as the Stetson into private age to practice in Florida, Ms. Carter filed chapter’s counselor and advisor for many practice with a special petition to have her disqualify- years. The Florida Bar awarded her a silver her mother, ing age disability removed, which was plate in 1984 in honor of her 50 years of Mary Stewart granted, and Ms. Carter was admitted to legal practice in the state. practice law in Florida under the diploma In 1947 Ms. Carter’s interest in real Howarth, and privilege on June 20, 1934. estate law led her to become a founding her uncle, Tom An article in the DeLand Sun News trustee of the Lawyers’ Title Guaranty B. Stewart, dated May 23, 1934, announced her admis- Fund. That company, which is now known who was a state sion to the Florida bar and outlined her as Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund, has achievements during undergraduate and been in existence for over 50 years and is representative law school. She was president of several presently the largest title insurance under- f rom Volusia academic sororities, and was voted the writer in Florida and sixth largest in the County. That “most intellectual woman student.” The nation. Her son, John Carter, relates that law firm, article states her intention to further her his mother is very proud of her role in es- education at George Washington Univer- tablishing Lawyers’ Title Guaranty Fund. Stewart & sity, and she did, in fact, receive an M.A. in Stewart, was International Law from that university. one of the Upon admission to the bar in 1934, Ms. oldest firms Carter entered into private practice with her mother, Mary Stewart Howarth, and in continuous her uncle, Tom B. Stewart, who was a state practice in representative from Volusia County. That Florida, having law firm, Stewart & Stewart, was one of been established the oldest firms in continuous practice in Florida, having been established in in 1882 by her 1882 by her grandfather and remain- grandfather. ing continuously at the same location. In 1935 Catherine Howarth married J. Howard Carter, and the law firm was later (L-R) Catherine Stewart Howarth Carter, Mary renamed Stewart, Howarth and Carter. Stewart Howarth-Hewitt (1908), Mary S. Parker The family firm was eventually run by (1961 photo)

66 Ms. Carter is lived on and off for ten years. a Democrat and Since 1946 Ms. Carter has summered in served as Con- Vermont. She owned the DeLand Hotel with gressional Com- her mother and the Samoset mitteewoman for Colony Club, a summer resort the Fifth District in Morrisville, Vermont. She of Florida. She speaks French and Spanish also served as and enjoys reading, sewing, campaign man- and antique jewelry. Catherine ager for Millard Stewart Howarth Carter cur- F. Caldwell, Jr., rently lives in DeLand. in his successful Sources: FSCBAA; campaign to become governor in 1945. SUCLAL&R (photo); B&B In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Cart- (1935) (photo); DWL&J; “Miss er also had a marriage counseling practice Howarth Is Youngest to Win from the mid-1960s until the mid-1980s. A.B. and LL.B.,” The DeLand The Carters had four children -- John Sun, May 23, 1934, at 3; Stewart Howarth Carter, Ph.D., who is Arthur E. Rancke, Jr., Alyce a teacher, writer, professor and financial Hockaday Gillingham, & consultant; Mary Sara Carter Moreau, Maxine Carey Turner, Volusia The West who is a teacher and artist; Brinly Stewart Side (West Volusia Historical Society Carter (1940-90), who was an attorney; 1986); Brinly - Stewart - Howarth - Carter and Casper Howarth Carter, who is a Families,” Reflections - West Volusia In 1947 Ms. teacher. Mr. and Ms. Carter divorced in County, (West Volusia Historical Society); the late 1940s, and Ms. Carter married e-mail and correspondence from John B. Carter’s interest Henry G. Lewia in April 1958. He died in Carter (photos); MBD. in real estate law the mid-1970s in Puerto Rico, where they led her to become a founding trustee of the Lawyers’ Title Guaranty Fund... now Frances M. Lovelace known as (1913 - 1996) Attorneys’ Title Date of Admission: 1934 Insurance Fund, which has been in existence for over Frances M. Lovelace was born on Janu- by the State Board of Law Examiners on ary 1, 1913, to Homer B. and Edna Wood- her first attempt with only her high school 50 years and is ward Lovelace. Upon graduating from high education and some extension courses she now the largest school in St. Petersburg, Ms. Lovelace, at had taken from the University of Florida title insurance the age of 17, started working as a secre- and Florida State College for Women. She underwriter in tary for Ed W. Harris, a local attorney who was 21 years old when she was admitted was studying for the bar examination. At to practice law in Florida on December 5, Florida and sixth this time, Florida allowed attorneys to be 1934. largest in the admitted locally after passing an examina- Ms. Lovelace became an associate in nation. tion given by circuit court judges, but to be Mr. Harris’s firm, focusing in civil practice, admitted by the Florida Supreme Court, with specialities in probate, real property, they had to pass the bar examination. Mr. and domestic relations. Harris hired Ms. Lovelace to assist him in Frances Lovelace married James T. the office while he studied. Mr. Harris did Earle, who was also an attorney, and the not pass the bar examination on his first two practiced law in St. Petersburg in the attempt in 1933, so Ms. Lovelace made a firm Lovelace and Earle. bet with him to see who could pass the Alan Sundberg, former Florida Su- exam first, him or her. She won the bet and preme Court Justice, recalls that when passed the bar examination administered he first started practicing law in 1958,

67 Ms. Lovelace was one of the few women chair of the Pinellas County Democratic lawyers in St. Petersburg. At that time, Executive Committee, and belonged to Ms. Lovelace her practice was limited to family law. the St. Petersburg Women’s Democratic He also recalls that she practiced with Club and Upper Pinellas County Women’s ... passed the Tom Collins, who had been on the circuit Democratic Club. She unsuccessfully ran bar examination court bench and then returned to practice. for the Florida House of Representatives administered Whether Ms. Lovelace was an associate of in 1952. by the State Collins or simply shared office space with Ms. Lovelace belonged to the Soropti- him is not known. mist International of St. Petersburg, serv- Board of Law Ms. Lovelace was a member of the ing as president and director; was on the Examiners on Florida State Bar Association, and she executive board of Mound Park Hospital her first attempt chaired its committee on married women’s Women’s Auxiliary as first vice-president; with only her rights and served as secretary of its junior was secretary of the Mound Park Hospital bar section. As a member of The Florida Foundation, Inc.; and was a member of Pho high school Bar, she served on its public relations com- Chapter, Phi Delta Delta. She is listed in education and mittee. She was also a member of the St. Florida Women of Distinction (1956). some extension Petersburg Bar Association. Ms. Lovelace Frances Lovelace retired from private courses she had was an early member of the Florida As- practice in the late 1970s. She died on sociation for Women Lawyers and served September 7, 1996, and was survived by taken f rom the as a director during the years 1954-56. her daughter Bonnie Earle. University of She is listed in Who’s Who Among Women Sources: FSCBAA, 1 Eloise N. Cozens, Florida and Lawyers (1939). Florida Women of Distinction (1956), Florida State She was Democratic State Committee- MBD; conversations with Bonnie Earle woman from Pinellas County, was vice- and Alan Sundberg. College for Women. She was 21 years old when she was admitted to practice law in Florida on Rebecca Bowles Marks December 5, 19 3 4 . Hawkins Date of Admission: 1935

Rebecca Bowles Marks Hawkins gradu- tant, and speech writer. After two years ated from the University of Florida College as a special assistant, she was appointed of Law with an LL.B. degree by Attorney General J. Tom Watson to be in 1935 and was admitted to Assistant Attorney General of Florida on practice law in Florida under October 1, 1948. This appointment made the diploma privilege on Oc- Ms. Hawkins Florida’s first woman assis- tober 8, 1935. She was subse- tant attorney general. quently admitted to practice In 1953, when each Florida Supreme in Alabama in 1963. Court Justice was authorized to employ a Except for a two-year stint full-time law clerk, Ms. Hawkins became with a law firm in Bradenton, the first female full-time research as- Florida, and four years of prac- sistant to Justice B. K. Roberts, and she tice (1963-67) with her hus- continued in that position until 1960. She band N. Hawthorne Hawkins, spent a lot of time on criminal cases, which Jr., as Hawkins & Hawkins, were appealed from the circuit courts di- in Birmingham, Alabama, and rectly to the supreme court because there Fort Walton Beach, Florida, were no intermediate appellate courts her legal career was in gov- until 1957. In 1960 Rebecca Bowles Marks ernment service. Ms. Hawkins wed her second husband, N. Hawthorne began working in the attorney Hawkins, Jr., an attorney, and she left general’s office as a secretary, legal assis- government service to practice with him.

68 Upon her husband’s death, Ms. Hawkins the Altrusa Club in Tallahassee, a member returned to the attorney general’s office in of the Music Guild, American Association 1967, and became head of the opinions of University Women, St. Andrew’s Society, division in 1969. She remained employed and Meals on Wheels. She also served on in the attorney general’s office until her the board of trustees of Trinity Method- As NAWL’s retirement in 1976. ist Church in Tallahassee. Additionally, Ms. Hawkins was also active in bar she was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi delegate f rom associations. She was a founding mem- Delta Delta, Tallahassee Toastmistresses 1961 to 1963, ber of the Florida Association for Women Club, Tallahassee Women’s Golf Associa- she was the only Lawyers and served as its president in tion, City Golf Board of Tallahassee, and female in the 1954-55. She was active in the National the Tallahassee Chapter of the American Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) Red Cross. American Bar and served as Florida’s delegate on the In 1987 Ms. Hawkins won the Brenau Association’s council of delegates in 1955-57, recording University Distinguished Student Award House of secretary in 1956-58, second vice-presi- and the Professional Achievement Award Delegates and dent in 1958-59, first vice-president in from the University of Florida. In 1997 she 1959-60, and president in 1960-61. As won the Alumni Outstanding Achievement was Florida’s NAWL’s delegate from 1961 to 1963, she Award from the University of Florida. She first woman was the only female in the American Bar is listed in Florida Women of Distinction to serve in Association’s House of Delegates and (1956). the House of was Florida’s first woman to serve in the Ms. Hawkins and her first husband, House of Delegates. She was also a mem- Herbert Marks, to whom she was married Delegates. ber of the American Bar Association and from 1942 to 1946, had one child, Jonathan She was also a the International Federation of Women B. Marks. Ms. Hawkins currently resides member of the Lawyers. with her son and his family in Washing- American Bar During her term as president of NAWL ton, D.C. The family will have three gen- in 1960-61, Ms. Hawkins accomplished erations of lawyers when granddaughter Association and her objectives of initiating an “exchange Natasha graduates from Harvard Law the International program” of mutual service and assistance School, which is her father’s alma mater. Federation between members of the International As she approaches her 90th birthday, she of Women Federation of Women Lawyers and NAWL still enjoys playing bridge. members, of encouraging women lawyers Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R; Lawyers. to seek judicial posts and work actively 75NAWL (photo); MBD; Annual Reports in support of their candidacies, and of of the Attorney General (1976); Allen Mor- ensuring active participation by NAWL ris, Florida Handbook; Women in Govern- members in the observance of the newly ment; Eloise N. Cozens, Florida Women of recognized Law Day on May 1. Distinction (1956); conversations with Ms. Ms. Hawkins was a charter member of Hawkins and Justice Richard W. Ervin;

L. Grace Williams Burwell (1904 - ) Date of Admission: 1935

L. Grace Williams Burwell was born or five.” As a child, Ms. Burwell helped in Decatur County, Georgia, on April 26, her family on the farm and “dropped 1904. Her father owned a turpentine mill corn and peanuts” in the fields along- and her mother farmed the family’s 200 side her mother, brothers and sisters. acres of sugar cane and peanuts. She was Ms. Burwell never attended college, the oldest girl of nine children and learned but instead took law classes at night to cook for the family when she was “four from a lawyer in Tallahassee, Madeline

69 Jacobson Cox, who had been admitted to who were very active in Ft. Lauderdale the bar in 1927. She worked during the society in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Ms. Bur- day as a secretary to the head of the State well was an active member and president Banking Department while she studied of the Soroptimist Club in Fort Lauderdale, Ms. Burwell law at night. She was admitted to practice and was very active in politics with the never attended law in Florida on December 2, 1935, after Democratic Party. Though she was poised passing the bar examination administered and refined in her social life, she never college, but by the State Board of Law Examiners. abandoned her love of the outdoors nor her instead took law Ms. Burwell tried to find a job as a rugged pioneer skills as a marksman, as classes at night lawyer in Jacksonville, but was told she evidenced by the photograph of her with f rom a lawyer needed more experi- a .22 rifle taken in ence. She worked for Quincy, Florida, in in Tallahassee, the law firm Milam, 1940. When asked Madeline McIlvaine & Milam recently if she had Jacobson Cox, in Jacksonville, do- ever shot anything who had been ing secretarial work with that rifle, Ms. and legal work. In Burwell responded, admitted to the 1937 she was a sec- “I killed a snake bar in 1927. She retary to the State that very day.” worked during Temperance Com- Ms. Burwell’s hus- the day ... while mittee in Tallahas- band died in 1972. see, earning the She continued to she studied law same salary as the work until well into at night. She legislators -- $6 a her 80s and is still was admitted day. alive and kicking at to practice law In 1940 Grace 95. “Sissy,” as she is Williams married known to her family in Florida on State Representa- and friends, lives December 2, tive John S. Burwell with her sister, Alice 1935, af ter from Ft. Lauderdale Gomis, and niece, passing the bar and worked with Sandra Thompson, him during the 14 years he served in the in St. Cloud, Florida, where she graduated examination Florida Legislature. She joined him as a from high school. Although she never had administered broker in his commercial real estate busi- children of her own, Ms. Burwell inspired by the State ness and continued to work for the busi- and helped raise her great niece, Lauren Board of Law ness, John S. Burwell Realty, in Ft. Lau- Jor-gensen, who graduated from Cornell derdale until it closed in 1976. Her work Law School in 1986 and is an Assistant Examiners. encompassed real estate sales, specializing United States Attorney in Miami. in commercial property and acreage, and Sources: FSCBAA; conversation with included preparing legal documents for Justice Richard W. Ervin; biography writ- closings. ten by Lauren Jorgensen (photos). The Burwells were a glamorous couple

When asked recently if she had ever shot anything with that rifle, Ida Maud Hyman Ms. Burwell Date of Admission: 1935 responded, “I killed a snake Ida Maud Hyman was admitted to practice law in Florida on December 11, 1935, after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. that very day.” Source: FSCBAA.

70 Anna Brenner Mankes Meyers (1896 - 1983) Date of Admission: 1936

Anna Brenner Mankes Meyers was also active in the National Association of born on December 18, 1896, to Joseph Women Lawyers, serving as state direc- and Edith Brenner in Lodz, Poland. She tor in 1945-46, treasurer in came to the United States and became 1945-46, Florida delegate on a naturalized citizen in 1925. She was the council of delegates in educated at Teachers College, Columbia 1949-51 and 1963-65, and University, in New York City, and Brooklyn assembly delegate in 1951- Law School, St. Lawrence University, in 52. Ms. Meyers was also vice Brooklyn. Ms. Meyers was admitted to the president and treasurer of the bar of New York State on March 20, 1934. International Federation of After moving to Miami, she worked as a Women Lawyers. legal secretary during the day and studied In addition, Ms. Meyers for the bar examination at night. She was was a member of the Florida admitted to practice law in Florida on State Bar, Dade County Bar, January 9, 1936, and before the United American Bar, and New York States Supreme Court on May 12, 1941. Women’s Bar Associations. She is listed The law was not Ms. Meyers’ first career. in Who’s Who Among Women Lawyers She was a registered nurse in New York, (1939). As one of Florida’s most prominent public school teacher, and rural social work- attorneys, she was named “Outstanding er. After becoming a lawyer, she engaged in Woman of 1957.” private practice in New York in 1934 and She was also a member of the National Ms. Meyers then practiced in Miami Beach from 1936 Federation and Miami Business and Pro- was the chief until her retirement in 1978. She was an fessional Women’s Clubs (board member of motivator and a associate with William I. Brenner. the latter), American Association of Social founding member Ms. Meyers was appointed by Gover- Workers, Hadassah, National Council of nor Charley E. Johns to the Dade County Jewish Women, Dade County Federation of the Florida School Board in 1953 and served on that of Women’s Clubs (legislative chair), Board Association board until December 1971. During this of Greater Miami Jewish Federation and of Women time, she worked for integration in the Welfare Fund, and the Social Service Bu- Lawyers, and schools. As a member of the school board, reau of Greater Miami (board member and she was instrumental in establishing president). she served as its Miami-Dade Community College, Baker Ms. Meyers was widowed in 1939, and first president in Aviation School, and educational televi- sometime between then and 1949 she 1951-52. sion in Dade County. married Benjamin Meyers. She died on Ms. Meyers was the chief motivator and November 8, 1983, at the age of 86. a founding member of the Florida Associa- Sources: FSCBAA; DWL&J; 75NAWL tion of Women Lawyers, and she served (photo); MBD; MH, Sept. 28, 1951 & Nov. as its first president in 1951-52. She was 16, 1969.

The law was not Ms. Meyers’ first career. She was a registered nurse in New York, public school teacher, and rural social worker. Af ter becoming a lawyer, she engaged in private practice in New York in 1934 and then practiced in Miami Beach f rom 1936 until her retirement in 1978.

71 Although shy Kate L. Walton Engelken at heart, Kate (1913 - 1985) Walton was Date of Admission: 1936 an aggressive Kate L. Walton Engelken was born in favors because she was a woman and even advocate of her Palatka, Florida, on February 5, 1913, the had to prove herself to her father, who clients’ interests second of four daughters. did not initially approve of in the courtroom. Her father, J. V. Walton, was women in the law. She was at her one of Florida’s most promi- Kate Walton was an in- nent attorneys. Ms. Walton tensely private person, creative best obtained her undergradu- which was reflected in her when trying cases ate degree from Randolph- representation of Zelma before the all- Macon Women’s College in Cason in a suit against male juries of her Ashland, Virginia. In 1933 Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, she enrolled in the Univer- the Pulitzer Prize-winning time. sity of Florida College of author of The Yearling. The Law, from which she gradu- lawsuit marked the first ated in 1936. Interestingly, time a disgruntled literary she received her best grades subject sued the author of in such esoteric subjects as an autobiographical work Roman law and admiralty, for invasion of privacy. The but received only average legal battle lasted more grades in areas in which than four years and culmi- she would excel in her practice -- criminal nated in one of the most colorful trials in Kate Walton law and trial practice. Ms. Walton was ad- Florida history. was an intensely mitted to practice law in Florida under the In 1952 Ms. Walton married Frederick private person, diploma privilege on February 19, 1936. Engelken, a retired director of the U.S. Nephew William Townsend recalled that Mint who was 30 years her senior. The which was his Aunt Kate graduated from law school couple had no children, so she “adopted” reflected in her in the morning and was working that af- the eleven children of her sisters. Two of representation ternoon in her father’s well-established law her nephews, Robin Gibson of Lake Wales of Zelma Cason practice. Thus, Kate Walton became one of and William Townsend of Palatka, are law- Putnam County’s first women lawyers. (By yers. In fact, Mr. Townsend was his aunt’s in a suit against 1939, three of the 22 attorneys in Palatka law partner, and Mr. Gibson clerked in her Marjorie Kinnan were women: Kate Walton, Margaret Col- office for two summers. Mr. Gibson recalled Rawlings, the lins (1930), and Mary Kennerly Buckles that a lot of the legal work was done for Pulitzer Prize- (1933).) the less fortunate without fee. Kate Walton Kate Walton was a dedicated and had a standing policy that legal work done winning author versatile lawyer and was not content to for any minister or church was pro bono. of The Yearling. take a secondary position to others of She helped many indigent clients, both at The lawsuit her profession or remain tucked away in her office and at home, which led to her marked the first an office practice. She was primarily a being described as a “one-woman legal aid litigator, with a large array of criminal society” in her obituary. time a disgruntled and civil clients. Although shy at heart, Kate Walton maintained her private literary subject Kate Walton was an aggressive advocate practice for nearly 50 years until she was sued the of her clients’ interests in the courtroom. forced by illness to retire shortly before author of an She was at her creative best when trying her death in 1985. cases before the all-male juries of her time. Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R; MHLD autobiographical She encountered sexual discrimination (1939, 1945 & 1949); Patricia Nassif work for invasion in those early days, but handled it with Action, Invasion of Privacy: The Cross of privacy. equanimity. She explained to her nephew Creek Trial of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; William Townsend that “everyone oper- MBD; correspondence from Robin Gibson ates under disabilities.” She asked for no (photo).

72 Marjorie Marie Hammer DeShaw (1916 - 1983) Date of Admission: 1936

Marjorie Marie Roy G. DeShaw, an osteopathic physician Hammer DeShaw was from the Northeast. The couple had two born in 1916 in DeLand, daughters, Linda Lee and Gayle. Ms. Florida, to Frank H. DeShaw stopped practicing in 1945 when Hammer and August her first child was born. Although she Bergh Hammer. Her intended to return to the practice of law, father was an agent she never did. with the Standard Oil Ms. DeShaw was active in the Episcopal Ms. Warren Company. Church, Pi Beta Phi Sorority, the Camelia Ms. DeShaw grad- Circle of the DeLand Garden Club, and the went to work uated from Stetson University College of Stetson University Alumni Association. af ter high school Law in 1936 and was admitted to practice She was a life-long resident of DeLand for Governor law in Florida under the diploma privilege and died as the result of a massive heart Fuller Warren, on June 17, 1936. She practiced law with attack on April 4, 1983, at the age of 69. Neill Jackson, P.A., in DeLand. Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); then an attorney On January 31, 1942, she married Dr. MBD; conversation with Gayle Ray. practicing in Jacksonville. Ms. Warren attended no college or law school, but learned her Patricia LaVerne Pacetti profession by reading the law Warren books in Warren’s (1913 - 1982) office library. Date of Admission: 1936 Her niece recounted “Aunt Patricia LaVerne Pacetti Warren was 75 miles to the north. They “became the Pat was brilliant. born the middle child of three on June 30, core population” of that city, where they 1913, in Jacksonville to Verot Pacetti and “still today exert tremendous political and She could have Elizabeth Masters Pacetti. Ms. Warren’s social influence,” according to anthropolo- done anything she niece, Inez Pacetti Halil, disclosed that gist Patricia C. Griffin’s book, Mullet on wanted to do.” their extended family was among the the Beach: The Minorcans of Florida 1768 1,400 immigrants who came to New Smyr- - 1788 (1991). na Beach, Florida, in 1768 from Greece, No one knows why Ms. Warren decided France, Italy, Spain and Minorca to work to study law. There were no lawyers in on the indigo plantation of the Briton, the family. Ms. Warren’s father was a Dr. Andrew Turnbull. After 200 years of construction contractor and her mother Spanish rule, “the Floridas” had been in was a homemaker. “However, Aunt Pat the hands of the British since 1763. was brilliant,” Ms. Hilal recounted. “She After suffering for years under condi- could have done anything she wanted to tions bordering on slavery, these “Mi- do.” norcans,” as they were called because Ms. Warren went to work after high 80 percent of them were natives of the school for Governor Fuller Warren, then Balearic island of Minorca, eventually fled an attorney practicing in Jacksonville. Ms. to sanctuary in St. Augustine, which was Warren attended no college or law school,

73 but learned her profession by reading the Brick, Warren and Intrater, which was a law books in Warren’s office library. She general practice law firm located at 4709 took the bar examination administered Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland. Ms. by the State Board of Law Examiners Warren’s specialty was negligence. In 1956 and was admitted to practice in Florida Ms. Warren was admitted to practice be- on August 1, 1936, at the age of 23. Building a fore the United States Supreme Court. Ms. In 1939 Patricia Pacetti married Fuller Halil remembers her Aunt Pat as a com- law career and Warren. Ten years later, however, when pulsive worker, who dressed lavishly and raising a family Fuller Warren was elected as Florida’s drove a convertible. During these years, during the 1930s, 30th governor (1949-53), the two had Ms. Warren was women’s club president already been divorced for several years. Reba Daner and international parliamentarian in the Ms. Warren never married again. There Pilot Club. was a pioneer were no children from the marriage, and According to her death notice in The of women today the fact of the marriage is omitted from Florida Times-Union, Patricia Pacetti balancing career every biographical sketch found about Warren eventually retired to St. Peters- Fuller Warren and Patricia Pacetti War- and family. “It’s burg, but returned to Jacksonville shortly ren. (Fuller Warren married Barbara before her death on June 15, 1982. hard work,” Manning in June of 1949, six months after Sources: FSCBAA; Dorothy Thomas, she said, “but if he became governor.) Women Lawyers in the United States; mar- you love your In 1950 Patricia Warren moved to the riage index of the Office of Vital Statistics, Washington, D.C., area and was admit- children and Florida Department of Health; conversa- ted to the Maryland bar that same year. tion with Inez Pacetti Halil. your profession, She was a partner in the law firm of it no longer becomes work -- it’s a fulfilled opportunity.” Reba Engler Epstein Daner Date of admission: 1936

Reba Engler Epstein Daner was born termined to get her degree. “Gender should in Key West, Florida, the only child of not determine your future. It’s fairer that immigrant parents. She was a member of girls as well as fellows have choices that the first full-time graduating class at the we did not have many years ago,” she University of Miami School of Law said. Ms. Daner remembers “thinking of in 1930, earning a Bachelor of Arts no other career besides law.” in political science and an LL.B. Upon graduation, she practiced with in 1936. She was the only woman her husband, and upon Mr. Epstein’s death to graduate from the University in 1943, she took over his law practice. De- of Miami School of Law that year spite the fact that she “always wanted to and was admitted to practice law do trial work,” she was limited to tax work in Florida under the diploma priv- in the established practice of her husband. ilege on August 5, 1936. During Building a law career and raising a family law school she became a member during the 1930s, Reba Daner was a pio- of Rho Beta Omicron, Beta Chi, neer of women today balancing career and Wing and Wig, and the debate family. “It’s hard work,” she said, “but if team. you love your children and your profession, At the time Ms. Daner it no longer becomes work -- it’s a fulfilled was attending law school, she was opportunity.” In 1948 she married Jack L. married to Leonard Epstein, an Daner. She has two daughters, Lynette attorney specializing in taxation. While in and Anna. school, Ms. Daner raised a family and was In addition to practicing law, Ms. Daner seven months pregnant when she gradu- has been very active at the University of ated from law school. Ms. Daner explained Miami and in the community. “UM has that in those days girls were expected to become a wonder. It was small and quite get married. She did, but she also was de- unknown when I had attended,” said Ms.

74 Daner. In the late 1960s, she helped fund Chapter of Hadassah and the Sister- the new moot courtroom. “They didn’t have hood, Temple Israel; Miami Beach Public moot court when I was in school. When I Library (former chair) and Metropolitan first went into a courtroom as Dade County Library Boards; a lawyer, I trembled. That’s and the American Library why the moot courtroom is Trustee Association, of which so important,” she said. In she was a director. Finally, 1988 Ms. Daner committed Ms. Daner is a member of $2 million to build a new the Iron Arrow honorary so- addition to the law library. ciety, Omicron, Delta Kappa, Donating the funds for the the university’s endowment library addition blended her committee, the George Mer- two biggest interests, which rick Society, and the Law are libraries and the law. She Alumni Associa-tion’s board has been very active in local, of directors. state and national library In 1989 she was awarded associations, and has helped an honorary LL.B. degree by persuade Congress to pass Muhlenburg College of Penn- laws to increase federal funds to libraries sylvania. Ms. Daner retired in 1989 and across the nation. presently resides in Miami Beach. Ms. Daner is a former president of the Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (pho- Florida Library Trustee Association, and tos); MBD; conversation with Ms. Daner has been a member of the Greater Miami (photo).

Mattie Belle Edwards Davis (1910 - ) Date of Admission: 1936

Judge Mattie Belle boom town. So, on July Edwards Davis was born 1, 1926, Judge Davis on February 28, 1910, in moved with her family Ellabell, Bryan Coun- to Miami, where she has ty, Georgia. Her great- resided since. grandfather, Thomas Once in Miami, Alexander, had been a Judge Davis attended county judge in Georgia, Southern Business Col- and her grandfather, lege and was employed Thomas Morgan, had as a legal secretary in served as sheriff. Her the law office of Troy C. father, Frank Edwards, Davis in 1927. Unable was in the resin and to afford law school, she turpentine business, studied law under his and her mother, Eddie tutorship and took the Morgan Edwards, was bar examination admin- a homemaker. Judge Davis istered by the State Board of attended public schools in Law Examiners on October 19, Georgia and graduated from 1936. On November 29, 1936, Douglas High School in 1926 the results were announced at the age of 16. At that time on the front page of the Miami the turpentine business was Herald: Mattie Belle Edwards depressed and Miami was a was the only person from Mi-

75 ami and the only woman in Florida to egates from 1967 until 1975 and again pass the bar at that time. She was, in fact, from 1977 until 1981. She was editor of admitted to practice law in Florida the day the Women Lawyers Journal for NAWL before, on November 28, 1936. in 1981-82. On June 6, 1937, she married Troy C. Judge Davis also served as president Davis, and they practiced law together in of the Miami Business and Professional Miami until his death on August 1, 1948. Women’s Club from 1952-54; was district As a widow and single parent of two step- director of the Business and Professional daughters, she managed to surmount the Women’s Club in Miami-Dade, Broward, She was one gender-biased attitudes of her generation, and Monroe Counties from 1956-57; was of the charter and she practiced law individually until legislative chair of the Dade County Feder- members of 1959. Women lawyers were far and few ation of Women’s Clubs from 1954-78; was between at the time, but through her com- on the executive board of the Florida Lung the Florida mitment, determination and proficiency, Association (formerly Florida Tuberculosis Association of Judge Davis passed muster. In so doing, and Respiratory Disease Association) from Women Lawyers she discredited the traditional sexist at- 1960-66; and was president of the Dade- (FAWL) in titudes of the legal profession and opened Monroe Lung Association for two years. doors for the women who followed. On July 14, 1959, Mattie Belle Davis 1951, and served Judge Davis also began to assume was appointed as the first woman judge as its president leadership roles in community, civic and of the Metropolitan Court of Dade County. in 1957-58. At professional organizations. In 1948 she or- Dade County had not had a woman on the time FAWL ganized the Haven School (now the Haven the bench since Judge Edith Meserve At- Center), a residential school for mentally kinson (1922) was defeated in 1933, and was organized, retarded persons in Miami-Dade County. it would not see another woman on the there were only She was appointed to the Dade County bench until Judge Dixie Herlong Chastain 75 to 100 women Zoning Commission in February 1959. (1930) was appointed to the Juvenile and lawyers in She joined Zonta Club of Greater Miami Domestic Relations Court in 1965. She in 1955 and chaired various committees thus became Dade County’s second woman Florida, and 38 in Zonta International in the 1970s and judge. She was the only woman judge with showed up for 1980s. county-wide jurisdiction from 1959 until the first meeting. She was one of the charter members of 1965. She was reelected to that position the Florida Association of Women Lawyers numerous times. (FAWL) in 1951, and served as its presi- While on the bench of the metropolitan dent in 1957-58. At the time FAWL was or- court, Judge Davis had jurisdiction of some ganized, there were only 75 to 100 women misdemeanors and violations of county lawyers in Florida, and 38 showed up for ordinances, but she handled mostly traffic the first meeting. Today, the organization cases, sometimes hearing as many as 200 boasts over 400 members in Miami alone a day. Judge Davis was particularly hard and over 2,000 statewide. Judge Davis has on drunk and careless drivers. An offender served for many years as FAWL’s historian whose sentence was no more severe than and is currently writing a book on FAWL’s being forced to spend a few weeks in a history. hospital emergency room watching the Judge Davis is also active arrival of injured accident victims counted in the National Association for himself or herself lucky, indeed. Women Lawyers (NAWL). She Through the traffic court program of the served as assembly delegate American Bar Association, Judge Davis in 1954-55, Florida delegate became involved in traffic safety activities. on the council of delegates in She was appointed by President Lyndon 1957-61, business manager in B. Johnson on March 16, 1967, to serve 1960-61, treasurer in 1961- on the National Highway Safety Advisory 62, corresponding secretary Committee (1967-70). She was a member in 1962-63, vice president of the National Safety Council and served in 1963-64, president-elect on its executive committee and board of in 1964-65, and president in directors (1965-80). While serving on the 1965-66. She was the NAWL National Safety Council Women’s Confer- delegate to the American Bar ence Executive Committee, a program for Association House of Del- driver improvement was developed into

76 the council’s defensive driving course. chairman, she presided at the founders This program has been taken by millions conference of the National Association of of drivers. She was also a member of the Women Judges (NAWJ) on October 27, Governor’s Highway Safety Commission of 1979, in Los Angeles, California, and she Florida (1971-81), having been appointed was elected as a life member of NAWJ in by Governor Reubin Askew and reappoint- 1981. ed by Governor Bob Graham. Judge Davis She was selected by the Miami Daily also served several years on the Florida News as one of ten of Dade’s Outstanding Association of Women Highway Safety Women of 1958; she was honored in 1960 Leaders. As a member of these groups, by Theta Sigma Phi (now Women in Com- On July 14, she was instrumental in persuading the munications) as a Community Headliner; 1959, Mattie Dade County Citizens Safety Council to she received the Outstanding Service and Belle Davis hold defensive driving classes for traffic Devotion to Sorority Award from Kappa was appointed as offenders. Hundreds of thousands of traffic Beta Pi Legal Sorority International in offenders, either voluntarily or by order of 1961; she received the Gavel Award for the first woman the court, have attended these classes. Meritorious Service from the National judge of the On January 1, 1973, pursuant to the Association of Municipal Judges in 1962; Metropolitan revision of the Florida Constitution, the and when she was installed as NAWL Court of Dade Metropolitan Court of Dade County was President on August 7, 1965, she was pre- merged into the County Court of Dade sented with a proclamation by the Board County. Dade County. With the merger, Judge Davis’s of County Commissioners of Metropolitan County had not caseload broadened to include divorces, Dade County proclaiming that date as had a woman breach of contract suits, landlord-tenant “Women Lawyers Day.” Andrew College on the bench cases, and a variety of other civil actions. bestowed an honorary associates degree Judge Davis was consistently reelected in humanities upon her in 1966 when since Judge as county court judge until she retired on she spoke at a commencement ceremony. Edith Meserve December 31, 1980, due to the age limita- Allstate Insurance Companies gave her Atkinson (1922) tion in the Florida Constitution. From the Allstate Safety Crusade Certificate of was defeated 1981 through June 1996, she continued Commendation in 1967; Zonta Interna- to serve periodically for several months tional also recognized her contributions in 1933, and it a year as acting county and circuit court to safety with an award, as did the Dade would not see judge in Miami-Dade County. County Citizens Safety Council in 1968. In another woman Judge Mattie Belle Davis’s other affilia- 1981, Judge Davis received an award from on the bench tions, activities and honors are numerous, the Conference of County Court Judges indeed. She was, of course, a member of the of Florida; she received the Trail Blazer until Judge American Bar Association, and she was Award from the Women’s Committee of Dixie Herlong elected as a Fellow of the American Bar One Hundred of Dade County in 1982; Chastain (1930) Foundation in 1970. On February 14, 1987, and she was named FAWL’s “Historian was appointed she received the Fellows’ 50-Year Award as for Life” in 1986. In 1986 the Dade County a lawyer who, during more than 50 years FAWL chapter recognized Judge Davis as to the Juvenile of practice, had “adhered to the highest the “Finest Example of Jurist, Counselor and Domestic principles and traditions in the legal pro- and Mentor” and established the Mattie Relations Court fession.” She is in the only woman to have received 19 6 5 . this award. She has been a mem- ber of the Dade County Bar As- sociation, Con- ference of Coun- ty Court Judges of Florida, and Kappa Beta Pi Legal Sorority International. Anna Meyers, Florence E. Allen, Judge Mattie Belle Davis and Judge Dixie As temporary Chastain.

77 Belle Davis Award, which is presented annually to “honor the woman who has done the most to promote women and the administration of justice.” March 3, 1987, was proclaimed “Judge Mattie Belle Davis Day” by the Board of County Commissioners of Metropolitan Dade County. She received an award from the National Conference of In 1998 Special Court Judges of the American Bar Association the Miami- that same year, and that same Dade County organization presented her Commission on the with the Founders Award in Status of Women 1992. On October 15, 1988, Judge Davis was presented nominated Judge with the National Safety Davis to the Council’s Distinguished Ser- Florida Women’s vice to Safety Award. On Florida Women’s Hall of Fame, and she was Hall of Fame, March 3, 1994, she was honored by the inducted into the Hall of Fame by Governor Community Coalition for Women’s His- and she was Lawton Chiles in November 1998. tory, Inc., as a “Woman of Impact of South Judge Mattie Belle Davis presently inducted into the Florida.” By proclamation of Wilfredo Gort, resides in Coral Gables. Hall of Fame Acting Mayor of the City of Miami, July 12, Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 by Governor 1996, was proclaimed “Miami Centennial & 1949); nomination packet prepared ‘96 Women’s Hall of Fame Day” honoring Lawton Chiles in for the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame; 68 Miami pioneers, including Judge Davis 75NAWL (photos); MH, July 15, 1979 & November 1998. as a “Pioneer Judge.” In 1998 the Miami- Feb. 1, 1987; historical text written by Dade County Commission on the Status Judge Davis; conversations with Judge of Women nominated Judge Davis to the Davis (photo).

Jeannette O. Gifford Mullens Smith (1910 - 1981) Date of Admission: 1937

Professor Jeannette O. Gifford Wayne State University, in 1931. Profes- Mullens Smith was born in Keno- sor Smith returned to Miami to attend the sha, Wisconsin, on September 23, University of Miami School of Law. 1910. Her father, John Gifford, Professor Smith was not an ordinary a world-renowned tropical bota- student. According to a fellow colleague, nist, moved the family to Miami, she “really knew her stuff,” so she was Florida, in 1919. She grew up in the never “picked on” by her fellow students. Miami area under the watchful eye It is speculated that “maybe even some of her mother, who stayed at home professors were afraid of her because to care for her children. After high she had the strength and the will to fight school, Professor Smith moved to back.” Professor Smith graduated magna Detroit and graduated from the cum laude from the University of Miami Harper School of Nursing, an affiliate of School of Law with her LL.B. degree in 78 1937, and was admitted to practice law bill to take them to school, they were in Florida under the diploma privilege on confronted with a spectacular sight -- a As the ex- June 26, 1937. She noted that her “pre-law woman professor with “a mind as sharp as servicemen used studies included mainly social sciences,” a razor!” By the end of the war, the influx the G.I. bills and believed she was “fortunate in at- of servicemen into the law school was at to take them to tending the law school at a time when the its peak. These students, however, tended Seminar System was possible.” to be men and were often her own age, if school, they were Immediately following graduation, she not older! The attitude of the student body conf ronted with became the law librarian for Dade County was very serious and respectful, and their a spectacular and set up the Dade County Law Library acceptance of a woman law professor was sight -- a woman at the Courthouse. Professor Smith a wonderful surprise. Professor Daniel described her work at the library as “es- Murray, a fellow colleague, recalled that professor with “a sentially teaching.” She found that many “the reception of a woman in the legal field mind as sharp as lawyers had “only rudimentary ideas of was better than it was in actual practice. a razor!” looking up law. To these I taught legal UM Law School would take someone with bibliography.” She taught fellow attorneys a brain regardless of their sex.” He remem- how to use the library resources efficiently bered with fondness Jeannette Smith, for legal research and frequently engaged whom he described as “unassuming and in legal discourse on new facets of the law. modest, with an incredible ability to argue She became acquainted with nearly all of on any subject, and win!” It was Professor the practicing attorneys who came to know Smith’s character that helped her through and value her capabilities. her first years of teaching. “She was not She often discussed questions of law soft,” Professor Murray explained, “but she with Circuit Court Judges Barns, Williams, was simpatico with her students.” Professor Trammel and Gomez, and occasionally did Jeannette Smith thought of herself Daniel Murray legal research for them. She also did work politically as “nominally a Democrat . . for the Assistant County Solicitor Thomas . keenly aware of man’s responsibility to ... recalled that H. Anderson, who did most of the appellate man.” She thought she could “impart some “the reception work for that office. She remained with sense of social responsibility in (her) teach- of a woman in the library for four years until the birth ing.” She was interested in teaching many the legal field of her son. Then, in the summer of 1942, different areas of the law, but she at first Professor Smith worked in Mr. Anderson’s taught Commercial Law, Constitutional was better than law office. Law, and Contracts. With the onslaught of it was in actual When World War II broke out, Professor the Uniform Sales Act, the Uniform Com- practice. UM Smith earned some public teaching experi- mercial Code, and several constitutional Law School ence as a volunteer Red Cross instructor law changes, she was forced to specialize. for nurses’ aides. She believed this experi- She reluctantly gave up Commercial Law, would take ence “indicated [she had] platform pres- becoming a specialist in Constitutional someone with a ence and some aptitude for group teach- Law. She stated, “Most laymen and women brain regardless ing.” When the war ended, Professor Smith don’t realize that, by law, the Court was of their sex.” He was ready to return to the law. In February intended to be a political body. To have 1949, she became an assistant professor of the opportunity to get that idea across to remembered, law at the University of Miami School of lawyers who will be legislators and lead- with fondness, Law. Dean R. A. Rasco was impressed by ers in the community is wonderful. They, Jeannette Professor Smith’s work as Dade County in turn, can carry this information to the Smith, whom law librarian, her law practice, and the public.” “great deal of work she [had] done with As a professor, Jeannette Smith was a he describes as the circuit judges for a number of years.” stickler for linguistic precision. In addi- “unassuming and Professor Smith was the wife of Thomas tion to her main interest in Constitutional modest, with an F. Smith, the Publicity and Convention Bu- Law, she also taught Contracts to first- incredible ability reau Director for the City of Miami Beach. year students. Crediting Professor Corbin They had four children, two girls (Priscilla and the first Restatement of Contracts, to argue on any Lindgren and Mrs. Kipp Price) and two boys Professor Smith scrupulously studied subject, and (Jay Reynolds and Todd Gifford). At the the field of contracts and devoted herself win!” time she began as an assistant professor, to illuminating the field’s nuances. She the three eldest children were 2, 4 and 6. demanded precision and clarity of her As the ex-servicemen used the G.I. students – teaching was her passion.

79 In 1959 she was promoted from assistant want any kind of career and also want to professor to associate professor. In 1969 be married are always going to feel they she was promoted to full professor have a bear by the tail,” she said in a 1969 –– the only woman among 22 men Miami Herald interview. “They know elevated to that rank within the that both of these activities have to take university. There were two other preeminence in their lives and they both women teaching at the law school can’t. You end up constantly having guilt at that time – M. Minnette Massey feelings.” But she encouraged women in (currently a professor of law) and the study of law, stating, “Women lawyers Soia Mentschikoff. are in there as ‘natural leaders,’ too. All it During the years Professor takes is for them to show that they’re just Smith taught at the law school, as interested in the preservation of justice she co-authored the first edition as their male counterparts.” of Florida Constitutional Law After 27 years of teaching, Professor (1958), and she wrote several Smith retired in May 1976 when Soia articles on contracts, published in the Mentschikoff was dean of the law school. University of Miami Law Review. She was Once retired, Professor Smith and her a member of the Wig and Robe and Phi husband planned trips abroad to Scotland Alpha Delta, for which she was faculty and France. Shortly after her retirement, advisor. She was a participating member however, Professor Smith learned she had Professor Smith of The Florida Bar in efforts to rewrite cancer. On August 22, 1981, Professor Smith the Florida Constitution, and she assisted lost her struggle with cancer and died. Her scrupulously the Florida Supreme Court Committee on legacy as one of the first 150 women lawyers studied the field Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal in Florida and one of the pioneer women in of contracts and Cases. She was interested in poverty law legal education, remains. devoted herself to and was one of three law faculty members Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (pho- to develop a program in Law and the Poor, tos); Louise McMurray, “Weekdays at the illuminating the which received a Ford Foundation grant. Waterways -- A Goodbye Visit with Jennie field’s nuances. In 1971 she was appointed to the board Smith,” The Barrister, Vol. XXXV, No. 1, She demanded of directors of Legal Services of Greater at 23 (Spring 1977); MH, Aug. 22, 1981; precision and Miami, a post she held until 1974. MBD; conversations with Dean Jeannette Along with her many remarkable F. Hausler, Professor Richard Hausler, clarity of her professional accomplishments, Professor Professor Daniel Murray, and Dean Herma students – Smith remained focused on the important Hill Kay. teaching was her balance of family and career. “Women who passion.

Along with her many remarkable professional accomplishments, Professor Smith remained focused on the important balance of family and career. “Women who want any kind of career and also want to be married are always going to feel they have a bear by the tail,” she said in a 1969 Miami Herald interview. “They know that both of these activities have to take preeminence in their lives and they both can’t. You end up constantly having guilt feelings.” But she encouraged women in the study of law, stating, “Women lawyers are in there as ‘natural leaders,’ too. All it takes is for them to show that they’re just as interested in the preservation of justice as their male counterparts.”

80 Daisy Richards Bisz (1909 - ) Date of Admission: 1937

IF YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY THE GAME, GET THE NAME WOMEN ATTORNEYS: There are at least 25 women out of 700 attorneys in Miami licensed to practice law. Only a meager dozen, however, are following their chosen vocation, and still fewer are in business under their own firm names. Considering the fact that most of the women barristers received high marks when they took the state bar examination or graduated from accredited Universities, and a majority have ordinary good looks, a Whirligig fan asks why the Portias do not appear in court oftener. The answer is, Whirligig understands, too many are finding it easier to make a living in the less competitive field of stenographic or clerical work.

This small undated clipping was pasted beautiful New Yorker, Edith Beniteau into the scrapbook of a remarkable at- Anderson, a gifted speaker and musician torney, Daisy Richards Bisz, admitted to as well as an ordained Baptist minister. the bar in 1937. Ms. Bisz opened her own They had eight children, five of whom still law office and practiced for many years. survive in the year 2000. By any standard, the exceptional Daisy At 13 months of age, Ms. Bisz contracted Bisz had a dramatic life and polio and was temporarily exceptional career. paralyzed from the neck Born in Kansas City, Mis- down. The fact that she was souri, in 1909, Daisy Lue left with some disabling Gammage is the daughter of problems has in no way the now deceased Reverend diminished her enthusiasm Doctor A. E. Gammage, first for the practice of law and pastor of Riverside Baptist other interests. Church in Miami. Son of an After graduating from illustrious British family, high school in 1927, she Dr. Gammage, at age nine, wanted to become a ste- accompanied his family to nographer and enroll in a the United States in 1872. five-month course at Pan In 1903 he married the American College of Com- merce, but she lacked the $90 tuition fee. A professor, upon learning of her plight, suggested she apply to a poor-girls loan fund sponsored by the Citizens & Southern Bank of At- lanta. She applied and was approved for a loan. Three months into the curriculum she was teaching shorthand and spelling and had won the typing award. Ms. Bisz was 18 years of age when she left the business college, which fulfilled its promise to assist her in obtaining employ- ment. She arrived at the law office of W. Ross Burton, who was sharing offices in Miami Daily News, April 8, 1938, (L-R): Mary Anne Leddy, Mattie Belle Davis, Daisy Richards the Olympia Building with Inman Padgett, Bisz, and Henry K. Gibson. another attorney. One day Ms. Bisz’s uncle,

81 Dr. Tom Gammage, came to the law office cupational licenses, was admitted to prac- with a mortgage on downtown property to tice in the United States District Court be foreclosed. Her uncle saw Mr. Burton for the Southern District of Florida, and put the mortgage instrument, note, and worked for the law firm of Loftin, Stokes abstract on his niece’s desk and heard him & Calkins as secretary to Senator Stokes instruct her to draw a bill of complaint for while searching for office space. During foreclosure. Seeing his niece do the work that short interim, the owner of Dixie Tire of a lawyer, he made the remark, “Daisy, Company, which serviced her automobile, you’ve got the game, but not the name,” asked her to draw a lease for his company. One day Ms. and he offered to pay the tuition if she As this was her first client, Senator Stokes Bisz’s uncle, wanted to study law. allowed her to draw the lease on firm time. Ms. Bisz’s uncle knew a lawyer who She obtained office space with Henry K. Dr. Tom taught law two nights a week in the South Gibson, who needed a lawyer to assist him Gammage, came Florida College of Law. Ms. Bisz enrolled in his law practice, in February 1938. Ms. to the law office and attended classes for 15 months, at Bisz’s first appearance in court was before with a mortgage the end of which her uncle asked if she Judge Heffernan of the Civil Court of Re- was ready to take the bar exam. Only four cord. The hearing was to argue a demurrer on downtown areas of law had been covered and the in a case pending in that court. She won a property to be exam tested on 32 subjects. She decided to dismissal. foreclosed. Her terminate her studies with the law college When Ms. Bisz was invited to join a uncle saw Mr. and proceeded to study entirely on her group of women lawyers, the members own. She studied every night after work were composed of practicing lawyers and Burton put and through the weekends. She haunted women who had degrees from other state the mortgage universities, but who were not admitted instrument, note, to practice in Florida because they did and abstract on not take the Florida bar exam, and thus were employed as secretaries. Ms. Bisz his niece’s desk was already a very active member of the and heard him Dade County Bar Association. Moreover, instruct her to she was also giving one day a week and draw a bill of Daisy more, if necessary, to the Selective Service System (1942-47), drawing wills free-of- complaint for Bisz with longtime charge to members of the armed forces, foreclosure. friend and helping their dependent families with Seeing his niece colleague, legal matters free-of-charge, playing the do the work of a Inman piano on Sunday at church, and taking Padgett care of her now busy law practice, all while lawyer, he made being a wife and homemaker for her hus- the remark, band, John A. Richards. These numerous “Daisy, you’ve the libraries, made outlines, and wrote a activities left her with no additional time got the game, but special “pony” or a brief synopsis of every to spend with the group. statute passed by the Florida Legislature Throughout her career, Ms. Bisz has not the name,” up to that time. She passed the bar exami- always maintained that she was a lawyer and he offered nation, which was given over the course and a lady but not a lady lawyer. She was to pay the tuition of two days, and was duly admitted to an active member of the Dade County Bar if she wanted to practice law on August 5, 1937. Association, sat on its courts committee, Esther Poppell (1933), who was working was its secretary for three terms, and was study law. as a secretary for E. Albert Pallot, called elected unanimously by its directors on Ms. Bisz to congratulate her on passing July 27, 1942, to fill the unexpired term of the bar exam, and said, “Now that you Director George Smathers when he went have your certificate, what are you going to serve in World War II. She was the first to do with it? Mine is on the floor under my woman to hold such a prestigious position desk.” Ms. Bisz responded she was going to with the Dade County Bar Association. practice law. She then said, “Good Luck.” In 1941 or 1942, Inman Padgett asked (Ms. Poppell later became a partner with Ms. Bisz to become a member of his firm Mr. Pallot.) and offered her $20,000 a year. She de- Ms. Bisz immediately applied for oc- clined, as she wished to remain indepen-

82 dent, but she offered to help him in his renewed her acquaintance with Leonard practice in exchange for office space and a Bisz, with whom she had graduated from telephone. He accepted and she remained high school in 1927. When she again with Mr. Padgett until August 1955, when chanced to meet him, he was associated she opened her own office in the Ingraham with Walter Harris in the Ingraham Build- Building. ing as an appraiser and was a member On March 18, 1954, Ms. Bisz was seri- of the American Institute of Real Estate ously injured in an automobile accident. Appraisers, as well as a realtor. They were Her left hand was almost severed, her married on June 30, 1955, and shortly wrist completely crushed, and a deep cut thereafter, Ms. Bisz left attorney Padgett’s Some of her more in her head required 76 stitches to close. office to open her own office in the Ingra- noted clients She was hospitalized for three months. ham Building. This was a continuation of were Associated The injury did not stop Ms. Bisz; in fact, a long and successful practice. Grocers, Inc., she returned to her practice before all the Daisy Richards Bisz was an attorney graft work was complete. Federal District of record in a number of appellate cases. for whom Ms. Court Judge Lenore Nesbitt (1958) remem- Although the majority of her work was in Bisz was bers that Daisy Bisz wore beautiful the probate court, she also handled general counsel; and fashionable scarves, which sophisticated commercial litiga- Florida Retail matched her attire, to cover tion. In 1987, at the June bar the grafted area. It was in convention in Orlando, she and Grocers, Inc.; this state that Ms. Bisz trav- 29 members of The Florida and Boston eled to Washington, D.C., in Bar who had practiced law Red Sox October 1954 to be admit- for 50 years were honored baseball legend ted to the Supreme Court and received their 50-year of the United States and certificates. In 1990, due to Ted Williams, to the Court of Military her husband’s illness, Ms. with whom she Appeals, the country’s two Bisz was required to spend has shared a highest courts. more time at home. She gave close personal She was also permitted up her office in the Coral to practice before the Depart- Gables Federal Savings & Loan f riendship over ment of the Treasury and the Association Building, which she the past 50 Foreign Claims Commission, had rented since 1978, and began years. where she obtained five judgments sharing space with attorney John M. against the Republic of Cuba for confisca- Thomson, because zoning would not permit tion by Fidel Castro of real and personal practicing from a home. property owned by American citizens. In addition to her legal commitments, Some of her more noted clients were Ms. Bisz has also been a member of the Associated Grocers, Inc., with over 300 University of Miami endowment commit- members and for whom Ms. Bisz was tee since 1967; the advisory board of regis- general counsel; Florida Retail Grocers, trants for the U.S. Selective Service System Inc.; and Boston Red Sox baseball legend (1940-47); the Reserve Officers Ladies As- Ted Williams, with whom she has shared sociation, USAR a close friendship over the past 50 years. School, Univer- Prior to Fidel Castro’s takeover, she made sity of Miami a number of trips to Cuba to see American School Chapter, clients employed by a major sugar com- of which she pany to assist them in their legal matters was president; in the United States. the Estate Plan- Ms. Bisz was offered a county court ning Council of judgeship, but declined, choosing instead Greater Miami to remain in private practice. In her prac- (director 1984- tice, she charged and was awarded the 85); and the Soci- same fees as other successful lawyers. ety of University At the age of 21, she married her first Founders, Grand husband, John A. Richards, who died Founder, University of Miami (1986). She Ms. Bisz, who is pic- tured fifth from right, of a serious heart ailment in 1951 after has contributed to American Jurisprudence represented Florida 20 years of marriage. In 1954 Ms. Bisz Pleading & Practice Forms and is listed Retail Grocers.

83 in Who’s Who of American Women (3d ed. of practice. 1963). Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 Daisy Richards Bisz opines to the & 1949); MBD; conversations with Daisy young lawyer of today that the law is a Richards Bisz and review of articles in her Daisy Richards jealous mistress, and you’d better love it scrapbook (photos); collaboration by John Bisz opines to or leave it. She still loves it after 63 years M. Thomson; photo by Nancy Schleifer. the young lawyer of today that the law is a jealous mistress, and you’d better love it or leave it. Diana Dorothea Coopersmith She still loves it (1915 - 1981) af ter 63 years of Date of Admission: 1937 practice. Diana Dorothea Coopersmith was admitted to practice law in Florida on August 5, 1937, after having passed the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. She was a partner in the Miami firm Weinstein & Coopersmith with Natalie Weinstein (1933). An article in the Miami Herald, while reporting on their representation of a criminal defendant, stated that theirs was the first all-feminine law firm in the state. Ms. Coopersmith was a founding member of the Florida As- sociation for Women Lawyers. She died on January 13, 1981. Sources: FSCBAA; MBD; MHLD (1939); MH (photo).

Rose Elizabeth Deeb Kitchen (1909 - 1993) Date of Admission: 1937

Rose Elizabeth Deeb tent with this practice, Ms. Kitchen was born on Kitchen was removed from March 17, 1909, in Tal- school and sent to work at lahassee, Florida, and an early age. This was very was the fifth of eleven distressing to her. Her old- children. Her parents er brother, Charles Deeb, were from Lebanon and who was only 11 years old, immigrated to Tallahas- stepped in and persuaded see in 1905. She grew up their father to deviate from in a very traditional Arab tradition and allow her to male-dominated environ- continue her education. ment. She graduated from Leon In the Deeb family, it High School in 1928 as was traditional for children the co-valedictorian of her to be taken out of school class. She was accepted in the third or fourth grade so that they at Florida State College for Women, but could work in family businesses. Consis- her father removed her after one day. He

84 had heard that she intended to become a she was working with the legislature, one teacher, and he refused to allow his daugh- of her responsibilities was to draft bills. ter to pursue this course of study. When new legislators wanted to propose Her brother Charles stepped in again legislation, it was Ms. Kitchen’s job to cre- and suggested that she join him in ate the bill that would be debated in the studying law. He was attending classes House of Representatives and Senate. Over conducted by Madeline Jacobson (1927) the years she met and helped many young in downtown Tallahassee. Brother and legislators who subsequently became lead- sister initially began the training together. ers in Florida politics. Her son Deeb recalled Of ten she would While she became very excited about law, meeting Lawton Chiles shortly after he was study at night Charles decided to drop out. Ms. Kitchen elected to the United States Senate. When af ter the family begged her brother to continue because introduced, Senator Chiles immediately she knew her father would not permit connected mother and son. He told Deeb had gone to bed. her to be out of the house in the evening that “Miss Rose” was one of the reasons he She kept her books without one of her brothers. became a senator. Ms. Kitchen also helped under the sheets When Charles dropped out of the pro- Governor Reubin Askew in his early years gram, her brother George and his wife and would read with the legislature. by flashlight so Mary covered for her while she attended She retired in 1979 from legislative ser- classes. Often she would study at night vices, but did not leave public service. Upon that her father after the family had gone to bed. She kept retirement, she was appointed by Governor would not know her books under the sheets and would read Askew to the Florida Board of Osteopathic what she was by flashlight so that her father would not Medical Examiners, on which she served as doing. Ms. know what she was doing. Ms. Kitchen a consumer member until 1986. spent five years “reading the law” before Ms. Kitchen was active in several local Kitchen spent five attempting the bar examination. She bar associations. She became a member of years “reading passed the bar examination on her second the Florida Association of Women Lawyers the law” before attempt, and was admitted to practice law shortly after it was formed in 1951, and on August 5, 1937. She did not initially attempting the bar was a founding member of the Tallahassee practice law. She was fascinated with and examination. Women Lawyers in 1980. She was also a loved the law, but there were few, if any, member of the Florida Government Bar female role models for her. Instead, she Association, and she was one of the first worked in various businesses in Tallahas- senior directors in the Tallahassee Bar As- see through World War II. sociation. In 1941 she married and had three children -- E. C. Deeno Kitchen, Deeb Paul Ms. Kitchen died on April 9, 1993. Dur- ing her lifetime, she constantly overcame In 1949 she began Kitchen, and Angie Kitchen Bouda. Short- working as an ly after the birth of her third child, Ms. barriers and difficulties. She obtained Kitchen and her husband separated and an education, raised her three children assistant attorney ultimately divorced. She never remarried. alone, and practiced law for 40 years in general for Ms. Kitchen had been working as a clerk a field dominated by men. Her son, Deeb Attorney General Kitchen, describes her as the prototype, in the Florida Department of Agriculture Richard W. and still was not practicing law. When she when there were no others, of a woman realized that she would not receive any who could balance work and family. She Ervin, who later child support from her ex-husband, she instilled in her children her love of public became a Florida decided to use her law degree to support service. Her son Deeno Kitchen is a lawyer Supreme Court and her other two children, Deeb Kitchen her family. In 1949 she began working as Justice an assistant attorney general for Attor- and Angie Kitchen Bouda, work for public ney General Richard W. Ervin, who later school systems. Her eldest granddaughter, (1964-75). became a Florida Supreme Court Justice Anne-Elizabeth Kitchen Williams, is a (1964-75). She worked in the statutory third-generation lawyer, and when she revision department and served as an became a member of The Florida Bar assistant attorney general during the in 1995, she chose to be sworn in at her tenures of Justice Ervin, James W. Kynes, grandmother’s grave site. and Earl Faircloth. Sources: FSCBAA; MBD; conversations In 1967 the statutory revision depart- with Deeb Kitchen, Deeno Kitchen, and ment was transferred to the Florida Legis- Anne-Elizabeth Kitchen Williams (photo); lature, and Ms. Kitchen’s job shifted. While Tallahassee Democrat, Apr. 11, 1993.

85 Thelma H. Waybright (1914 - ) Date of Admission: 1937

Thelma H. Waybright was admitted to Waybright was a partner in the firm with practice law in Florida on August 5, 1937, Edgar Waybright, Jr. Florida bar records after passing the bar examination adminis- show that she lived in North Miami in 1954 tered by the State Board of Law Examiners. and in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1967. She retired She was a partner in the Jacksonville firm in 1984 and her last known address is in Waybright & Waybright, which was founded Albuquerque, New Mexico. between 1936 and 1939 by Edgar Waybright, Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1939, 1945 & Sr., and Edgar Waybright, Jr. By 1939 Ms. 1949); The Florida Bar Directory; MBD.

Betty Lippmann applied herself and graduated Pearl Annah Williams magna cum Date of Admission: 1937 laude f rom the Pearl Annah Williams was admitted to practice law in Florida on August 5, 1937, after University of passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. Miami School Source: FSCBAA. of Law in 1937. She was the third woman to graduate magna Mildred Ernestein Wilson cum laude f rom Date of Admission: 1937 Miami. Mildred Ernestein Wilson was admitted to practice law in Florida on October 30, 1937. Although supreme court records indicate she was a Stetson graduate, the school’s records do not reflect that fact. Source: FSCBAA. Betty Speizman Lippmann (1908 - 1981) Date of Admission: 1937 Betty Speizman Lipp-mann, The Speizmans arrived in the United States who was born on June 28, 1908, in 1907 with their oldest child, Morris, and in Paterson, New Jersey, was the they settled first in Paterson, New Jersey, oldest daughter in a family of six and later in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. children. Her parents, David and Mr. Speizman worked in a silk mill belong- Elka Bornstein Speizman, were ing to his brother-in-law and became man- Jewish immigrants from Lodz, ager. During World War I, the family moved Poland, where her father had been to Ganonoque in the Thousand Islands, a weaver and her mother was the Quebec, Canada, but they later returned daughter of a wealthy merchant. to Wilkes-Barre.

86 Elka Speizman could not read English, Once in Orlando, Ms. Lippmann practiced but she loved Shakespeare, so her daugh- law with her husband. She was also ter read her the complete works of Shake- active in community affairs and speare out loud every night. When Elka served at times as president of B’nai Speizman died at the age of 44 of a stroke, Brith and the League of Women leaving six children, Ms. Lippmann helped Voters. to raise her younger siblings. During the In 1951 the Lippmanns were Great Depression, her father managed to divorced, and Ms. Lippmann was make a living dealing in junk. diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Ms. Lippmann graduated from high During the difficult time that fol- school and attended Syracuse University, lowed, she managed to build up her where she studied liberal arts, especially own law practice, at first from home political science. She was fascinated by and then from an office downtown. biographies of legal figures such as Oliver She formed a professional alliance Wendell Holmes and Clarence Darrow. with the attorneys in Fishback, When she heard of the new law school in Williams, Davis and Dominic in Miami, she eagerly applied and was ac- Orlando and sometimes worked in cepted. Although the classrooms were still cooperation with them. Most of her work, under construction (some were still only however, was solo. She worked primar- scaffolding), Betty Lippmann applied her- ily as a civil attorney, but on one or two self and graduated magna cum laude from occasions she was called upon to defend She formed a the University of Miami School of Law in a criminal case. She was nominated for professional 1937. She was the third woman to gradu- juvenile court judge, but declined due to alliance with ate magna cum laude from Miami; her poor health. the attorneys friend, Jeannette Gifford (later known as Ms. Lippmann was a member of Florida Professor Smith), also graduated magna State Bar, American Bar, Pan American in Fishback, cum laude that same year. Ms. Lippman Bar, and International Bar Associations. Williams, Davis was admitted to practice law under the She continued to practice until 1961, when and Dominic diploma privilege on December 2, 1937. she retired due to ill health. She spent the in Orlando Ms. Lippmann began her law practice remainder of her years as an invalid in in Coral Gables and soon met Sydney her home in Orlando. She died in 1981 of and sometimes Lippmann, an attorney and a graduate of complications from Parkinson’s disease. worked in St. John’s Law School, whom she married Despite her illness, Betty S. Lippmann cooperation in 1941. Mr. Lippmann was drafted and always remained interested in politics and with them. Most they moved to Philadelphia, near where law. he was stationed in the army. After World Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (pho- of her work, War II, the Lippmanns moved to Clermont, to); biography written by Marya Wolfman however, was Florida, and later to Orlando. They had (photo); conversation and e-mail from solo. two children, Alice Marya and Stephen. niece Laura S. Kerben; MBD.

Mary Lou Baker (1914 - 1965) Date of Admission: 1938

Mary Lou Baker studied pre-law at Petersburg and later in Clearwater Florida Southern College, graduated from with her father, Lee L. Baker, in the Stetson University College of Law in 1938, firm of Baker and Baker. Ms. Baker and was admitted to practice law in Florida also held government and political under the diploma privilege on September offices. In 1935 she served as an at- 30, 1938. Her studies also included a course tache at the Florida State Legislature, in journalism with Harris G. Sims, who and in 1941 she was chief of indexers was the editor of the Lakeland Ledger. of the Florida Statutes. Ms. Baker was Mary Lou Baker practiced law in St. also a political analyst.

87 Mary Lou Baker was a crusader for the bill was defeated, Ms. Baker stated in women’s rights. In 1940 she mobilized a debate on the House floor, “I may go down crusade to revise the Florida laws affecting in defeat, but my cause is destined to win, the property rights of married women and for women will not long tolerate the unjust to break down what she called a “woman- discrimination against their sex.” Refer- enslavement” code. The legislation she ring to women serving on juries, she said In the 1942 advocated was a “Married Woman’s Act,” at that time, “One can hardly overestimate election, she which would remove the legal disabilities the ignorance of the average juror in our defeated of married women, and it was approved by juries composed of males.” Representative the Florida State Bar Association. When Ms. Baker was married to Seale Har- the proposed bill was not enacted, a group ris Matthews, a U.S. Army major, and the Stanley of supporters rallied around Ms. Baker to couple had one son, Lee Harris Matthews. Marshall of elect her to the legislature. From 1946 to December 1947, Ms. Baker St. Petersburg In the 1942 election, she defeated and her son visited her husband, who was and was elected Representative Stanley Marshall of St. then stationed in Okinawa. She sent back Petersburg and was elected to represent articles from other points in the Orient that to represent Pinellas County in the House of Repre- appeared weekly in the Sunday Tampa Pinellas County sentatives. She was reelected in 1944. Tribune. Her analysis of the political align- in the House of She had the distinction of being the first ments in force at that time and her descrip- Representatives. woman legislator ever elected by popular tions of the Japanese people displayed a vote from Pinellas County, and the second sympathetic understanding and sound She was in the state’s history. discernment. Upon her return, she lectured reelected in She was a visionary in politics. As about her experiences in Okinawa. 1944. She had early as 1942 she was concerned about Ms. Baker died in 1965. the distinction gambling, which did not come into the Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); limelight until the 1950s. While in the leg- Clearwater Sun, (Oct. 31, 1954; Tampa of being the first islature, she sought to allow women “the Daily Times, June 23, 1949; MHLD (1945 woman legislator responsibility of serving on juries.” When & 1949); MBD. ever elected by popular vote f rom Pinellas County, and the second in the Alma Oyama Carlton ( - 1990) state’s history. Date of Admission: 1938

Alma Oyama Carlton had plenty of several decades while in Brevard County. family support when she decided to attend According to attorney Joseph Moss, a long- Stetson University College of Law. She time friend of the Carltons, Ms. Carlton and her husband, Doyle I. Carlton, whom was primarily involved in her husband’s she married on September 11, businesses, which included orange groves 1934, and her brother-in-law, Vas- and real estate development. He also or- sar B. Carlton, all graduated from ganized the First National Bank of Mer- Stetson in 1937. Vassar Carlton, ritt Island and served as chairman of its who went on to become a Florida board. The bank was eventually sold, but Supreme Court Justice (1969-74), the Carltons remained shareholders. Mr. was admitted to practice law in Moss described the Carltons as mainstays 1937, and Mr. and Mrs. Carlton in the business community and First were both admitted to practice Baptist Church. They were very active in law in Florida under the diploma charitable organizations, and were par- privilege on June 7, 1938. ticularly generous to students. After graduation, the Carltons Mr. Carlton’s cousin was Doyle E. Carl- moved to Cocoa in Brevard County. ton, who became Governor of Florida in Neither pursued legal careers, but 1929. The Carltons managed his election the two shared work on church campaign in Brevard County. and civic projects stretching over Alma Oyama Carlton died on December

88 8, 1990, in Merritt Island. She was sur- Sentinel-Star, Oct. 9, 1974; MBD; e-mail vived by her husband, brother and sister. from Senior Judge Clarence T. Johnson, Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); Jr.; conversation with Joseph Moss and Florida Baptist Witness, Jan. 17, 1991; Mrs. Jack Crockett (sister) (photo).

Osie Buck Crump (1885 - 1967) Date of Admission: 1938

Osie Buck Crump was born on May 30, Boulevard). 1885, in Rural Retreat, Virginia, and was Ms. Crump passed away on or about May educated at Roanoke College in Salem, Vir- 14, 1967, in Tampa, at the age of 81. Her ginia. She was admitted to practice law in obituary indicated that Christian Science Florida on December 7, 1938, after having services were held; that she was survived by passed the bar examination administered a brother, Mr. Edward H. Buck, of Tampa, by the State Board of Law Examiners. Florida, and nieces and nephews; and that Attorney William Reece Smith, Jr., contributions were requested for the Girls remembers Osie Crump when he started Club, in lieu of flowers. practicing in Tampa in 1949. Ms. Crump Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1945 & worked for Judge E. B. Drumright, whose 1949); Tampa Tribune, May 15, 1967; office was located on the corner of Franklin conversations with William Reece Smith, Street and Lafayette Street (now Kennedy Jr., and Senior Judge Morison Buck.

Lucille Cairns George Date of Admission: 1940

Lucille Cairns George was born in ated from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Gainesville as a third-generation Gaines- Georgia, with an A.B. degree in 1937, and villian. Her grandfather, George A. Cairns, entered the University of Florida College graduated from Davidson in of Law in 1937, graduating 1854 and taught one year at with a J.D. in 1940. She was the East Florida State Semi- admitted to practice law under nary in Ocala, which was the the diploma privilege on May forerunner of the University 28, 1940. of Florida. Her father, George After graduation, Ms. George H. Cairns, graduated from worked briefly in the trust “Ole Miss” in 1901, majoring department of the Atlantic in engineering. Mr. Cairns National Bank of Jacksonville was the first Gainesville city (1940-41), and as a clerk for civil engineer and Gainesville’s Giles Patterson, a Jackson- first city manager. Her mother, ville lawyer, in 1942. She was Lucille Colclough, attended Ag- invited to clerk for Florida nes Scott Institute and Ward Supreme Court Justice H. L. Belmont College. Ms. George is an only Sebring, but she declined because of her child. pending wedding. In 1942 she married Ms. George attended public schools in Theodore S. George, who had graduated Gainesville and knew Clara Floyd Gehan from Duke University with an M.S. and a (1933), who was teaching at Gainesville Ph.D. She clerked for Circuit Court Judge High School at that time. She gradu- John A. H. Murphree in Gainesville from

89 1943 to 1944. (board 1957-58); University of Florida Ms. George did not pursue a legal Engineering Wives (Faculty) Club (board career, as her husband’s military career 1957-58, president 1958-59); Florida Mu- required them to move out of the state for seum of Natural History Associates (board several years. Later, the couple returned 1985-89); University of Florida Art Gallery to Gainesville, and Mr. George Guild (board 1980-84, officer 1987-88); was appointed a professor at Gainesville Garden Club (board 1987-90); the University of Florida. The Historic Gainesville, Inc. (board 1990-95); Georges had three children Thomas (Civic) Center Associates (board -- Courtney (Mrs. Kemper 1987-90, 1996-present); Thomas Center Hyers), earned a J.D. at the Gardens, City of Gainesville (advisory University of Florida, Beverly board 1989-95); Evergreen Cemetery, City earned an M.S. in electrical of Gainesville (advisory board 1994- engineering from the Univer- 95); Evergreen Cemetery Association of sity of Florida, and Theodore Gainesville (board 1995-96, president obtained his J.D. from Emory 1998-99); First Presbyterian Church, University. Gainesville (session 1996-99, personnel Lucille Cairns George is committee 1991-96, property committee well-known in Gainesville 1970-71, 1985-88); St. Michael’s By-The- for her community activities, Sea Episcopal Church Women’s Auxiliary, serving on many boards and Cocoa Beach, Florida (officer 1954-55); and in elected offices: Junior League of Gaines- Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, Officer ville (board member 1961-62); Junior Wives Club (board member 1954-56). League of Greater Sustainers (president Lucille Cairns George continues to 1971-72, vice president 1988-89); Spring reside in Gainesville, Florida, where she Pilgrimage in Gainesville (chair 1985); has many friends. University of Florida Women’s Club (presi- Sources: FSCBAA, UFCLAL&R, conver- Ms. George did dent 1963-64, board member 1959-65); sations with Lucille Cairns George (photo), not pursue a University of Florida Newcomers Club corroboration by Theodore C. George. legal career, as her husband’s military career required them to move out of the Jeannette Edythe TeSelle state for several years. Later, the Plump couple returned (1916 - ) to Gainesville, Date of Admission: 1940 and Mr. George was appointed Jeannette Edythe TeSelle Plump was from Duke University in 1936 with an a professor at born in Antigo, Wisconsin, in 1916, the A.B. degree. Upon returning home, she the University of daughter of Mable Henshaw and Clarence applied for admission to the University of Florida. J. TeSelle. Her father was a prosecuting Florida College of Law. However, because attorney for six years and a circuit court she was a woman and not yet 21 years commissioner in Wisconsin for nine years. of age, she was required to sit out a year In 1928 the family moved to Gainesville, before being permitted to enroll. Thus, Florida, where her father joined the fac- she did not begin her legal studies until ulty of the University of Florida College 1937 and received her LL.B. degree in of Law. He was an outstanding teacher, 1940. She was admitted to practice law very demanding, and expected superior under the diploma privilege on May 28, performance from his students. Both Ms. 1940. Following graduation, she was an Plump and her brother John followed him attorney with the law firm of Knight and into the legal profession. Knight in Jacksonville, Florida, until the Jeannette TeSelle Plump graduated end of World War II. Thereafter, Ms. Plump

90 accepted occasional legal assignments, but John TeSelle, followed in their father’s has not otherwise engaged in the practice footsteps, teaching law in Oklahoma for 23 of law. years before becoming a U.S. Bankruptcy During World War II, Jeannette Te- Judge. Selle married John H. Plump, a naval To be near three of her four children, aviator and Duke University graduate. Ms. Plump currently resides in a retire- They raised four children -- two boys and ment community in Prescott, Arizona. twin girls. None of the children pursued Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R; con- a legal career, but a daughter-in-law is a versations with and correspondence from practicing attorney. Ms. Plump’s brother, Judge John TeSelle. Ms. Plump applied for admission to the University Dorothy Louise Schoessel of Florida College of Law. Tessmer However, because she was ( - 1967) a woman and Date of Admission: 1940 not yet 21 years Dorothy Louise Schoessel graduated from the University of Miami School of Law of age, she was and was admitted to practice law in Florida under the diploma privilege on June 10, 1940. She passed away on September 14, 1967. required to sit Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R. out a year before being permitted to enroll. Carlotta Van Cortlandt Washburne Faircloth (1917 - 1992) Date of Admission: 1941

Carlotta Van Cortlandt Washburne of Alpha Xi Delta Social Fraternity and Phi Faircloth was born in New York State on Delta Delta Legal Fraternity. After being November 21, 1917. She lost both parents admitted to the bar, Ms. Faircloth before she was two years old; both deaths moved to Washington, D.C., where could have been prevented today with she worked for the United States antibiotics. Although she lived with her Department of Justice. She re- grandparents after her parents died, Ms. newed her acquaintance with Mr. Faircloth was legally considered an orphan Faircloth, who was then working and a ward of the state. She always said for the Federal Bureau of Investi- that having so many legal disadvantages in gation, and the couple married in her early life contributed to her pursuing a March 1942. legal education and career. While employed by the Depart- Ms. Faircloth attended Stetson Uni- ment of Justice, Ms. Faircloth versity College of Law, where she met her worked on many appellate cases, future husband, James Neal Faircloth, who the most famous of which was that was in the class ahead of her. She graduated of the seven Nazi saboteurs who in 1941 and was admitted to practice law came ashore on the East Coast in in Florida under the diploma privilege on 1942 from German U-boats on a June 2, 1941. Ms. Faircloth was a member mission to destroy American power

91 and industrial plants. The saboteurs were of the Caroline Brevard Chapter, National eventually arrested, convicted of spying and Society of the Daughters of the American conspiracy, and six of them were executed. Revolution; secretary of the founding com- Shortly before the war ended, Mr. Fair- mittee of the Gadsden County Library; Ms. Faircloth cloth requested a transfer to Panama City, and member of the National Genealogical worked on Florida, and after the war, the Faircloths Society, New England Historic Genealogical many appellate moved to Quincy, Florida, which was Mr. Society, and Westchester County Historical Faircloth’s hometown. The couple had four Society in Ossining, New York. She was also cases, the most children, Carlotta Faircloth Appleman, a founder of an Ormond Beach Girl Scout famous of which Leona Faircloth Strickland, Harold Fair- Troop. was that of the cloth, and James Neal Faircloth, Jr. Ms. Faircloth’s grandparents who raised seven Nazi After settling in Quincy, Ms. Faircloth her lived with the family until their deaths. did not pursue a legal career. Rather, she Ms. Faircloth passed away in Quincy on Feb- saboteurs who returned to school, studying Spanish and ruary 23, 1992. Her husband and four chil- came ashore on obtaining a education certificate from dren survive her. One of her grandchildren, the East Coast Florida State University so she could teach Carlotta Appleman, has chosen the law as in 1942 from while her children were at home. Daughter her profession. She graduated in December Leona Faircloth Strickland recalls that her 1999 from law school at the University of German U-boats mother was an excellent teacher and that Mississippi (Ole Miss) and was sworn in to on a mission Spanish lessons did not end at school as practice law in Florida on April 12, 2000. to destroy evidenced by the fact that Ms. Faircloth Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); American power would even write grocery lists in Spanish. conversations with Judge James and Mrs. Ms. Faircloth was very active in the First Betty Lou Joanos and Jim Appleman; con- and industrial Baptist Church, teaching Sunday school, versations with and correspondence from plants. The and with the Royal Ambassadors, boys and Leona Strickland and Carlotta Faircloth saboteurs were migrant workers that could basically only Appleman. eventually speak Spanish. She was a former regent arrested, convicted of spying and conspiracy, and six of them were Lois Ellen Thacker Graessle executed. (1916 - ) Date of Admission: 1941

Lois Ellen Thacker Graessle was born Ms. Graessle did her undergraduate work on December 26, 1916, in Ohio and moved at Stetson University in DeLand, which to Kissimmee, Florida, with her parents, was where she pledged Florida Alpha in O.S. Thacker and Aillee Par- 1936. She graduated from the University of rett Thacker, and two younger Florida College of Law in May 1941 with an brothers when she was ten LL.B. She was admitted to practice law in years old. Ms. Graessle grew Florida under the diploma privilege on June up working in her father’s 2, 1941. solo legal practice, where she Of the 3,300 students who attended the learned typing and short- University of Florida, only 30 were women. hand. Her father was a tough Ms. Graessle was the only female in her taskmaster, who once had her law school class and one of only five women transcribe an entire trial in in the entire law school. In those days, no shorthand. Mr. Thacker was women were allowed to attend undergradu- enthusiastic and supportive ate classes at the University of Florida, and of his daughter’s decision to women could attend graduate classes in pursue a legal career. He as- architecture, pharmacy, or law only if they sumed that she would return signed an affidavit each semester verifying to Kissimmee and practice law that they were female, over 21, and could not with him after law school. obtain the courses they needed at any other

92 state institution. was inaugurated in 1969 by Jacksonville’s During Ms. Graessle’s tenure at the Uni- local paper, The Florida Times-Union, to versity of Florida, one of the many lessons honor outstanding women in she had to learn was not to blush during the Northeast Florida and South- daily verbal assaults from the university’s east Georgia whose achieve- male population when she, an avid tennis ments have demonstrated their player, would walk across campus in her dedication and leadership in tennis shorts, and throughout her initial areas of education, volunteer year of law school, when her fellow students service, and employment. She would shuffle their feet as she entered the was also honored as the 1980s classroom. “Eve of the Decade” for the Ms. Graessle’s plans to practice law with scope, consistency and quality her father ended abruptly on her law school of her life-long volunteer work graduation day in 1941, when she became in Jacksonville. For example, engaged to fellow law student Albert W. Ms. Graessle founded Hospice Graessle, Jr., of Jacksonville. They were of Northeast Florida more than married in July 1941; their wedding was ten years ago and, as an early hurried by the imminence of the Second president of the organization, World War. she lobbied the Florida Legisla- Having no Jacksonville legal contacts and ture long and hard to protect the without the support of today’s law school’s option of home, as well as hospital, care for referral or placement assistance services, terminally ill persons. Further, she was chair Ms. Graessle was unable to find a job as an of the Jacksonville Mayor’s Child and Youth attorney. So while her male counterparts Care Study, which involved over 100 people, were finding employment in law firms, Ms. required numerous public appearances to Graessle eventually went to work as a le- encourage implementation of the study’s gal secretary for E. T. McIlvaine of Milam, findings, and resulted in the establishment Ms. Graessle McIlvaine & Milam. When she previously of two Jacksonville emergency shelters for interviewed with Guy Botts for an attorney abused children. Ms. Graessle even lent herself states, “I position, she was not hired because, when a hand with the cleaning, painting, and am a feminist. asked if she had a brief to write would she decorating necessary to make the shelters And I hope my type it herself or dictate it, she gave what she habitable. Most recently, Ms. Graessle is work has made thought was the “right” answer – she would chairing a blue ribbon citizens’ group, the dictate it like the male attorneys would, even Special Committee on Building a Com- a better world though she knew she would probably do the munity System of Care for Children, which not only for my typing herself as she had always done. As is responsible for examining the status of daughters and she was told later, no woman would take residential resources and services for foster daughters-in- dictation from another woman. children within the greater Jacksonville By 1942 Ms. Graessle was pregnant with area. law but for my her first child, her husband was destined for In addition to her community service, sons and sons- the war in the Pacific, and she had to quit as Ms. Graessle herself states, “I am a in-law and my work at the Milam firm. Before she left, E. feminist. And I hope my work has made grandchildren of T. McIlvaine told her that after the war, she a better world not only for my daughters should talk to him about a “real” job. But by and daughters-in-law but for my sons and both sexes.” the war’s end, Ms. Graessle had two children, sons-in-law and my grandchildren of both with a third on the way. Eventually, Ms. sexes.” From everything read and heard, Graessle and her husband would have five Ms. Graessle’s hope has been fulfilled for children -- three girls and two boys. her family and for Florida. Ms. Graessle never did practice law but Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R (photo); has used the skills she obtained from her le- William Graessle, “Pioneering Women gal training. Not only was she the supportive Lawyers: Chasing Moonshiners, Shooting wife of a circuit judge, but Ms. Graessle also Horses And Those Uncivilized Boys,” Jack- has performed countless hours of volunteer sonville Bar Bulletin, Dec. 1994; article work and advocacy on behalf of women, chil- written by Lois Ellen Graessle (daughter) dren, the poor, and the terminally ill. She has and published in The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, won numerous local, state and national hon- at p. 56; conversations with William S. ors, including two Eve Awards. This award Graessle (son), and Ms. Graessle (photo).

93 Dorothea W. Broadbent Montgomery Keck (1917 - 1984) Date of Admission: 1941 She was one of Dorothea W. Broadbent Keck Montgom- in 1961, remembers Ms. Montgomery was the few women ery was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a smartly dressed woman who practiced attorneys in the on September 23, 1914. Her family moved probate, some misdemeanor criminal law, city and was a to Ocala, Florida, where Ms. Montgomery and domestic relations from her home. sole practitioner graduated from high school. She studied at Chief Justice Major Harding remembers Williams Junior College in Berkeley, Cali- Ms. Montgomery as practicing domestic vio- in the Riverside fornia, and at Stetson University in De- lence law out of her home. He remembered and Avondale Land. Ms. Montgomery earned her LL.B. few women in the Jacksonville bar in the sections of from Cumberland University in Lebanon, 1960s; there were only one or two when he Jacksonville for Tennessee, and was a member of Iota Tau was hired as a prosecutor in 1962. Chief Tau International Law Sorority. She was Justice Harding described Ms. Montgomery approximately admitted to the Tennessee bar in July as a “delightful, pleasant person.” 30 years. 1941. After passing the bar examination Ms. Montgomery was also an active Judge Tyrie administered by the State Board of Law advocate for animal rights. Her longtime Boyer, Sr., ... Examiners, she was admitted to practice secretary, Mary Beth Smith, recalled that law in Florida on December 8, 1941. Ms. Montgomery was frequently at City remembers Ms. Ms. Montgomery returned to Ocala where Hall, fighting dog ordinances she thought Montgomery her mother, Jean Broadbent, still lived after were bad. She wanted animals protected was a smartly her father’s death. Wallace Sturgis hired and opposed the use of tranquilizer dressed woman her as an associate. During the 1940s, Ms. guns, which she felt were inhumane. Ms. Montgomery was married to Karl M. Keck, Montgomery raised and showed German who practiced but by the 1950s, she had changed her name Shepherds, but she loved all dogs. probate, some to Montgomery, presumably after a subse- Ms. Montgomery’s office at 5024 Roselle misdemeanor quent marriage. In 1949 Ms. Montgomery Street was listed in the city directory and criminal law, was temporarily unemployed and living in with The Florida Bar until her death. She Delavan, Wisconsin. died in a nursing home on March 15, 1984, and domestic In the 1950s, Ms. Montgomery moved after an illness. There were no survivors. relations f rom to Jacksonville, Florida. She was one of Her hobbies in life included golf, winter her home. the few women attorneys in the city and sports, and gardening. was a sole practitioner in the Riverside Sources: FSCBAA; DWL&J; Jackson- and Avondale sections of Jacksonville ville City Directory; Jacksonville Times- for approximately 30 years. Judge Tyrie Union (obituary); conversations with Chief Boyer, Sr., who practiced law in Jackson- Justice Major Harding, Senior Judge Tyrie ville from 1954 until he became a judge Boyer, Sr., and Senior Judge Giles Lewis.

Letitia L. Norman (1915 - ) Date of Admission: 1941 Letitia L. Norman was born in 1915. She attended the University of Miami School of Law but does not appear to have graduated with a degree. She was admitted to practice law in Florida on December 8, 1941, after passing the bar examination administered by the State Board of Law Examiners. She practiced in Miami Beach. Sources: FSCBAA; UMSLAL&R (photo); MHLD (1945 & 1949).

94 Marvel Harriet Gallacher (1902 - 1991) Date of Admission: 1942 While working at the Boca Marvel Harriet Gallacher on April 3, 1942, and was was born in Belle Plaine, In- admitted to the New York Raton Hotel diana, on March 29, 1902, to bar in 1946. By 1947 she & Resort, Alexander and Mabel Edith was employed as an associ- Judge Deacon’s Gallacher. She was in the ate attorney with Senator determination Class of 1930 at Barnard Raymond Sheldon. College in New York City Although Ms. Gallacher to earn the and received a B.A. degree in may have lived for a short necessary French. Her address, when time in Charlotte, North Car- funds to finish not staying in the college olina, around 1949, she con- law school dormitory, was Port Tampa tinued to maintain residences City, Florida. in the Port Tampa City and and support In 1935 Ms. Gallacher Tampa areas until at least her family was employed as a stenographer by the 1984. In 1991, however, Ms. Gallacher was impressed resort law firm of Whitaker, Whitaker and Terrell living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. guest Howard in Tampa, Florida. Ms. Gallacher made the Ms. Gallacher was a member of the transition from law office stenographer Barnard College Alumnae Association. McCormick, to attorney after she graduated from the She passed away in 1991. who was the University of Florida College of Law in Sources: FSCBAA; DWL&J; correspon- son-in-law 1942. She was admitted to practice law dence from Donald Glassman, Barnard of John D. in Florida under the diploma privilege College Archivist. Rockefeller. The McCormicks had established funds to support artists. Judge Anne E’del Deacon Deacon inspired (1903 - ) Howard Date of Admission: 1942 McCormick to establish a Anne E’del Deacon was born in Phila- worked nights at the law office of Frank scholarship for delphia, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 1903. Mancill in order to financially assist her legal studies. As Her father, Charles E’del, family and to cover the the recipient of was employed at the Union cost of her legal studies. the McCormick League in Philadelphia, and Her schedule was grueling her mother, Anna E’del, was and, in an effort to ease the legal studies a homemaker. Tempered by financial strain, she took a scholarship, adversity at the earliest of hiatus from her legal stud- she returned ages, she saw only eight of ies and accepted employ- to finish law her eleven siblings survive ment as the secretary and to adulthood. Judge Deacon general assistant to the school at Temple attended Temple University manager of the Boca Raton University. in Philadelphia for college Hotel and Resort Club in and law school and gradu- Boca Raton, Florida. ated in 1939. She was the While working at the re- only female in a class of 45 sort, Judge Deacon’s de- students. termination to earn the While in law school, she necessary funds to finish

95 law school and support her family won various awards for her paintings, which impressed resort guest Howard have been displayed at several art shows. McCormick, who was the son-in- At the age of 52, she commenced her solo law of John D. Rockefeller. The legal practice in Lantana and is believed to McCormicks had established funds be the first woman solo legal practitioner to support artists. Judge Deacon in Lantana. She specialized in family law inspired Howard McCormick to and probate matters. In 1956 Anne E’del establish a scholarship for legal Deacon was appointed as the first munici- studies. As the recipient of the Mc- pal judge in Palm Beach County. She thus Cormick legal studies scholarship, became Florida’s fourth woman judge. she returned to finish law school at (Edith Meserve Atkinson (1922) was elected Temple University. to the Juvenile Court of Dade County in Having been spoiled by Florida’s 1924, Mary Kennerly Buckles (1933) was sunny weather, Judge Deacon re- appointed to the Putnam County Court in turned to Florida after law school 1931, and Mada Fraser Babcock McLendon to study for Florida bar admission. (1932) was elected Municipal Judge of Lake While studying for the bar, she Wales in 1938.) She remained a municipal worked for E. Harris Drew, who judge until 1966. became a Justice of the Florida During her tenure as judge, Anne Deacon Supreme Court (1952-71). Judge founded the Lantana Chamber of Com- Deacon was admitted to practice law merce, served as president of the Palm in Florida on April 23, 1942. Beach County Chapter of the American After this accomplishment, Judge Cancer Society, and was president of the Deacon decided to take flying les- Florida Association of Women Lawyers sons. She fell in love with her flight (FAWL) (1959-60). Others who served on instructor, Richard Deacon, the FAWL board of directors during her and married him soon after she term were Emma Roesing (1933) and Clara conducted her first solo flight in Cain Gore (1925). During her tenure as Lantana, Florida, in 1942. Dur- FAWL president, 65 women were admitted ing this time World War II was to The Florida Bar. In 1960 Anne Deacon in progress, and Judge Deacon married Paul Fenyvessy, a retired theater decided to enlist in the United owner from Rochester, New York. States Navy as a lieutenant In 1966 Anne Deacon retired as a judge junior grade, especially after her and continued to practice law at her own youngest brother, Ralph E’del, pace. Shortly after Mr. Fenyvessy’s death in joined the United States Army. 1988, she retired from the practice of law. She watched her She received special recogni- brothers enlist and tion for her accomplishments knew she should by then Florida Bar President also take action to serve her Steven N. Zack. country. She was a counter- Today Anne E’del Deacon intelligence officer assigned lives in St. Anthony’s Retire- to district intelligence at the ment Home in Delray Beach, Judge Deacon 7th Naval District in Miami, Florida. She continues to live handling spy cases and clas- as a woman of substance and rose to the rank sified information. Judge Dea- merits our of second highest con rose to the rank of second honor for her commissioned highest commissioned officer pioneering officer in the 7th in the 7th Naval District in accomplish- Miami. ments. Naval District At the conclusion of the war in 1945, Sources: in Miami. Judge Deacon used the G.I. bill to go to art FSCBAA; school at the Norton Art Institute in West 75NAWL; Palm Beach. She and her husband trav- conversations eled across the country to California, but with Jeanne after ten years, she returned to Lantana, Romer (pho- Florida, after a divorce. Judge Deacon has tos).

96 Caroline Adams (1919 - ) Date of Admission: 1942

Caroline Adams was were being drafted into born in North Carolina World War II. Ultimately, When Ms. on July 28, 1919. At the those male attorneys Adams took the time, her father was an went to war. Ms. Adams bar exam, it was architect working on an herself joined the U.S. assignment in North Navy. given in the House Carolina, and the fam- She was stationed at of Representatives ily ultimately returned the Cherry Point Ma- in Tallahassee. to Tampa at the end of rine Corps Air Base in Thirty-three World War I. Ms. Adams North Carolina, where received a scholarship she was the personnel applicants took the to Mercer University in officer for the engineer- test, and she was Macon, Georgia, where ing maintenance and one of the 11 who she studied journalism construction department. passed. for two years. Then she She was then transferred switched to law and at- from North Carolina to tended Vanderbilt Uni- the separation center versity in Nashville, Ten- in New York. The WAVES nessee. She studied there for (Women Accepted for Volun- Once admitted three years and graduated teer Emergency Service) and from law school in 1942. Ms. nurse separation center had to the bar, Ms. Adams was only one of two been established to assist Adams went to women in her law school those leaving the military by work in the Law class, and one of only three advising them of their rights Offices of Cody women in the entire law and helping them reorient school. into civilian life. Fowler, later Upon graduating from law Once all former military known as Fowler school, Ms. Adams took the personnel were reoriented and White. At Florida bar exam. Because she had gradu- into civilian life, the separation center was the time, this ated from a law school outside of Florida, closed. Ms. Adams then accepted a position she was required to take the bar exam, with Prentice Hall Publishing Company was considered unlike graduates from Florida schools in New York. She was able to obtain this a big law firm who were admitted under the “diploma position because she had a law degree in Tampa. She privilege,” without taking the bar exam. and was excited to begin working in the was one of four When Ms. Adams took the bar exam, it field of journalism. Ms. Adams started as was given in the House of Representatives an assistant editor for the union contract employees; there in Tallahassee. Thirty-three applicants and collective bargaining division. She were two male took the test, and she was one of the 11 was ultimately promoted to editor of that attorneys and two who passed. Ms. Adams was admitted to division. female attorneys. practice law in Florida on July 11, 1942. On the recommendation of a friend, Ms. Once admitted to the bar, Ms. Adams Adams was then hired by the Continental went to work in the Law Offices of Cody Can Company in its industrial relations Fowler, later known as Fowler and White. department. There, she edited a weekly At the time, this was considered a big management newsletter that addressed law firm in Tampa. She was one of four labor law issues and updates on corporate employees; there were two male attorneys events, as well as miscellaneous infor- and two female attorneys. (Wilhemina mation of interest to foremen in the can Hawkins (1933) was the other woman.) plants. As editor, she analyzed the union Ms. Adams believes that Mr. Fowler hired contracts for all the plants within this very the two female attorneys because men large company.

97 Ms. Adams and two friends decided to Adams remained in this position for only leave New York and travel to California about two years. She had hoped eventu- in the hope of gaining employment. Ms. ally to become a senior editor, but she was Adams secured a position at the Los An- forced to return to Tampa upon the death geles branch of the Wage Stabilization of her mother in 1954. Board. She obtained this position during Ms. Adams spent the following 13 the Korean War, when the federal gov- years assisting her father and her invalid ernment had put wage controls in place. brother. Given the demands placed upon There were to be no raises of salaries, and her, she never returned to the work place all applications for exemptions from this and is now the sole survivor of her family. stabilization came through her office. She has never married and lives happily Ms. Adams ultimately returned to New in Tampa, Florida. York and secured a position as the assis- Sources: FSCBAA; MHLD (1945 & tant labor editor for Business Week maga- 1949); Vanderbilt University records zine. This position combined her two loves (photo); conversations with Tom Ellwanger -- journalism and law. Unfortunately, Ms. and Ms. Adams.

The late Judge John Santora ... described Ms. Hyde as a good lawyer who tried a couple of criminal jury Laura Helen Hyde (1905 - 1952) trials that year. Date of Admission: 1942 Others described Laura Hyde Laura Helen Hyde was born in England from Ms. Hyde. He described Ms. Hyde as as “one of the on February 15, 1903, and was educated in a good lawyer who tried a couple of crimi- guys” who fit private schools in England. She received nal jury trials that year. Others described her legal education in England and also Laura Hyde as “one of the guys” who fit in in and met with had an accounting background. Ms. Hyde and met with other local bar members, all other local bar married an American during World War males, for coffee in the mornings or drinks members, all II and moved to Jacksonville but subse- after hours. males, for coffee quently divorced. Ms. Hyde was a member of the Florida She was admitted to practice law in State Bar and Jacksonville Bar Associa- in the mornings Florida on July 11, 1942, after passing tions and the Interstate Commerce Com- or drinks af ter the bar examination administered by mission. She was also an officer of Heat & hours. the State Board of Law Examiners. She Cold Equipment Co., Inc. established a solo practice with offices in She lived in Mandarin, then an isolated the Professional Building in Jacksonville. country town, and her hobbies were horses, In addition to keeping books for various fishing, hunting and gardening. Tragically, clients, she also practiced in the areas of Ms. Hyde developed cancer and died by her family law, trusts and estates, and crimi- own hand in the fall of 1952. nal defense. Sources: FSCBAA; William S. Graessle, The late Judge John Santora related “Pioneering Women Lawyers: Chasing that office space in downtown Jacksonville Moonshiners, Shooting Horses And Those was scarce in the early 1950s, and in Janu- Uncivilized Boys,” Jacksonville Bar Bul- ary 1952, he was able to rent office space letin, Dec. 1994; DWL&J.

98 Mary Frances Dewell (1917 - ) Date of Admission: 1942

Mary Frances Dewell was born in Jack- law. Although she was told by the sonville, Florida, to Robert T. and Mary firm that she would never become Dewell on December 16, 1917. When she a partner, she practiced there from was seven, Ms. Dewell moved to Haines 1957 until 1968. City, Florida. She attended Maryville In 1968 she took a position with College, graduating with an A.B. degree the Federal Land Bank of Columbia in 1938. At that time, women were not and moved to Columbia, South Car- encouraged to enter professional schools, olina, with her mother. Her practice such as law and medicine. In fact, her involved overseeing all of the bank’s father was instrumental in drafting leg- Florida offices. She remained at the islation allowing women to attend the bank until her retirement in 1982 at the University of Florida professional schools. age of 65, when she and her mother moved She enrolled in the University of Florida back to Polk County, Florida. Her mother College of Law in 1939, one of only three died in 1983, and Ms. Dewell kept busy women in the school. She graduated on working part-time in a title office. May 24, 1942, and was admitted to prac- In 1992, after 50 years as a member of tice in Florida under the diploma privilege The Florida Bar, Ms. Dewell resigned her on July 14, 1942. membership and moved to the Presbyte- Ms. Dewell began practicing law with rian Retirement Home in Lakeland, where her father in Haines City, which was a she currently resides. small town with a population in the vicin- Mary Frances Dewell became a lawyer ity of 6,000 to 7,000 people. Her father was because “that’s all she knew -- she never Mary Frances city attorney for several years and later considered anything else.” There were no became Judge of the Criminal Court of law-related organizations to belong to Dewell became Record. Theirs was a general, small-town when she was practicing. However, she a lawyer because practice consisting of mostly probate, di- noted that every so often, the women law- “that’s all she vorce and real estate work. yers in Tampa would meet for lunch – all knew -- she Ms. Dewell’s brother, John H. Dewell, 10 of them! was in law school at the same time as his Ms. Dewell experienced no problems never considered sister, but he left for service in the U.S. with the male judges in the circuit where anything else.” Army Air Corps in 1941. Upon his dis- she normally practiced. She remembered There were no charge, John Dewell returned to law school one incident, however, when she went to law-related and graduated in 1946. He then joined his Volusia County to have an order signed in a father and sister in the firm in Haines mortgage foreclosure case. The judge asked organizations to City. Ms. Dewell and her brother practiced her if she had a license to practice law and belong to when she in the family law firm until their father’s wanted to see it. She showed it to him and, was practicing. death in 1952. Her brother subsequently then, knowing he played golf, started asking However, she became a circuit court judge. him about his golf game. Twenty minutes Following her father’s death, Mary later, she says, the judge asked her if she noted that ... the Frances Dewell temporarily stopped had an order she wanted signed, then he women lawyers practicing law and went to work in an gladly proceeded to sign it. in Tampa would abstract office in Winter Haven for five Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R; “Wom- meet for lunch years. In 1957 she joined the law firm of an Modest About Legal Career,” Lakeland Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings, Glos & Ev- Ledger, Apr. 21, 1997, at A1 (photo); con- – all 10 of them! ans as an associate, practicing real estate versations with Ms. Dewell.

99 Ethel Dorothea Clarson Watson (1920 - ) Date of Admission: 1942

Dorothea “Dodie” Clarson school, she and Tom Watson were married. Watson was born in Jackson- Then he went into the service, and she ville on June 21, 1920. She went to Tallahassee to clerk for the Florida entered Stetson University in Supreme Court. The court employed one DeLand, where she met Tom graduate from each of Florida’s three law Watson. The two took advan- schools – the University of Florida, Stet- tage of Stetson’s accelerated son, and the University of Miami – and law school program, created they clerked for all seven of the justices during the Depression so for one year. The old Supreme Court build- students could complete col- ing was quite spartan and had spittoons lege and law school in only placed at convenient locations throughout five years. They planned to the building. open a law firm together After her clerkship, Ms. Watson accom- when they graduated from panied her husband to different military law school, but World War II bases throughout the United States until intervened, and Mr. Watson he got out of the army. In 1947 they came became an army pilot. to Orlando. There were only about 100 Stetson’s law school was lawyers, none of them women, in Orange in Flagler Hall on the De- County when Dorothea and Tom Watson Land campus at that time. Ms. Watson set up their law firm, Watson & Watson, was the only woman in her class of 15, above the drug store on Orange Avenue. but she remembers two women in the Dodie Watson has never had second class ahead of hers: Lois Thacker Graessle thoughts about her decision to become a (1941) and Charlotte Washburne Faircloth lawyer, which she says she did because (1941). Ms. Watson’s father, who had come she did not want to be a teacher, and she Ms. Watson to this country from Sweden in 1902, ap- had no talent to do anything else. She herself did plauded her decision to go to law school. talks about her life as a pioneering woman not know any He was fascinated by the United States lawyer in Central Florida as if it were no legal system and enjoyed his experience big deal. She has spent so many hours lawyers, but serving on a jury. Ms. Watson’s mother, working with the Orange County Bar she thought the a teacher, was less sanguine about her Association’s Legal Aid Society since it law would be daughter’s decision. Ms. Watson herself was formed in the early 1960s that she was interesting and did not know any lawyers, but she thought honored with its Judge “J.C.” Jake Stone the law would be interesting and that she Legal Aid Society 1994 Distinguished that she could could help people. Service Award, as well as the Florida Bar help people. She enjoyed law school and found the President’s Pro Bono Service Award for the professors to be supportive and encourag- Ninth Judicial Circuit in 1995. At the time, ing toward all male and female students. she was 75 years old and still working at Although she particularly liked Constitu- her law firm. tional Law and Real Property, she thought Ms. Watson specialized in trust and that the curriculum was not very practi- estates, family law, and residential real cal. Because Ms. Watson graduated from estate transactions. She went to court a Florida law school, she did not have to whenever it was necessary for her probate take the bar exam; she was admitted to the and domestic practice. On occasion, she Florida bar on September 16, 1942, after argued criminal matters in court when appearing before an admissions commit- her husband could not go, and was usually tee. assumed to be her husband’s secretary. Five days after her graduation from law Asked if she suffered any discrimination

100 by the local bar, she says she does not ago she went to court for a probate matter really think so. She concedes that it may and saw, permanently affixed to counsel’s have been easier for her than for a woman table, the rules about civility. That, she lawyer on her own, or with children to care said, did not use to be necessary. for. She also remembers that several Or- Dodie Watson practiced for five years lando lawyers told her that women should after her husband died in 1993. The of- not do jury work, but she knew they would fice was a block south of the new Orange She ... remembers see the day that would change. County Courthouse, and when Magnolia On the whole, she thinks the fact she Avenue was reconfigured and her build- that several was a female lawyer was pretty much ig- ing sold in 1997, Ms. Watson closed the Orlando lawyers nored during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. She office, 50 years after it had opened. She told her that never thought too much about it. A com- has not, however, stopped working. Every women should posite photograph of the Orange County week she teaches conversational English Bar Association’s members in 1968 shows at the Downtown Baptist Church and not do jury work, only three women out of 386, Dorothea she remains active in her church. She but she knew they Watson, Sammie Francisco (1963), and will be 80 this year. She recognizes that would see the Winifred Sharp (1964). For a long time, she is fortunate to be in good health, and day that would Ms. Watson was the only one. spends time visiting her friends who are Dorothea and Tom Watson built a house less fortunate. change. in the Conway area of Orlando in 1949. Mr. During her years in practice she went Watson died in 1993, but Ms. Watson still to several meetings of women lawyers in lives in the same house. In the old days, the state, and she recognizes many of the they raised bird dogs and quail, and she names on the “First 150” list. She concludes accompanied her husband when he went that she has had a very satisfying, fulfill- The biggest hunting for wild turkey. They had a ranch ing legal career. She particularly enjoyed change she in Osteen and spent the summers in Blow- her many years of work with the Orange has seen in the ing Rock and Boone, North Carolina. County Bar Association Legal Aid Society, practice of law The biggest change she has seen in the where she handled hundreds of domestic practice of law over the years has been the cases, including divorces, custody disputes, over the years has pressure of time. Things were slower in the and spouse and child abuse. Many of her been the pressure old days; the technology was slower – they clients, she says, were delightful. of time. used manual typewriters and carbon pa- Asked if she would encourage women to per, and analyzed thick title abstracts. And enter this profession, she said yes, but only she thinks the lawyers themselves might if they want to spend the time necessary not have felt as pressured as they do today. to become good lawyers. With no air conditioning, less competition Sources: FSCBAA; SUCLAL&R (photo); for clients, and fewer specialized areas Ms. Watson’s resume and nomination for of law, people conducted themselves at a the 1995 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono more relaxed pace. Service Award; conversation with Ms. There is one change in current practice Watson (photo). that she is not happy to see. About a year

Mary Irene Schulman (1918 - 1990) Date of Admission: 1943

Mary Irene Schulman was born in While still a student, she campaigned Lakeland, Florida, to R. L. and Crela Mor- for Senator Charles O. Andrews and gan Sandefur. In 1930 the family moved to Governor Frederick P. Cone (1937-41). Okeechobee. Ms. Schulman demonstrated Alton Adams, future Justice of the Flor- an interest in law and government as early ida Supreme Court (1940-51), would as her days in Okeechobee High School. pick up Ms. Schulman after school to

101 campaign. He also borrowed law books in the civil division and represented 25 state from the circuit judge so Ms. Schulman boards that regulated professions such as could begin to read the law. accountants, architects, chiropractors, engi- After graduation in 1936, Ms. neers, funeral directors, and veterinarians, Schulman continued to read the in addition to the Game and Fresh Water law in the office of Judge Angus Fish Commission. Summer of Fort Pierce, Florida. In During her career, Ms. Schulman re- 1938, she took a law course by corre- ceived recognition for her work. In 1965 spondence from La Salle Extension the Florida Senate unanimously passed University. She took and passed the her comprehensive revision of the Vet- bar exam in 1943 and was admitted erinary Practice Act. That same year, the to practice law in Florida on April veterinarians of Florida gave her their 15, 1943. Regarding the bar exam, annual Distinguished Service Award. she said during an interview with Ms. Schulman remained an assistant the St. Petersburg Times, “I never attorney general until the early 1970s. will forget it. It took 25 hours, and Even among attorneys who did not work I had the flu and the fever. It was directly with during the war, and I couldn’t even her, she had a get a hotel room. I slept in the lobby of the reputation for Cherokee Hotel.” competence, In 1938 Ms. Schulman was elected as integrity, and the county prosecutor for Okeechobee a generos- Regarding the County. She was the first woman to become ity of spirit. bar exam, she a county prosecutor in Florida. Her sister, Throughout said during Mrs. Estelle Dickson, who was too young her career, she to remember the issues of the campaign, was a member an interview confirmed that her sister campaigned of civic and with the St. door-to-door by riding a bicycle around social organi- Petersburg the county. Ms. Schulman was reelected zations. Ms. Times, “I never without opposition in 1948. Juvenile de- Schulman is linquency was a major issue of concern included in will forget it. It for her, and she continued to work on this Florida Women of Distinction. took 25 hours, issue after she left her position as county After retirement, Ms. Schulman re- and I had the prosecutor. mained in Tallahassee until her passing flu and the fever. At some point, Ms. Schulman married on June 19, 1990. and later was divorced. Sources: FSCBAA; 2 Eloise N. Cozens, It was during In 1949 Richard W. Ervin, the incoming Florida Women of Distinction (1957); Sun- the war, and I Attorney General and future Florida Su- day News-Democrat, Tallahassee, Florida, couldn’t even get preme Court Justice (1964-75), invited Ms. Feb. 20, 1949; Ann Waldron, “It’s Her Pet a hotel room. I Schulman to become an assistant attorney Bill: Veterinarians Get Legal Boost,” St. general. She accepted the assignment, and Petersburg Times, May 3, 1965; conver- slept in the lobby for two years worked in both Tallahassee sations with Justice Richard W. Ervin of the Cherokee and Okeechobee until she resigned from (photos), Roger Foote, Rebecca Bowles Hotel.” her position in Okeechobee. In the attor- Hawkins, Jerry Blair, and Estelle Dickin- ney general’s office, Ms. Schulman worked son.

In the attorney general’s office, Ms. Schulman worked in the civil division and represented 25 state boards that regulated professions such as accountants, architects, chiropractors, engineers, funeral directors, and veterinarians, in addition to the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.

102 Ila Adele Rountree Pridgen (1891 - 1983) Date of Admission: 1943

Ila Adele Rountree Pridgen, daughter her with membership in the of David and Annie Loftin Rountree, was legal fraternity during a period born on February 2, 1891, in Wilmington, when women were not accepted North Carolina. She received a certificate as active members. in pipe organ from Saint Mary’s Junior She was secretary to the College in Raleigh, North Carolina, in May Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar As- 1910. sociation and was active in the She married Dr. Claude Leonard American Association of Law Pridgen, a medical doctor, and moved to Libraries. For her continued Alachua County upon his appointment as interest in and concerns about the county medical doctor. They had two law students, the John Mar- children -- Claude Leonard Pridgen and shall Bar Association bestowed Anne Pridgen Teller. Her husband was many honors and awards upon injured in World War I by mustard gas, her. May 13, 1972, and Ms. Pridgen had to earn a living after On April 31, 1955, Ms. Pridgen retired his injury and death. after 26 years of service to the University was declared Ms. Pridgen began her 26 years at the of Florida College of Law and immediately “Ila Pridgen University of Florida College of Law when entered into real estate work. At homecom- Day,” honoring she was appointed assistant law librarian ing in the fall of 1955, Ms. Pridgen was Ms. Pridgen for in 1929. In 1948 she became law librar- presented with a book of letters attesting ian, a title she held until her retirement to the esteem in which her many friends, her contributions in 1955. Other positions she held concur- alumni and colleagues held for her. to the law school rently at the law school included secretary In 1958, when the Marjorie Kinnan and law students. to the dean from 1929 to 1939, executive Rawlings Residence Hall on the Univer- If asked who secretary from 1939 to 1941, and admin- sity of Florida campus was dedicated, the istrative assistant from 1941 to 1946. third floor was named in honor of “Ila influenced them While working at the law school, Ms. Rountree Pridgen, law librarian and assis- the most during Pridgen attended classes and earned an tant professor of law, who devoted much of their law school LL.B. with high honors on June 24, 1943. her life to the study of law and mothering days, hundreds of She was admitted to the bar under the of law students, retired 1955.” diploma privilege on May 24, 1943, and May 13, 1972, was declared “Ila Pridgen Florida lawyers to federal courts the same year. Day,” honoring Ms. Pridgen for her contri- who studied at During World War II, she was called butions to the law school and law students. the University upon to serve as a faculty member, teach- If asked who influenced them the most of Florida ing several courses, including Criminal during their law school days, hundreds of Law, while other faculty were away in Florida lawyers who studied at the Uni- College of Law service to their country. She was highly versity of Florida College of Law between between 1929 respected and dearly loved by “the boys,” 1929 and 1955 would probably name Ila and 1955 would many of whom lived in “Pridgen Hall,” Rountree Pridgen. At the law reunion ban- probably name her rooming house that she operated quet held that evening, a portrait of Ms. exclusively for law students even while Pridgen was presented to the law school Ila Rountree having full-time employment and raising by Judge Charles B. Fulton and William Pridgen. two children. Reece Smith, Jr., who were assisted by Ms. Pridgen was faculty advisor to Phi many well-known lawyers, judges, state Delta Delta, the women’s international and federal officials, and former “boys.” legal fraternity, an active organization It hangs in the Legal Information Center for many years. Phi Delta Phi honored today. In addition, a fund was raised to add

103 books to the library collection. Each one her leisure time with children and grand- bears a book plate with an inscription rec- children. ognizing her long service to the law school Ila Rountree Pridgen died in November and symbolizing the love and affection felt 1983. for this distinguished lady by “her boys.” Sources: FSCBAA; UFCLAL&R (photo); Later, Ms. Pridgen phased out her real conversation with William Reece Smith, estate work and moved to Lake Santa Fe Jr.; e-mail from Carla Luggiero. outside of Gainesville where she enjoyed

104 Introduction to Florida’s First Five Af rican-American Women Lawyers

By Evett L. Simmons President-Elect, National Bar Association

As we enter the twenty-first century, African-American women lawyers are still a scarce commodity, having to continue to fight the double jeopardy of racism and sexism exacerbated by a lack of economic empowerment.1

Nationally, the first African-American woman admitted to practice law was Charlotte E. Ray in April 1872. A graduate of Howard University, she was born in 1850, the year the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. She and her family played an important role in the Underground Railroad.2

Another historically noteworthy African-American woman lawyer was Gertrude E. Rush of Iowa, who was the only African-American woman lawyer in 1918 west of the Mississippi. She was one of the twelve founders of the National Bar Asso- ciation, an organization created in 1925 because African-Americans were denied admittance into the American Bar Association.3

Florida was slow to admit African-American women lawyers into The Florida Bar. As part of the segregated south, Florida did not significantly integrate its public schools until the late 1960s. In 1965, I became one of the first students to integrate the public schools in Florida. In light of this history, it is not surprising that only one African-American woman was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1958 and the next women were not admitted until 1965.

The African-American women lawyers discussed in the following pages are contemporary trailblaz- ers and pioneers, overcoming many barriers to their great achievements. They are the reasons why we who are African-American women can reach even greater heights. That it took until 1958 for African- American women lawyers to gain access into the Florida legal community is a sad chapter in Florida’s history, because certainly this important sector has since made significant contributions to the public and the state through the delivery of legal services.

It is also worthy to note that these women graduated from Howard University in Washington D.C., an outstanding historically black college built after the Civil War as a land grant college, and Florida A&M University, another excellent historically black college whose law school was created as Florida’s response to “separate but equal” treatment of whites and blacks, but later lost its funding as Florida’s answer to integration. ______1 Elmer C. Jackson, Jr., & Jacob V. Gordon, A Search for Equal Justice by African-American Lawyers 54 (1999). 2 Id; Edith J. Clay Smith, Jr., Rebels in the Law, Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers Appendix C (1988). 3 Elmer C. Jackson, Jr., & Jacob V. Gordon, A Search for Equal Justice by African-American Lawyers 54 (1999).

Evett L. Simmons, a graduate of Mercer University, is a partner in the law firm of Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell, P.A., and is located in their Port St. Lucie office. She will be installed as President of the National Bar Association during its meeting in Washington, D.C., in August 2000. She is a former member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors and currently sits as the first woman appointee by The Florida Bar to the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission. Bernice Gaines Dorn (1934 - ) Ms. Dorn Date of Admission: 1958 was admitted Bernice Gaines Dorn was born on De- FAMU’s law school on June 2, 1958, and to FAMU’s cember 8, 1934, in Tallahassee, Florida. was admitted to practice law on Novem- law school in At the age of seven, she and her family ber 6, 1958. Ms. Dorn thus became the September 1955. moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where first African-American woman licensed to During her she graduated from Stanton High School practice law in the state of Florida. in 1951. Ms. Dorn commenced her stud- Ms. Dorn started her career in private second year of ies at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical practice, working with Ernest Jackson in law school, she University (FAMU) in September 1951. Jacksonville. After a year in private prac- was ranked first She graduated with honors in May 1955 tice, she returned to FAMU and taught in her class. One with a B.A. in psychology. Contracts at the law school from 1959 to One of her undergraduate classmates 1960. During her tenure as a law school of her classmates was Judge Joseph Hatchett, the first professor, she married Mr. Stephen Dorn, in law school African American to serve on the Florida Sr., and they soon moved to Philadelphia, was Leander Supreme Court and later on the Eleventh Pennsylvania. Shaw, who Circuit Court of Appeals. While attending After marriage, Ms. Dorn dedicated her college, Ms. Dorn’s roommate and sorority life to her family. She and her husband had later become a sister was Norma Solomon White, the first four children -- Stephen, Jr. (deceased), Florida Supreme woman to march with and direct FAMU’s Angela, Michael and Tracy. After two Court Justice. “Marching One Hundred” band. years in Philadelphia, the family moved Florida A&M’s Black Archives verify to Evanston, Illinois, and then later to that Ms. Dorn was admitted to FAMU’s Glencoe, Illinois, where they resided until law school in September 1955. During her 1980. In 1980 they moved to St. Louis, Mis- second year of law school, she was ranked souri, Mr. Dorn’s hometown. They retired first in her class. One of her classmates in in 1995 and moved to Florida, where they law school was Leander Shaw, who later currently reside in Satellite Beach. Mr. become a Florida Supreme Court Justice and Mrs. Dorn’s daughter, Angela, is an (1983 - present). Ms. Dorn graduated from attorney who is licensed to practice law in Illinois and New York. Sources: The Florida Bar mem- bership records; Black Archives, Florida A&M University, Tallahas- see, Florida (photo); conversations with Bernice Gaines Dorn, Judge Joseph Hatchett, Norma Solomon White, and Arthenia Joyner.

Ms. Gaines Dorn (center) with FAMU Student Bar Association members Augustus Cane, William Lewis, Vernon Lee, James Matthews, George Grogan, Samuel Nesbitt, Cornelius Grant, Her- man Walden, Justice Leander Shaw, Frank White and Ernest Hunter.

106 Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry (1923 - 1979) Date of Admission: 1965

Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry was born Because of her commitment to on August 27, 1923, in Miami, Florida, to children’s rights, the Department William and Alberta Sawyer. Her mother of Education’s Child Development owned and operated a hotel and her father Center in Tallahassee was named was the first African-American doctor in her honor in 1991. Addition- in Dade County. Representative Cherry ally, a park named in her honor began her early education in Miami, is listed in Dade County’s Black but her parents later sent her to school Heritage Trail. She was nomi- in Jamaica, New York. After graduating nated to the Florida Women’s Heritage In 1970 she became from high school, she enrolled at Florida Trail and was nominated and inducted the first Af rican A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame in American woman Florida, where she studied chemistry and 1986. elected to the biology. She earned her degree in 1946. Representative Cherry served in the Four years later, she earned a master’s state legislature until her untimely death Florida House of degree in human relations from New York resulting from an automobile accident in Representatives. University. 1979. In his eulogy, Governor Representative Cherry taught math- Bob Graham (1979-87) called ematics at Miami Northwestern Senior Gwen Cherry “a champion High School. After a 20-year teaching ca- for the rights of all people reer, she applied to law school and became and a voice of reason and the first African American to attend the concern.” University of Miami School of Law. She Sources: The Florida Bar’s later transferred to FAMU’s law school membership records; Maxine and graduated at the top of her class in D. Jones & Kevin M. Mc- 1965. She was admitted to practice law on Carthy, African Americans October 15, 1965, and thus became Dade in Florida (1993); “People in County’s first African-American woman Black History,” Miami Her- lawyer. ald; Florida Women’s Hall of For the next five years, Representative Fame; Florida State Archives Cherry was a practicing attorney, and she (photos). joined the faculty at FAMU’s law school as the second African-American law profes- sor. In 1970 she became the first African- American woman elected to the Florida House of Representatives. As a legislator, (Above) she introduced the Equal Rights Amend- Representative Cherry ment (ERA) in the House in 1972, and expresses her she vigorously supported the ERA in disapproval the House, as well as by participating in of a bill in marches. Other issues Representative the Florida Cherry supported were prison reform and Legislature. children’s rights. She chaired the state’s committee for International Woman’s Year in 1978 and co-authored Portraits of Color. Representative Cherry was a member of (Above) Rep. Cherry (second from left) joins Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, and was the in a march supporting the Equal Rights Amendment with Reps. Elaine Gordon and mother of two children. Gwen Margolis. 107 Ruby Burrows McZier (1940 - ) Date of Admission: 1965

Ruby Burrows McZier was born architectural design. in Belle Glade, Florida, on October Ms. McZier is a member of several pro- 12, 1940. In 1960 she received her fessional and civic organizations including Bachelor of Arts degree from Tal- the National Association for the Advance- ladega College in Talladega, Ala- ment of Colored People, National Council bama. For the next two years, Ms. of Negro Women, Washington Urban McZier taught English and His- League, and the National Bar Association. tory to high school students in the She has been a trustee of the Democratic migrant community of Lake Wales, National Committee and has served on the Florida. She later enrolled in Howard board of directors of the United National University School of Law. She was the Bank in Washington, D.C.; Bethune Cook- only female admitted to the Class of man College; Essence magazine; District 1965 and graduated in the top ten percent Cablevision, Inc.; Washington Urban of her class. Ms. McZier was admitted to League; The Doug Williams Foundation; The Florida Bar on October 15, 1965, the and the Greater Washington Research United States Supreme Court bar in 1969, Center. Ms. McZier is a founding member and the District of Columbia bar in 1971. of the Museum for African-American Art She began her legal career as a legal ad- in DeLand, Florida. In 1971 Ms. visor on migrant family issues on the staff Her honors and special recognitions in- McZier opened of United States Senator Edward M. Ken- clude the National Business League with nedy. Thereafter, she served as the first her law offices its Eartha M. M. White Women’s Achieve- contract compliance officer for the Office ment Award and the Gertrude E. Rush in Washington, of Economic Opportunity, special assistant Award of the National Bar Association. In D.C. Her to the chairman of the Equal Employment 1997 Ms. McZier was awarded one of the Opportunity Commission, and special as- primary focus first Distinguished Alumni Achievement sistant at the U.S. Department of Hous- was economic Awards given by her alma mater, Talla- ing and Urban Development (HUD). As a dega College. She is the founding chairper- development special assistant, she participated in the issues faced by development of the Section 3 (1968 HUD son of the tax section of the National Bar Act) regulations for minority participation Association and was general counsel of the the minority National Bar Association in 1984. In 1999 community. She in HUD funded-business opportunities (a forerunner of the section 8(a) program of Ms. McZier was appointed to the board of has represented the U.S. Small Business Administration). directors and management committee of such clients as In 1971 Ms. McZier opened her law the AT&T subsidiary, District Cablevision, Soul City, North offices in Washington, D.C. Her primary Inc., in Washington, D.C. Ruby Burrows McZier currently resides Carolina, and focus was economic development issues faced by the minority community. She in Washington, D.C., with her husband, the Federal has represented such clients as Soul City, Arthur McZier. They are the parents of Home Loan North Carolina, and the Federal Home Jennifer Rose McZier. Ms. McZier is gen- Mortgage Loan Mortgage Corporation Advisory eral counsel of National Business Services Enterprises, Inc., a Washington-based Corporation Committee. She was the first woman to serve on the District of Columbia Zoning diversified corporation which supports Advisory Commission (1976-84), and she served two her many hours of community service and Committee. years on the Metropolitan Washington Air- philanthropy. ports Authority (1989-91). Because of her Sources: The Florida Bar’s membership efforts, the participation of minority firms records; The Jurist, Howard University was substantially increased in business School of Law (1991); conversation with & concessions, engineering, construction and correspondence from Ms. McZier (photo).

108 C. Bette Wimbish (1924 - ) Date of Admission: 1968 C. Bette Wimbish was born on March chairperson of the Florida Crimes Com- 24, 1924, in Perry, Florida, to Ola Mae pensation Commission. In this capacity, Howard and Tom Davis. Ms. Wimbish at- she was responsible for general admin- tended Florida A&M University (FAMU) istration in budgetary and programmat- in Tallahassee, where ic areas of the Florida Ms. Wimbish she received a Bach- Crimes Compensation began her elor of Science degree in Act. The act provides, extensive career 1944. Upon graduation, through quasi-judicial she was an instructor actions, compensation in the state in natural sciences at assistance to innocent government as Florida Memorial Col- victims of crimes who an associate lege and a physical edu- suffer personal bodily director of labor cation teacher for the injury and who, without Hillsborough County compensation from the and later as Public School System. commission, would expe- director of labor She returned to FAMU rience serious financial in the Commerce and earned her Juris hardship. Department. In Doctor in 1967 and was Ms. Wimbish worked admitted to The Florida in private practice until these positions, Bar on June 10, 1968. she accepted a position Ms. Wimbish From 1969 until 1973, as senior attorney for the appointed judges Ms. Wimbish served as Department of Health of industrial City Councilwoman for and Rehabilitative Ser- the City of St. Petersburg. vices in St. Petersburg, claims (now She also served as Vice-Mayor for the City Florida. Ms. Wimbish worked in that posi- known as judges of St. Petersburg from 1971 through 1973. tion until her retirement in 1999. of compensation Ms. Wimbish began her extensive ca- Ms. Wimbish is a member of several claims), with reer in the state government as an associ- professional and civic organizations in- ate director of labor and later as director cluding the National Bar, American Bar, approval of the of labor in the Commerce Department. In and American Trial Lawyers Associa- governor. In a these positions, Ms. Wimbish appointed tions; National Urban League; American quasi-judicial judges of industrial claims (now known as Arbitration Association; and NAACP. capacity, she judges of compensation claims), with ap- Additionally, she is a member of Delta proval of the governor. In a quasi-judicial Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and served as also heard capacity, she also heard and decided vari- the organization’s legal advisor from 1972 and decided ances under the Workers’ Compensation to 1976. variances under Law and conducted hearings on safety Her honors and special recognitions the Workers’ matters. include Who’s Who in American Colleges In 1974 Ms. Wimbish was the deputy and Universities, Who’s Who Among Black Compensation secretary for the Florida Department Americans, Florida Women of Distinction, Law and of Commerce. As deputy secretary, Ms. Outstanding Women of Florida, Outstand- conducted Wimbish represented the department and ing Woman in Government, National Bar hearings on governor at meetings and conferences with Association Award, Pioneer Woman’s key governmental, political, business and Award, and the Delta Sigma Theta 1994 safety matters. labor leaders. She also participated in pol- Award for Women Who Made a Differ- icy formulation and program development, ence. and coordinated administrative activities Ms. Wimbish is retired and currently of the Industrial Relations Commission, resides in St. Petersburg, Florida. State Manpower Services Council, and Sources: The Florida Bar’s membership Bicentennial Commission. records; conversation with & correspon- Four years later, she was appointed dence from Ms. Wimbish (photo).

109 Arthenia L. Joyner (1943 - ) Date of Admission: 1969

Arthenia L. Joyner was born Her civic participation includes the Na- in Lakeland, Florida, on Febru- tional Council of Negro Women, University ary 3, 1943. As a teenager, Ms. Community Hospital Board of Trustees, Joyner actively participated Athena Society, The Links, Inc., and the in the civil rights movement. Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Because blacks were victims She holds life memberships in the NAACP, of blatant discrimination, she the Greater Tampa Urban League, and protested vehemently during Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. She is also a her sophomore year at Florida devout member of Allen Temple African A&M University (FAMU) and Methodist Episcopal Church. was arrested. She was again Ms. Joyner has been an active partici- arrested in 1985 at the “Free pant in politics all of her life. In Hillsbor- South Africa” demonstrations ough County, she chaired the Shirley Ch- in Washington, D.C. isholm presidential campaign in 1971 and Ms. Joyner received her Bachelor the Jesse Jackson presidential campaigns of Science degree from FAMU in 1964. in 1984 and 1988. She co-chaired the Thereafter, she taught at Booker Lawton Chiles gubernatorial campaigns T. Washington, Jr. High School in in 1990 and 1994, as well as the Clinton- Tampa, Florida. She later earned her Gore campaign in 1992. law degree from FAMU’s law school She was the first African American to in 1968 and was admitted to practice be appointed to the Hillsborough County law in Florida on June 20, 1969. Ms. Aviation Authority, where she served as Joyner became the first African- chair and vice-chair. Governor Lawton American female attorney in Tampa. She Chiles appointed her again in 1995 to a She was the has been in private practice for thirty second four-year term. Additionally, she first Af rican years, longer than any other African- was appointed in 1992 by United States American to be American woman in the state of Florida. Senator Bob Graham to the Federal Ju- appointed to the Ms. Joyner is the recipient of numerous dicial Nomination Commission for the awards including the Airport Minority State of Florida and is the former chair Hillsborough Advisory Council Leadership Award in of the Judicial Nomination Commission County Aviation 1999; National Organization of Black Law for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. She Authority. Enforcement Executives’ 1993 Criminal was appointed by President Clinton to Additionally, she Justice Person of the Year; The George the U.S. Delegation to the International Edgecomb Bar Association’s 1993 Fran- Conference of Population and Develop- was appointed cisco Rodriguez Award; 1990 Executive ment in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 and to the in 1992 by Women of the Year; Governor’s Distin- United Nations Fourth World Conference United States guished Black Floridian Award; Ebony on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. Senator Bob magazine’s 100 Most Influential Black Ms. Joyner is the managing partner in Americans (1985); and America’s Top 100 the law firm of Stewart, Joyner & Jordan- Graham to the Black Business and Professional Women Holmes, P.A. located in Tampa, Florida. Federal Judicial by Dollars and Sense magazine (1985). Stewart, Joyner & Jordan-Holmes, P.A. has Nomination Additionally, Ms. Joyner is listed in Who’s been certified as an African-American owned Commission Who Among Black Americans. law firm. Ms. Joyner’s practice areas include Her professional affiliations include the probate, guardianship and public finance. for the State of National Bar Association, of which she Ms. Joyner is currently campaigning for Florida. was elected the second female president a seat in the Florida House of Representa- in 1984; American Bar Association; Hill- tives, District 59. sborough Association of Women Lawyers, Sources: The Florida Bar’s membership Florida Chapter of the National Bar As- records (photo); conversation with & cor- sociation; and The George Edgecomb Bar respondence from Ms. Joyner (photo). Association.

110 The Research Committee

The initial research committee, composed entirely of members and friends of Tallahassee Women Lawyers, began working on the “First 150 Women Lawyers Project,” originally named the “First 50,” in January 1999. The project owes them a great debt of gratitude, because they developed the research techniques that others would follow. They found helpful Internet websites, shared ideas about how to find “missing heirs,”checked on possible resources, and discovered unknown sources. Thus, they were the real research trailblazers. Moreover, most of the initial committee took on the task of researching five women. (We were naive then.) This is not to say that the researchers from others areas of the state who joined the project later did not work hard, it is merely an acknowledgment of the extra effort that the initial group had to put into the project to get it off the ground. The fact that researchers found little information about a particular woman is not a reflection of less work, but is the result of the inability to locate the whereabouts of the woman. Additionally, it should be noted that some of the researchers worked on people who were ultimately eliminated from the final first 150 list, because they were determined to be men or were never admitted by the supreme court. The follow- ing is a list of all those who researched the First 150 Women Lawyers:

Wendy S. Loquasto, Co-Chair

• Louise Rebecca Pinnell Charlene Carpenter • Annie Dorcas Broward Starrett Liz Baker • Pearl Annah Williams • Elsie Young Douglass • Frances Drury • Rose G. Baldwin Jennifer Costello • Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett Andrea Bateman • Jane Tillie Wakefield • Effie E. Knowles • Marie C. Broetzman • Dorothy S. McDougall • Natalie Marion Weinstein Sara Courtney-Baigorri • Laurine Lenore Goffin Berger • Margaret M. Collins • Ethel Jane Steele Brannon • Rebecca Bowles Hawkins • Edith McIlvaine James • Marjorie M. Varner • Anna Brenner Mankes Meyers Shannon Bizzell Shannon Daggett • Kate L. Walton Engelken • Mildred Ernestein Wilson • Hilda M. Tilton • Betty Speizman Lippmann • Mary Lou Baker Joyce Boresow Stephanie Daniel • Ida Maud Hyman • Rose Elizabeth Deeb Kitchen Kelly A. O’Keefe, Co-Chair • Edith E. House Alana Culver Brenner Joanna Daniels • Grace Williams Burwell • Mary Frances Dewell • Mary Irene Schulman

Rashmi Airan Wendy Jensen Brewer Melissa Danits • Effie E. Knowles • Maurine Sharp • Lelia Russell Bryd • Zephyr Lillian Thorpe Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga • Mollie M. Parker Tammy Dawson • Winifred B. Judge • Julia A. Harding Nancy Burke Stephanie L. Anderson • Hariette E. R. Cotton Ava Doppelt • Lorrain Gould Smith • Ethel Dorothea Clarson Watson Barbara Busharis Frances Hartnett Angara • Marie Willard Anderson Barbara Eagan • Edith H. Horn • Marie Eleanor “Nell” Cooper • Dorothy Dorman • Abigail Lapham Gibbons • Arax M. Gulizian Barbara Baccari • Berenice J. Ayer • Marjorie G. Howard • Rubye B. Chalk Godwin • Ethel Jane Steele Brannon • Emma Roesing • Alma Oyama Carlton

111 Jennifer Eaton • Patricia LaVerne Pacetti Julie Miles • Lelia Russell Bryd Warren • Dorothy Douglas

Ruth Ezell Alison Hutchings Judge Marilyn Milian • Helen E. Martin Crabtree • Lois Rodgers • Letitia Norman • Gertrude Leonore O’Kell Woods • Lenea I. Stromberg Adlehelm Sha’Ron James Chris Milton • Esther Ernest Murrell • Clarice M. Naumburg • Laura Helen Hyde • Gertrude Dzialynski Corbett Jennifer Gentry Fernandez • Mary Wooster Sutton Jennifer Moore • Minnie E. Kehoe • Reba Engler Epstein Daner • Mabel Claire Altman Hackney Pat Jason • Sue K. Hicks • Anne Overman Gibbons Rosa Figarola Saara Pekale • Rose Ealine Friedlin Joette Keen Frances M. Lovelace • Carlotta Van Cortlandt Mary Jo Francis Washburne Faircoth Rachel Peterkin • Frances Drury • Lois Ellen Thacker Graessle Joanne Harvest Koren Amy Furness • Jeannette O. Mullens Smith Mary Anne Johnson Price • Caroline Adams • L. Booth Washington Julie Koves • Ella Cramer Kindred Rita Garrett • Judge Mary A. Kennerly • Jane L. Phillips Armstrong • Anna Brenner Mankes Meyers Buckles • Stella M. Biddle Fisher • Emily S. Williams Ziegler Beverly Wood Gibson Judge Barbara S. Levenson • Joanna Hamilton Vermilye • Clara C. Cain Gore • Mary Jo Williams Garris • Allie Richardson Barnes • Madeline A. Jacobson Cox • Ella Jo Stollberg • Mary Cinthya Vann Racey Jane Loewinger • Mary J. Wakefield Houston • Dorothy Douglas • Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt • Bessie Ethel Sims Williams • Catherine Stewart Howarth Sharon Greenaway Carter Adrienne Promoff • Dorothy Louise Schoessel • Marjorie Marie Hammer • Carmen Ercelle Christian Tessmer DeShaw Tiffany Prow Ellen B. Gwynn Deborah Magid • Jeannette O. Mullens Smith • Annie Joe Law • Caroline Marie Healy Uebele • Esther Miriam Finney Sumner • Lydia Douglass Alicia Rause • Florence M. Hazard Mims • Mary Anne Leddy • Betty Speizman Lippmann • Augusta Beyer Colton • Caroline Byrd Ramsey • Elva Victoria Diaz • Judge Mattie Belle Davis Stephanie Williams Redfearn • Judge Dixie L. Herlong Andrea Stone Hartley Laura Mall Chastain • Marvel Harriet Gallacher • Mary J. Davey • Rose Shakewitz Marcia Reisman Judge Judith W. Hawkins • Pauline G. Wallace • Herberta Ann Hathcock • Lena Alfman Leonardy • Anna Bray Lindsley Maria Isabel Matthews • Helen Hunt West Lillian Revaz Rosana Hernandez • Susan E. Ervin • Betty Speizman Lippmann • Anne E’del Deacon Robin McManigal Andi Reynolds Amanda Hill • Dorothy Douglas • Thelma H. Waybright • Osie Buck Crump Linda Gurfein Miklowitz Barbara Hogan • Dorothea W. Broadbent Keck Montgomery

112 Lorrie Robinson Jeanne Tate Others who have assisted • Hedwiga Walicki • Henriette E. Mednick with the research: • Beverly C. Cobb • Victoria Rountree • Jean Gregory Cole • Irena A. Lawrence Brett Braud • Thelma H. Waybright Doris Sanders Pamela Poulin Thomas • Zorah B. Close • Vivian Selter Barbara Cowherd • Mae T. Donovan • Anna A. Krivitsky • Stetson History • Mary Gunn Campbell • Charlotte Inez Farrington • Wilhemina Hawkins Vogler Gail Grieb • Judge Mada Burney Fraser • Archivist, Stetson University Jacqueline Hogan Scola Babcock McLendon duPont-Ball Library • Ruth Alberta Clark Phillip “Tip” Tomberlin, Jr. Dean Jeannette Hausler Nancy Schleifer • Nell L. Cowan Bostwick • Associate Dean & Dean of • Susie H. Bell • Annie Dorcas Broward Starrett Students, University of Miami • Esther A. Poppell • Elsie Young Douglass School of Law • Daisy Richards Bisz • Cecile Eleanor Vaught Wysong • L. H. Shoemaker Rebecca Hoover Karusha Sharpe • Ruby Fleming Barney • Assistant Director, • Jeannette Edythe TeSelle • Sidney S. Gober Development, University of Plump • Marie C. Broetzman Florida College of Medicine (formerly Assistant Director, Lea Souza-Rasile Lori Weems Development & Alumni Affairs, • Opal Plaisted. Barrett • Marjorie Marie Hammer University of Florida Federic • Diana D. Co DeShaw Levin College of Law) • Margaret Coopersmith Christina Yeager Gail E. Sasnett Saundra G. Swift • Person eliminated from the list • Associate Dean for Students, • Alice Johnson University of Florida Federic • Mary Stewart Howarth-Hewitt Shelley Zabel Levin College of Law • Judge Edith M. Atkinson • Mary Neff Reebel • Mattie W. Tompkins Cynthia Sikorski • Marian Borros • Director of Alumni Relations, • Mary L. Esarey First Five African-American University of Miami • Catherine Stewart Howarth Women Lawyers Researchers: Carter Tony Smith Janeen L. Rivers, Chair • Librarian, Carlton Fields Betty Taylor • Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry • Stella M. Biddle Fisher • Ruby Burrows McZier Tica Stanton • Clara Floyd Gehan • C. Bette Wimbish • Collection Development • Edith G. Uman • Arthenia L. Joyner Librarian, University of Miami • Lucille Cairns George School of Law Library • Jeannette Edythe TeSelle Barbara Twine Thomas Plump • Bernice Gaines Dorn Carol Wood • Person eliminated from the list

113 The First 150 Women Lawyers May 25 Dinner Committee

Edith G. Osman, Chair Mary Jo Francis, Outreach Subcommittee Chair Hon. Gill S. Freeman, Program Subcommittee Co-Chair Allison Doliner Hockman, Event Subcommittee Chair Hon. Shelley J. Kravitz, Program Subcommittee Co-Chair Wendy S. Loquasto, Research Subcommittee Co-Chair Kelly A. O’Keefe, Research Subcommittee Co-Chair Janeen L. Rivers, African-American Research Subcommittee Chair Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, Underwriting Subcommittee Co-Chair Jacqueline Hogan Scola, Publicity Subcommittee Chair Lea Souza-Rasile, Underwriting Subcommittee Co-Chair Amy E. Furness Sheila M. Gonzales Rosana E. Hernandez Lori J. Ketchledge Michelle A. Pivar K. Renee Schimkat Christi H. Sherouse Lori K. Weems

The First 150 Women Lawyers June 14 Supreme Court Ceremony Committee

Nina Ashenafi, Co-Chair Wendy S. Loquasto, Co-Chair Mary Ellen Clark Beth Demme Katherine A.Giddings Kathy J. Maus Rebecca J. Mercier Kelly A. O’Keefe Jodi L. Wilkof

114 Underwriting Acknowledgments

Two events were held in connection with the First 150 Women Lawyers Celebration. A gala dinner celebration honoring the women was held on May 25, 2000, in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Bal Harbour Beach Resort, and the Supreme Court of Florida held a ceremonial session to honor the women on June 14, 2000. The First 150 Women Lawyers Committees gratefully acknowledge the financial and in‑kind contributions of the following underwriters, as well as those whose ads appear on the following pages:

Grand Sponsors Daily Business Review Gibraltar Bank Holland & Knight LLP LEXIS Publishing LEXIS‑NEXIS, MARTINDALE‑HUBBELL, MATTHEW BENDER, MICHIE, SHEPARD’S

Patron Sponsors Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson, P.A. Carlton Fields Edwards & Angell, LLP Greenberg Taurig Hanzman Criden Chaykin & Rolnick, P.A. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP Ruden McClosky Smith Schuster & Russell, P.A. Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP Zack Kosnitzky, P.A.

Supporting Sponsors Hector & Harke LLP Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin, P.A. Kozyak, Tropin & Throckmorton, P.A. Mellon United Bank Law Offices of Carlos E. Morales, P.A. Richman Greer Weil Brumbaugh Mirabito & Christensen Zuckerman, Spaeder, Taylor & Evans LLP

In‑Kind Contributions Ava Doppelt (copyright) IKON Document Services (reproductions & graphics)

115 The Florida Bar and The Florida Association for Women Lawyers Invite you to a Gala Celebration In honor of Florida’s First One Hundred and Fif ty Women Lawyers (1898-1943)

Thursday May 25, 2000 Grand Ballroom Sheraton Bal Harbour Beach Resort 9701 Collins Avenue Bal Harbour, Florida

116 The Honorable Major B. Harding, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Florida and Edith G. Osman, President, The Florida Bar and Jeanmarie Whalen, President, Florida Association for Women Lawyers cordially invite you to attend a Ceremonial Session of the Supreme Court of Florida honoring Florida’s First 150 Women Lawyers

on Wednesday, June 14, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. at the Florida Supreme Court

117