Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Lawrence Mercer Athena Honors Six 'Pioneer' Women
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Six area women were recognized as Lawrence Mercer Athena Pioneer Female Leaders at the fourth annual Athena International Women’s Leadership Day Celebration in West Middlesex.
The women were honored for blazing trails for female leaders by setting examples of what women accomplished in a time when most women simply didn’t do those things, said Kathryn Lima, a member of the Lawrence Mercer Athena host committee.
Honored guests were Elizabeth Bevilacqua, Hermitage; Dorothy Bieber, Sharon; Marlene Epstein, Hermitage; Jean Hodge, Greenville; Marie Julian, Greenville; and Jane Leyde, Hermitage. Each Pioneer was presented with an engraved, limited-edition Athena coaster cast at Wendell August Forge.
The annual celebration of Athena International Women’s Leadership Day brings together female leaders from Lawrence and Mercer counties, Lima noted.
Proceeds from the Leadership Day event benefit the Women’s Fund in the Community Foundation, a donor-advised fund dedicated to underwriting events and activities that advance the opportunities for personal and professional growth for women in Mercer and Lawrence counties.
Bevilacqua retired in 1994 from UPMC Horizon after she was asked in 1975, as an employee of the then Farrell Osteopathic Hospital, to create and run the data processing center for the hospital.
Bieber, educated at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and who earned a master’s degree from Westminster College, New Wilmington, was instrumental in the founding of the Shenango Valley Planned Parenthood Council, Mercer County League of Women Voters and Shenango Valley Interfaith Women’s Council. Her community service includes serving on the boards of Mercer County United Way, the Shenango Valley Urban League and the Mercer County Drug and Alcohol Commission.
In October 1979, Epstein and two friends, Mary Dee Wellman and Patricia Mortensen, bought the First Seneca Bank travel company and Plaza Travel was born. As a member of the management team, she was responsible for the marketing, advertising, and promotion of the company. Plaza Travel became a division of Miller Travel of Erie in 2000. Epstein retired in 2012.
Hodge graduated from Thiel College in 1950 and earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling at Slippery Rock University. She served on the Greenville Borough Council 16 years, eight as president. She was on the Mercer County Planning Commission more than 20 years, and in 1996, was recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Thiel College.
Julian was the first woman in Pennsylvania to be a borough manager -- a position she held in the Greenville Borough 17 years. In addition, she has been active as a member or officer in the Pennsylvania Borough Managers Association, Mercer County Boroughs Association and Greenville Public Library, among other groups.
Lima attributed Leyde’s success to “her passion for education, equal rights, and community service.” Besides supporting the career of her husband, Frank, as the co-owner of Leyde Automotive, Leyde began her own career in education after graduating from Seton Hill University with baccalaureates in both sociology and U.S. history. At age 52, she earned a master's degree in education from Westminster College. She taught in several school districts in the Shenango Valley and continued well into her 80s as a reading specialist. She was a founding member of the League of Women Voters in Mercer County and served as president for the Sharon College Club and the Ave Maria Society at the University of Notre Dame.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.