Penny Briner Ewell, organizing chair of the AAUW Prescott 75th Anniversary Celebration, described it as “Small bites, Big cake” a creative summation of how many people did their part to accomplish a successful event.
The script created for the Arizona Centennial of 2012 was a starting point. Weighing in at a hefty 45 pages, it needed serious trimming.
Sandra Bennett edited it and added current information to produce a trim ten pages.
Carol Dosse combed through pictures, historic and current, to add visual interest.
Edi Taylor-Richards, Chris Maxwell, Janet Orr and Lenore Hemphill facilitated the projection of the Google slide presentation.
It was brought to life by Tamara and Stephanie Voss, experienced actors as well as mother – daughter members.
Myra Boyer-Turner shared her memories of Prescott in 1949. She added perspective and humor with her personal stories.
A professional logo was designed by Pat Mann’s daughter, Kelly Robyn Mann.
Sue Marceau added it to publicity and had invitations printed. She created a media release, and the Past Presidents’ picture and caption appeared in the Prescott Chamber of Commerce email blast.
Eileen Cotter mailed 38 invitations to past Presidents and long-time members.
Ellen Momeyer chose a delicious cake, had the logo added, and served it to an appreciative audience.
Photographs from the past were provided by many, most notably Stephanie Brown. Stephanie, Gail Shay, and others took photos at the event.
Our first accessory sale was great fun, as well as a successful fundraiser for the Opportunity Award. Margie Crider had the idea and she and Jet Sletten displayed and sold all the wonderful donations.
Sitting front row: Kathryn Madden, Sue Marceau, Carol Dosse, Sandra Bennett, Stephanie Voss Standing back row: Tamara Voss, Penny Briner Ewell, Margie Crider, Jet Sletten, Ellen Momeyer, Eileen Cotter, Edi Taylor-Richards.
We are an organization of volunteers. For 75 years strong women have volunteered their time and talents to create an enduring legacy and promising future.
The Programming and Interest groups we enjoy, the detailed Financial and Membership records we rely on, the Secretaries and Archivists who record what we’ve accomplished, the Thumbsketch editors, website, and technology that keep us informed, the Scholarships we are proud to award, the Community and Public Relations that connect us to our community, and the Presidents who coordinate and lead.
Small Bites, indeed, all creating an astoundingly Big Cake!
Upcoming Programs
General Meeting: March 9th, 2024
Healthy Living for Your Brain and Body
Alexis Ramirez
Our March Speaker this year is Alexis Ramirez. She spoke to us last May and many people said they wanted more. She’s a great speaker. She is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Association. Alexis has been with the association for 6 years. She received a BA in Public Health from New Mexico State University with a focus on community health, outreach, and cancer research. She transferred from the Alzheimer’s Association New Mexico office to serve in the Prescott office and Northern Arizona. Alexis has 10 years of experience working for non-profits, including working with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, and has received local awards for her work in community health and wellness.
This program is designed to offer you research-based recommendations about taking care of our brains and our bodies to age as well as possible. Topics will include: – Strategies to age well in the following areas: Cognitive activity; Physical health and exercise; Diet and nutrition and Social engagement. – Make your plan for healthy aging using the Healthy Habits for a Healthier You. – Identify the reasons for taking care of yourself as you age.
General Meeting: April 13, 2024
The AAUW-Prescott Annual Business Meeting will be held with a presentation of the budget and election of officers for the 2024-25 year.
Our April Speaker is Jo Zutell. She has been a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice for 35 years. She was a military spouse for 24 years and worked for the U.S. Department of Defense overseas counseling military family members. She had a private practice located beside military installations with the majority of referrals received from military support personnel. She’s been a Red Cross Mental Health Volunteer for 29 years responding to disasters and mass casualty events and facilitating services to Armed Forces Resilience Workshops for military service members, veterans, and their family members for 10 years. She is also a Trainer of Mental Health volunteers for the Red Cross Services to Armed Forces Resiliency Program across the country. She is a mother of 2 and grandmother of 7. Jo will share some of her experiences working with the Red Cross and the Military as a mental health counselor.
In Honor of Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day, March 8th
The more we understand about women’s history, The more weknow – when facing challenges, The stronger wegrow – when breaking barriers, The clearer andprouder OUR voices, When speaking our minds or stating OUR choices.
By Natalie J. Stewart-Smith, inspired by her research and presentation about The 1929 Women’s Air Race at the AAUW Prescott February 10, 2024 General Meeting.
AAUW Prescott Business
Celebrating 75 Years of Community Service and Camaraderie
AAUW Prescott celebrated 75 Years of community service and camaraderie at the January 13 General Meeting. The room was packed with past, present, and future members who reminisced about what we have accomplished throughout our dynamic history of supporting women and girls since our founding on March 12, 1949. See photos
Sixty attendees recalled AAUW Prescott’s role in bringing to life projects such as the Yavapai College Del E. Webb Family Enrichment Center, Stepping Stones Agencies’ advocacy services, the Girls’ Rock-It Day STEM experience, The Reality Store® career/life simulation, and $35,000 in scholarships awarded since 2007.
We also envisioned what the future holds through our mission “to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.” Two recent examples are joining the Prescott Chamber of Commerce and creating an Opportunity Award to help female students from Yavapai College, Prescott College, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University attend educational conferences and seminars.
A cake featuring the new “75 Years” logo marked the celebration. First up, though, were reminisces of 1949 from native Prescottonian Myra Boyer-Turner and a Branch history slide presentation facilitated by Tamara and Stephanie Voss. Members donated jewelry and accessories for sale to benefit the new Opportunity Award. To date, $2,037 has been collected through various fundraisers.
President Carol Dosse led the group in honoring past presidents and their contributions to the Branch’s success. Past President Penny Briner Ewell recognized Dosse for her current leadership in positioning the Branch for its next 75 Years.
Past Presidents in attendance: President Carol Dosse (top left) including (top, second left) Anne Barton, Cathy Cunningham, Edi Taylor-Richards, Annette Schiller, Becky Gunn, (bottom left) Penny Briner Ewell, Lynne Murphy, Lynn Ray, and Gail Shay. Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Brown.
Help us solve the AAUW Banner Mystery!
It’s a good bet that most of you have some treasured family item in your possession that you know only that it was “great grandmother so and so’s”, but its story has been lost. For instance, many of us still use or display some ancestor’s quilt but cannot remember her name or appreciate how this person hoarded scraps of fabric and spent weary hours piecing these together to make the warm, comfortable quilt.
75th Anniversary, January 13, 2024 Natalie Stewart-Smith and Julia Appletree.
Your Branch Archivist has such a mystery about the creation of the AAUW Banner displayed at our 75thAnniversary meeting in January. It is wonderfully made, with smooth letters applied and a logo that seems to be the beginning idea for our current Prescott Branch logo, which began use around 2011. The Banner appears in pictures around the time of the 50th Branch anniversary (1999), but inquiries from older Branch members have come up empty. Evidently, it has been passed down from President to President and displayed off and on, but its creator/creator’s information has not been passed along with it.
Both the women in the January 13th picture claim they do not know its history. They are both long-time friends and branch members but just admire the Banner displayed at the 75th celebration. Besides the banner, there was much to admire that day, including a beautiful cake, jewelry display/sale, and a wonderfully scripted program.
Is there anyone out there who can share more about the Banner? If you have any bit of information at all, please pass it on to the editors: aauwthumbsketch@gmail.com
Perhaps this mystery can be solved!
Sharing Community Information
Requests to share community information and gather signatures on petitions at General Meetings must be approved by the AAUW Prescott President in advance. The President and Board will consider information based on policies at the Board meeting on the Thursday preceding the Saturday meeting. All AAUW emails are clearly identified and prioritize Prescott Branch and AZ State AAUW news. The sharing of community information must follow our Policies. Thank you for following our Prescott AAUW Policies.
Membership
In a recent meeting with our president and treasurer, we decided to change the way we recommend that our members renew their memberships. It is much easier for us to keep track of renewals and new members when you renew or join using the national website. Therefore, we are changing our instructions to reflect that: in a few months, when you renew, please log into the national AAUW website at https://www.aauw.org, select “Login” and pay with a credit card directly through the national website. As you complete the membership form, please indicate that you want to join the local Prescott branch (AZ0009). If this is a concern for you, please contact us at membership@aauwprescott.net
Our current membership is 145. In January we had two new members join our Prescott Branch: Kimberly Richards and Vicky Oldham. Vicky shared the back story about why she is joining AAUW:
I also have an interesting story about AAUW to share. I lived in the Philadelphia, PA area (Lansdowne, PA) for the first 40-some years of my life. My grandmother, Mary Lou Abbott, was a good friend of Mary Purcell, the national president of AAUW in the 1990s. She was at our home all the time for get-togethers and bridge! My grandmother and Mary Purcell wished I could join AAUW, but I left college early, so could not become a member. I recall how bad I felt that I disappointed my grandmother by not finishing school. Instead, I went to work as a professional sculptor and later graphic artist and publisher, yet always felt that I missed out greatly by not finishing my degree.
Fast forward to today, and I am a Bachelor of Science, full-time (online) student at Northern Arizona University– at age 68! I have 27 credits left to go, so expect to graduate next December. I realized I could join AAUW as a student associate! I will be a full member as soon as I graduate!
As told to Sonya Tenney and Mari Rimple, Membership Co-VPs
Tax Deductible Benefit for AAUW Members This is just a reminder that a portion of your National AAUW dues is tax-deductible for 2023. If you paid the full amount of $103 in 2023, you may deduct $64 as a charitable contribution.
AAUW Arizona
Legislative Day – 2024
On February 21 at the Historic Senate Chambers at the Arizona Capitol Museum, almost 50 AAUW members representing six Branches attended the latest annual Legislative Day. The day began with a welcome to the Capitol from AZ Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. His history of the Capitol was also framed with an intense defense of free and open elections.
The day was moderated by Jodi Liggett who introduced the “Budget and Policy Outlook: The Governor’s View” panel which consisted of Sarah Brown, Director of Strategic Planning and Budget, and Zaid Dedolph-Piecoro, Health and Human Services Policy Advisor. Both are part of Governor Hobbs’ administration. The discussion went into great detail about the budget, attempts to balance that budget, and Hobbs’ priorities, including funding of schools and ESA, childcare assistance, and healthcare. Meaningful questions were asked by AAUW members and well-answered by the presenters.
Local anchor and reporter for Channel 12 News, Brahm Resnik followed with a discussion of not only his life as a reporter but also about the state of politics in Arizona. Filled with thoughtful memories, he brought to life the transformation that has occurred over the past 20 years in our State. Questions again were asked and answered.
After a very short break, the group heard from Richie Taylor, Communications Director for the Attorney General’s Office. He outlined the duties of the Attorney General, the priorities of the office as well as the issues impacting the State of Arizona.
For those who were interested in signing up for Request to Speak, Betsy Flaten offered her assistance by showing them how to sign up at the Senate sign-up terminals.
About 15 people remained in the historic Senate chamber to ‘munch and learn’ about the Signature Collection for AZ for Abortion Access ballot measure.
Responses from those attending were overwhelmingly positive. Individuals appreciated the open-question sessions as well as the depth of the presentations. It was a good day for AAUW in Arizona.
AAUW Arizona Spring Forum April 13, 2024 Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Location: 17540 N. Ave of the Arts, Surprise, AZ
Theme: Education, Leadership and Annual Board Meeting
We will focus on the issues relating to public school education, including funding, vouchers and supporting School Boards. At the request of leadership from several Branches, over lunch we will focus on functional area leadership at the branch level. In the afternoon we will hold our annual meeting with a state of the State report and election of State officers.
Lunch will be provided. Registration fee will be $40. Registration information will be available soon.
Community Engagement
Prescott Chamber of Commerce “Talk of the Town Radio Show”
AAUW Prescott was featured on the Talk of the Town radio show on February 14, at 4:30. The Radio Show highlights local Chamber of Commerce members. Carol Dosse described our mission, meetings, and community outreach. If you didn’t catch it live, watch for it on KQNA.com in the future.
Interest Groups
Singles Interest Group
Would you like to go to dinner, outings, or plays with fellow single AAUW members? If you are not married (widowed, divorced, or never married) you can join the Singles Interest Group. Jan Wickliffe has passed the leadership torch to Carol Dosse. Jan will continue as a member, hosting her Memorial and Labor Day parties. Sandra Bennett will continue to coordinate our monthly restaurant dinners. Are you on our email list? If you would like to be notified of Singles Group activities, please email Carol (email address in the Directory).
Travel Discussion Group
WE ARE ALL TRAVELING IN MARCH. SEE YOU AT THE NEXT GET TOGETHER, MAY 14, 2023.
