(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)
Ruth, Rahab, Deborah, Jael, Esther, Abigail … We have a tendency to think of these women of the Bible as exceptions to the rule. They are not. Many of you might have a wife like mine who is actually a composite of all of them. She is loyal like Ruth, cunning like Rahab, wise like Deborah, opportunistic like Jael, influential like Esther, but I would say that she is mostly like Abigail.
Abigail was a woman of God who was married to a foolish man, Nabal, whose name actually means “fool.” Nabal made the mistake of insulting David when he was traveling about with a band of warriors. As a small and efficient army, David and his men had watched over and protected Nabal’s servants who were out in the field shearing sheep — a major enterprise because Nabal had 4,000 sheep and goats. As a return for the favor, David had asked Nabal if, as was the custom, he and his men might share in the celebration feast that always followed the completion of the shearing season. When Nabal refused and threw insults back at David, David strapped on his sword and took 400 of his men with him bent on not leaving one male alive in Nabal’s household. “Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall” (1 Samuel 25:21-22 KJV).
Needless to say, David was upset. Now Abigail knew nothing of this until one of the servants came and told her that Nabal had insulted David, and that he and 400 men were on the way to her house, and it was not going to be pretty. So acting quickly and without Nabal’s knowledge, she loaded up donkeys with loaves of bread, wine, slaughtered sheep, raisins and fig cakes and went out to meet David with what he had requested. And when she did, she got off her donkey, bowed low, and said, “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don’t pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests” (24-25).
And then, at great risk, she proceeded to tell him three things, all of which took a good deal of courage. First, she told him not to waste his time taking vengeance on a fool. You are here to fight the Lord ’s battles and this is not one of them. Secondly, when you are the leader of Israel, you won’t want to have this needless bloodshed on your hands. And finally, though she didn’t say these actual words, it was the real intent behind everything she said: Remember who you are, David.
Fortunately, David did, and praised God for Abigail. “Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands.” (31)
When Abigail returned home and told Nabal all that had happened and he realized how close he had come to losing everything, he had a stroke, and ten days later, he died.
Any man who has a woman who will remind him of who he is in Christ, and insist on taking the high road in all his dealings, is blessed, indeed. I am fortunate to be such a man.
Men of the Catch, I write this so that you might see the value of the women in your lives and give them proper honor.
A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. (Proverbs 31:30-31)
John Fischer The Catch 
I have to admit, John…
Over the last few years I began wondering if you were a little bit prejudiced against women or maybe slightly afraid of them.
Apart from frequent mentions of Marti (and her work with abused women), and last weeks tribute to Roberta Stephens, and the occasional Catch about biblical heroes such as Rahab (and, today, Abigail), it didn’t seem as if you paid equitable attention to women as much as you have for your beloved Angels, sports idols, and other icons (living or dead).
Thank you, though, for publicly acknowledging the necessity and blessings that women provide not only to men’s and children’s lives but also for their wisdom, peace, joy, and contentment they offer to the entire world.
Now, if only us idiot guys would truly honor, love, listen to, and work with them!
So, that being said, I’d like to include a little “In Memoriam” to a few women who, though never(?) mentioned in the Catch, have contributed to the betterment of our global and personal lives.
They’ve all died within the past five years and some may not fit the current “Christian ideal” but we are all nonetheless enriched in some way by their talents, genius, gifts, and contributions.
This is obviously not an exhaustive list:
Barbara Bush; Aretha Franklin; Doris Day; Jessye Norman;
Diahann Carroll; Dorothy C. Fontana; Ruth Bader Ginsburg;
Helen Reddy; Cicely Tyson; Betty White; Madeline Albright;
Nichelle Nichols; Judith Durham; Olivia Newton-John.
I would encourage anyone so inclined to add names to the list so we may respectfully honor their memory.
Then, let us look at all the women presently in our lives and recognize that God has placed them there for a wise and loving purpose. And may we, men and women alike, with all sincerity say, “God bless the women!”
Shalom, Peace…
I wasn’t even aware of the recent passing of Judith Durham until I saw her name on your list. Yes, God bless the women.
Losses over the past 5 years would also include, Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, (Mary Tyler Moore slightly longer than 5 years) Della Reese, Dolores O’Riordan, Ronnie Spector and Naomi Judd.
Thank you, John, for remembering those wonderful women.
There have been so many who have left us that it would be impossible to list every name of every woman from every walk of life that has positively impacted our cultures and personal lives – many more of them less famous than others.
Praise God for those women, though, because – from our own moms to world leaders – He knows and remembers who each of them were, are, and will be.
My little list would be remiss if we didn’t also include:
Carol Channing;
Katherine Johnson (NASA);
Adalia Rose (Progeria).
Keep their memories alive and God Bless the Women!
Shalom, Peace…
🙂
Queen Elizabeth…
Thank you, Bob. I will try and be more in support of women.
Another amazing women to add to the list:
Pat Wright – Seattle’s “First Lady of Gospel” – who died earlier this week. Here’s her front page obituary from todays Seattle Times:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/seattles-first-lady-of-gospel-patrinell-pat-wright-dies-at-78/
Marsha Hunt (103)
Mahsa Amini (22)
Sacheen Littlefeather (75)
Loretta Lynn (90)
Angela Lansbury (96)
Joanna Simon (85)
Lucy Simon (82)
Neema Roshania Patel (35)
Julie Powell (49)
Alice Estes Davis (93)
Janet Thurlow (96)
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/janet-thurlow-who-sang-during-seattles-jackson-street-jazz-heyday-dies-at-96/
Virginia McLaurin (113)
“Her style was a lot of hugs, a lot of kisses, just unconditional love no matter what.”
“She had a whole long life of doing good. She was famous for her one moment with the Obamas but really had a lifetime of dedication to her community.”
Roslyn Singleton (39)
Irene Cara (63)
Christine McVie (79)
Julia Reichert (76)
Kirstie Alley (71)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4sp2XWZDKs
Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa (96)
“The last Alii”
Shirley Eikhard (67)
Kathrynne Ann Whitworth (83) – Winningest golfer in history
“When I’m asked how I would like to be remembered, I feel that if people remember me at all, it will be good enough.”
~ Kathy Whitworth
Barbara Walters (93)
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/barbara-walters-dead-at-93-159077445737
Anita Pointer (74)
Personal note: I first fell in love with the Pointer Sisters and their music when I heard their rendition of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
Bessie Laurena Hendricks (115)
Believed to be oldest person in the United States Bessie was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse and was alive to witness news of the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and II, the Great Depression and both the Spanish flu and COVID-19 pandemics.
The secret to her longevity:
Work hard, stay away from doctors and make sure to enjoy sweets, like a delicious piece of pie or slice of birthday cake.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/2023/01/04/bessie-hendricks-death-obituary-oldest-person-america-united-states-iowa/69778962007/
Lisa Marie Presley (54)
Mursal Nabizada (32) – former Afghan MP, shot dead at her home
“A fearless champion for Afghanistan. A true trailblazer – a strong, outspoken woman who stood for what she believed in, even in the face of danger … Despite being offered the chance to leave Afghanistan, she chose to stay and fight for her people. We have lost a diamond, but her legacy will live on…”
~ former Afghan lawmaker (now exiled) Mariam Solaimankhil
Gina Lollobrigida (95)
Lucile Randon, also known as Sister André (118)
~ The oldest known living person
Randon was born in southern France on February 11, 1904, when World War I was still a decade away; she was born in the year New York opened its first subway and when the Tour de France had only been staged once.
She became a nun at age 45 in 1944 when she joined The Daughters of Charity and took the name Sister André to honor her late brother.
She only stopped working at age 108.
“It’s not nice being old, because I used to like taking care of others, making children dance, and now I can’t do that anymore,” Randon told reporters at her 118th birthday last year.
Her days in the nursing home were punctuated by prayer, mealtimes and visits from residents and hospice workers.
Sandra Diane Seacat (86)
Actress and renowned acting coach to Laura Dern, Mickey Rourke, Harvey Keitel, Common, Andrew Garfield, Michelle Williams, Jessica Lange, Marlo Thomas, Peter Falk, Aaron Eckhart, Meg Ryan, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Shia LaBeouf, Isabella Rossellini, Treat Williams, Melanie Griffith, Christopher Reeve, Don Johnson, Mary Kay Place, Martin Henderson, and many others.
“It is impossible to express who Sandra Seacat is and was and will forever be. She is a true legend in the sense that she lived the most virtuous life one can imagine. A life devoted to profound service and healing through art. She was a revolutionary, a culture-changing teacher of acting and storytelling. She is a beacon for all of us of what a life of deep meaning and beauty can look like. And she was irreverent and forever playing like a joyful, unbridled child.
I feel grateful beyond words to be able to call her my teacher, my acting partner in ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’, my mentor and my friend.”
~ Andrew Garfield
“Sandra impacted and inspired my life in ways that only GOD could have orchestrated. Her love for people, her love for life, her love for acting let me know (as she would always tell me), ‘You can heal people through your work as an actor, you can inspire people through your work as an actor.’ And that truly made me see the higher purpose in the art that I do.”
~ Common
Lisa Loring (64) – The original Wednesday Addams
Cindy Williams (75)
Eunice Dwumfour (30) – Sayreville, New Jersey Councilwoman
Shot dead outside her home.
“…an amazing friend, a woman who loved God”
“Beyond her dedication to our community, I can share that she was a woman of deep faith and worked hard to integrate her strong Christian beliefs in to her daily life as a person and a community leader.”
~ Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick
Melinda Dillon (83)
Raquel Welch (82)
Stella Stevens (84)
Linda (Drouin ) Kasabian (73) – Cult member of the Charles Manson “family” and key prosecution witness in Manson’s murder trial
“In 1969, 20-year-old Linda Kasabian came to California to find God. Instead, she found Charles Manson…
Like many of the era’s youthful seekers, Kasabian drifted around the country taking drugs, living in communes and practicing free love.”
~ Los Angeles Times – 02-28-2023
“I was like a little blind girl in the forest,” Kasabian said in her testimony at the 1970 trial, “and I took the first path that came to me.”
“I doubt we would have convicted Manson without her.”
~ Vincent Bugliosi – Los Angeles County deputy district attorney
Judy Heumann (75) – “Mother of the disability rights movement”
Pat Schroeder (82) – United States Representative (Colorado) 1973-1997
“…a force of nature when it came to promoting women’s equality.”
~ Denver Post
When asked how she could possibly be a congresswoman and a parent to two small children Schroeder replied: “I have a brain and a uterus and I use both.”
Gloria Dea (100) – FIRST magician to perform on the Las Vegas Strip
Dea was 19 when she performed at El Rancho Vegas on May 14, 1941. Her show at the Roundup Room is the first recorded appearance by a magician in Las Vegas.
Dea also appeared in several films after moving to California including “Singin’ in the Rain”, “King of the Congo”, and Ed Wood’s infamous “Plan 9 from Outer Space.”
Dea was scheduled to be inducted into the UNLV College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame on Tuesday night (March 21st).
Bobbi Kelly Ercoline (73) – Woman on the iconic 1970 record album cover “Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More”
“She lived her life well, and left this world in a much better place. If you knew her, you loved her. She lived by her saying, ‘Be kind.’ As a School Nurse she always championed the kids … ALWAYS! As a person, she always gave. ‘How much do you really need if you have all you need or want?’ So she gave and gave and gave.”
~ Nick Ercoline (Bobbi’s husband of 54 years and the man hugging Bobbi in the album photo)
“We’re really not the couple on the cover anymore,” said Bobbi in 2019. “We’re Grammy and Papa now.”
Dame Mary Quant (93) – Miniskirt designer
“A leader of fashion but also in female entrepreneurship- a visionary who was… perfectly positioned to capitalize on the “youthquake” that took hold in the 1960s.”
Quant was also credited with introducing hot pants and micro-minis to London’s fashion scene in the late 1960s.
She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for service to the fashion industry in 1966.
In 2014, she was made a dame for services to British fashion.
In 2023 she was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor, a royal honor restricted to 65 people “of distinction” in the arts, science, medicine or government.
“She was the right person with the right sensibility in the right place at the right time. She appeared on the scene at the exact cusp of the ’60s.”
~ Hamish Bowles, Vogue Magazine
“She blasted through barriers of snobbery and tradition, with her vision of fashion as a way of resisting stereotypes, with well-made clothes and cosmetics that were empowering and liberating, as well as affordable. Fashion today owes so much to the revolutionary, trailblazing Mary Quant.”
~ Jenny Lister, curator at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
Ginnie Newhart (82) – Wife of 60-years to comedian Bob Newhart
Ginnie and Bob were set up on a blind date by comedian Buddy Hackett (Ginnie was baby-sitting Hackett’s kids at the time).
“Buddy came back one day and said in his own inimitable way, ‘I met this young guy and his name is Bobby Newhart, and he’s a comic and he’s Catholic and you’re Catholic and I think maybe you should marry each other,’ ” she recalled in a 2013 interview.
They played pool at Buddy and his wife’s home the first time they met.
“It was just silly, I was 20, 21, and I think Bob was 32. And every time somebody would sink a ball in the pocket… [we’d] run around the table with our cue stick singing ‘Bridge on the River Kwai.”
Ginnie came up with the innovative idea for how to conclude Bob Newhart’s Vermont-based sitcom (“Newhart” 1982-90) by combining it with his earlier Chicago-based show (“The Bob Newhart Show” 1972-78).
In one of the most admired series finales in TV history, Newhart’s innkeeper character Dick Louden wakes up in the middle of the night as the previous series’ psychologist Bob Hartley. He’s in bed with his wife, Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), in their Chicago apartment and finds that his entire second television series had been a dream.
Tina Turner (83)
Looking for something we can rely on
There’s gotta be something better out there
Love and compassion
Their day is coming
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we
Are ever gonna change, change
Living under the fear
‘Til nothing else remains
All the children say
We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome
So, what do we do with our lives?
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light
Or end in the dark
Is it all or nothing?
~
From “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” (1985)
Cynthia Weil (82) – Grammy-winning lyricist
Writer and co-writer (with her husband of 61 years, Barry Mann) of songs including “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” “On Broadway,” “Walking in the Rain,” “You’re My Soul and Inspiration,” “Uptown,” “Kicks,” “Here You Come Again,” “Through the Fire,” “Somewhere Out There,” “We Gotta Get out of This Place,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”…
“When they are successful, songs are like little novels. They have a beginning, a middle and an end. You feel what the person is feeling who’s singing it and it paints a picture of the human condition.”
~ Cynthia Weil
“May the legacy of lyrics by Cynthia Weil continue to speak to and for generations to come.”
~ Carole King
Astrud Gilberto (83) – Brazilian singer of “The Girl from Ipanema”
Gilberto became an overnight, unexpected superstar in 1964, thanks to knowing just enough English to be recruited by the makers of “Getz/Gilberto,” the classic bossa nova album featuring saxophonist Stan Getz and her then-husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist Joao Gilberto.
“The Girl from Ipanema,” released as a single with Astrud Gilberto the only vocalist, became an all-time standard, often ranked just behind “Yesterday” as the most covered song in modern times.
“The Girl from Ipanema” won a Grammy in 1965 for record of the year and Gilberto received nominations for best new artist and best vocal performance.
The wistful ballad, written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, was already a hit in South America.
Gilberto. the poised dark-haired singer, was so closely associated with “The Girl from Ipanema” that some assumed she was the inspiration for the song.
However, de Moraes had written the lyrics about a Brazilian teenager, Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto.
By 2002, Gilberto had essentially retired from music and dedicated her latter years to animal rights activism and a career in the visual arts.
Glenda Jackson (87) – Actress, British Minister of Parliament
One of four daughters of a bricklayer and a cleaning lady in northwest England, Jackson never forgot her roots even as she made her name as one of the greatest women actors of her generation.
After more than three decades on stage and film, Jackson quit acting and took her no-nonsense, straight-talking style into politics.
In 1992, at the age of 55, Jackson won a seat in parliament representing the left-of-center Labour Party in a constituency in north London until 2015.
Jackson told supporters, “We must work for the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, the frail, the sick.”
Jackson returned to acting and in 2019, she played an elderly grandmother struggling with dementia in the television series, “Elizabeth Is Missing.” She was rewarded with a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) TV Award for Best Actress.
~ Source: Reuters
Winnie Ewing (93) – Charismatic politician considered to be the mother of the modern Scottish independence movement.
Trained as a lawyer, Winnifred Margaret Ewing joined the pro-independence Scottish National Party — then a small fringe group — and unexpectedly won election to the U.K. Parliament in 1967. Ewing greeted her surprise victory with the words: “Stop the world — Scotland wants to get on.”
Ewing also served in the semi-autonomous Scottish parliament, established in 1999, the first time Scotland had had its own legislature since its political union with England almost three centuries earlier.
Ewing, as presiding officer, opened the Edinburgh-based parliament with the words: “The Scottish parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened.”
The SNP is now the dominant party in Scotland.
“No words can truly capture the unique and unparalleled contribution that Winnie made to Scotland and Scottish politics.
Her work over many decades — including in the U.K., European and Scottish Parliaments — shaped the modern nation we have today.”
~ First Minister Humza Yousaf, leader of the Scottish National Party
Carmen Sevilla (92) – Spanish film star who played Mary Magdalene in the 1961 film “King Of Kings”
Coco Lee (48) – Singer, songwriter
Lee, who was born in Hong Kong but later moved to the U.S. where she attended middle and high school, had a highly successful career in Asia as a pop singer in the 1990’s and 2000’s, where she was known for her powerful voice and live performances.
Lee voiced the heroine Mulan in the Mandarin version of Disney’s “Mulan” and also performed the movie’s theme song “Reflection.”
She also sang the Oscar-nominated song “A Love Before time” from the 2000 Ang Lee film “Hidden Tiger, Crouching Moon.
2023 marked the 30th anniversary of Lee’s singing career.
Upon her passing, Lee’s sisters wrote: “Coco worked tirelessly to open up a new world for Chinese singers in the international music scene, and she went all out to shine for the Chinese. We are proud of her!”
They went on to say they were “very grateful and honored to have such an excellent and outstanding sister.”
Jane Birkin (76) – Actress, singer, activist and 60’s-70’s fashion icon
In her adopted France, Birkin was celebrated for her political activism and campaigning for Amnesty International, Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, the fight against AIDS and, in 2022, she joined other screen and music stars in France in chopping off locks of their hair in support of protesters in Iran.
Birkin was also synonymous with a Hermes bag that bore her name.
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Birkin as a “complete artist,” noting that her soft voice went hand-in-hand with her “ardent” activism.
“Jane Birkin was a French icon because she was the incarnation of freedom, sang the most beautiful words of our language,” he tweeted.
Sinéad O’Connor (56) – Controversial and gifted singer
From the BBC obituary:
Sinéad O’Connor saw music as the therapy to escape a turbulent childhood.
Her rebellious nature was mainly driven by resentment at the abuse she suffered as a child and her experience in a Dublin reformatory.
It was music that rescued her, unleashing a creative talent that made her a worldwide music star.
O’Connor was placed in Dublin’s An Grianan Training Centre, once one of the notorious Magdalene laundries, originally set up to incarcerate young girls deemed to be promiscuous.
One nun discovered that the only way to keep this rebellious teenager in check was by buying her a guitar and setting her up with a music teacher. It was to be the saving of her.
Sinéad O’Connor was a precocious talent who used music as a means of dealing with the demons inside her. A contradictory figure in many ways, she always refused to toe the establishment line, something that saw her achieve less success than she deserved.
The singer though was unapologetic and unrepentant for those life choices.
“I always say, if you live with the devil, you find out there’s a God.”
~ Sinéad O’Connor
Betty Ann Bruno (91) – Former Munchkin and TV news reporter
Betty Ann Ka’ihilani was born on October 1, 1931, in Wahiawa, Hawai’i, grew up in Hollywood and had an uncredited bit role in John Ford’s 1937 film “The Hurricane.”
She was 7 when she was cast with about a dozen other children of average height as Munchkins opposite the 100-plus adult little people who played the denizens of Munchkinland in the 1939 classic “The Wizard Of Oz.”
Among only a handful of surviving Munchkin actors, Bruno in 2020 published a book called The Munchkin Diary: My Personal Yellow Brick Road.
Bruno graduated from Stanford University and had a long and successful career in local television, first as a political talk show producer, then as an on-air host and later a reporter for KTVU in the Bay Area. Starting in 1971, she spent more than 20 years with the station, becoming a familiar face to its viewers.
Bruno retired from her reporting career in 1992 and moved to Sonoma with her husband to teach hula dancing.
Helen Smart (42) – Headteacher & former British Olympic swimmer
Smart represented Britain at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 in the 200m backstroke. She “was a fierce competitor, gritty in training but humble in her victories and medal successes.”
Sarah Price, Commonwealth champion in the 200m backstroke at Manchester 2002, added: “Swimming brought us together, a northern lass and a southern girl that shared the same love for swimming backstroke.
Whether we were racing, training or just hanging out, she was so gracious in all she did and was extremely funny and kind.”
After the Olympics, she retired to become the headteacher at Worsley Mesnes Community Primary School in Wigan.
Her husband, Craig, said, “She loved the school, staff, children and parents so much… I remember only last week she said her goal was to get the school to outstanding and that she had the right staff to achieve this.
I hope you all keep learning like champions.
Please learn from this and live your best life, no regrets, take lots of photos, make memories and keep smiling just like Helen always did.”
Renata Scotto (89) – Renowned Opera Soprano & Director
Recognized for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation.
Renata Scotto was born in Savona, Italy. She made her operatic debut in her home town on Christmas Eve of 1952 at the age of 18 in front of a sold-out house as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata. The next day, she made her ‘official’ opera debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Violetta. Shortly after, she performed in her first Puccini opera, Madama Butterfly, in Savona. Both roles would later become closely associated with her name.
In October 1965, Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. She went on to sing more than 300 performances in 26 roles at the Met through 1987.
With Luciano Pavarotti she opened the series of “Live from the Met” telecasts in 1977 with Puccini’s La Bohème.
After retiring from the stage as a singer in 2002, she turned successfully to directing opera as well as teaching in Italy and America, along with academic posts at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Juilliard School in New York.
“Renata Scotto is a true artist and profound connoisseur of voice and repertoire, gifted with technique, musicality, a personality of a rare power, always at the service of the composer, and able to emotionally stir the public in all the world in every phase of her long career,’’ soprano Cecilia Gasdia, superintendent of the Fondazione Arena in Verono, said in a statement.
Ada Deer (88) – Menominee Native American of Wisconsin and the first woman to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the United States Interior Department
Born in Keshena, Wisconsin, Deer spent her childhood in a log cabin on the Menominee reservation without running water or electricity, attended Shawano High School, studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later at Columbia University.
In 1978 and 1982, Deer ran for Wisconsin secretary of state, and then for Congress in 1992. Many remember her campaign slogan “Run Like a Deer.”
She was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 as the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Interior Department, a position that included overseeing the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
She led the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program at the University Wisconsin-Madison, chaired the board of the Native American Rights Fund and co-founded the Indian Community School in Milwaukee.
Gwen Carr, a longtime friend of Deer’s and executive director of the Carlisle Indian School Project, said Deer had a way of convincing people to do what she wanted, not by arguing with them, but simply by talking to them until they agreed with her.
“She was a force of nature who was as gentle as a breeze,” Carr said, also adding that Deer, “had a profound gentleness and innocence about her, though she was nobody’s fool.”
Ben Wikler, Deer’s godson and chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, summarized her final speech:
“She urged everyone, all of us — you reading this right now — to dedicate ourselves to advancing justice in this world.”
Dorothy Casterline (95) – American Sign Language pioneer, co-author of the “Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles”
Born Dorothy Sueoka in Honolulu, Casterline became deaf at the age of 13. She studied at the Hawai’i School for the Deaf and the Blind, then known as the Diamond Head School for the Deaf, before moving on to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., to earn her bachelor’s in English.
As a young researcher at Gallaudet University in the early 1960s, Dorothy helped write the first comprehensive dictionary of American Sign Language, a book that revolutionized the study of Deaf culture.
By the 1980s, the dictionary had become a cornerstone of a robust emerging cultural identity.
She was also something of an outsider, even among the deaf students at Gallaudet. Having been born in Hawaii to Japanese American parents, she was among the first students of color at the school and most likely the first person of color to join the faculty.
With a grant from the National Science Foundation, thousands of hours of interviews were filmed with people from all walks of life: children and college students, men and women, Northerners and Southerners.
It was the task of Casterline, who had fine, precise handwriting, to transcribe the interviews and then use a specialized typewriter to compile and annotate them. She worked late into the night and on weekends, sometimes with her newborn son in one arm.
After working on the dictionary, Casterline left Gallaudet to raise her family. She also worked for a company that added captions to classic movies.
William Stokoe, Casterline’s fellow professor and collaborator, wrote (in 1993) in the journal ‘Sign Language Studies’ that Dorothy was one of his star students, who “wrote essays better than nine-tenths of the hearing students whose papers I had read for a dozen years elsewhere.”
Dorothy Casterline said she helped write the dictionary “to show that deaf people can be studied as linguistic and cultural communities, and not only as unfortunate victims with similar physical and sensory pathologies.”
Marilyn Lovell (93) – Wife of astronaut Jim Lovell
Marilyn Lovell embodied the glamour and the hardship of being married to an American hero. Her husband, Jim Lovell, was the captain of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in 1970.
The Apollo 13 crisis captivated the world, with Marilyn in a central role as the wife and mother of four watching the television news to see if she was about to become a widow.
The crew of the space capsule were estimated to have a 10 percent chance of survival.
Upon seeing a priest at their door, the Lovells’ 12-year-old daughter, Susan, became hysterical. Marilyn found a way to soothe her by asking, “Do you really think the best astronaut either one of us knows is going to forget something as simple as how to turn his spaceship around and fly it home?”
When parachutes were seen on TV billowing out from the spaceship, guiding it safely to the ocean surface, a couple of famous astronauts in the Lovell’s living room, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, opened champagne.
President Richard Nixon called Marilyn with an invitation: “I wanted to know if you’d care to accompany me to Hawaii to pick up your husband.”
She replied, “Mr. President, I’d love to.”
There is a triangle-shaped mountain on the lunar surface named Mount Marilyn that now serves as a landmark for astronauts. The mountain was named by Jim Lovell during his 1968 Apollo 8 mission to honor his wife.
Edith Grossman (87) – Literary Translator and author of “Why Translation Matters” (2010)
Edith dedicated herself to translating Latin American and Spanish authors at a time when literary translation was not considered a serious academic discipline or career.
Her acclaimed translations of “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez and “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes (in 2003) raised the profile of the often-overlooked role of the translator.
Dr. Grossman saw the role “not as the weary journeyman of the publishing world, but as a living bridge between two realms of discourse, two realms of experience, and two sets of readers.”
She locked horns with major publishers on issues such as wages and recognition saying translators had long been seen as the “humble Cinderella” of publishing, and arguing that publishers were ignoring a global conversation that builds mutual understanding through the exchange of ideas, culture and a shared love of literature.
Dr. Grossman’s many honors and awards included the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation; the Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Civil Merit awarded by King Felipe VI of Spain.
Thanks again for such a great message about women. What is mentioned above really says it all. Tomorrow in the morning I look forward to seeing you and hearing you read this message. I always like to read it first. This is very special and hope millions realize the importance of women in the Bible.
Try Again
Thank you john and Bob for your thoughts about women. personally I find that despite not wanting to, I am still tainted by the competitive thoughts between men and women that fly around the media in our culture. Despite the taint, I ask why in the world do we need competition? God made us to work together not to compete or even worse. Our egos, male and female, keep us ‘banging heads’ so to speak. If both sides soberly look at them selves and choose life paths that are ours and not necessarily stereo typical we may even inspire one another rather than cutthroat competition about who is better.
God made us in His image. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, yet play different roles. The difference is that they don’t have their noses out of joint about whether one role is better than another..
In the seventies Jane and I married, during a time when men were called chauvinist pigs and marriages were breaking up as a result of rigid male/female roles. I decided to ask my spouse to be, what role she wanted to play in our marriage. Even that question was considered by others as coming from a superior male perspective. Sort of like ‘letting’ her make her choice. All turned out well but there were bumps along the way. The key for me was, I needed to love her, period. After 50 years of marriage, I am still a work in progress. In retirement we have had many soul searching/ loving discussions about many topics and are now more in love that ever. God is good!
In the 80’s the church I attended talked about male headship. Many men used that as an excuse to lord it over their wives. I noticed in Scripture that men are to be like Jesus who is head of the church. He gave his life for that church.. I didn’t notice a lot of men giving up ‘their life’ for their spouse or their marriage, yet maintained that headship at all cost.
Today I work in Children’s Ministry in my church. All the leaders from the top down are women. I am the lone male bible story teller. Women rule over me. We, that is my immediate female leader and I had to work out the kinks. It was not about who was superior but how can we work together to glorify our Lord. She is 30 years old and I am 77. She also was a former Sunday School student of mine. We have a great relationship. We draw from each other’s strengths and readily confess our flaws. God showed me how to be humble in this matter.
Jesus was born of a woman. In his entourage as he traipsed around the country he had many women of wealth and stature giving him their support.
My musings here chronicle how far I have come since being a make chauvinist pig, but still being a work in progress.
Men and women were made for each other by God. Men were made to need respect and women to be loved. Two different roles that is how it works. Love only works if each person gets the love they need. Men feel loved if they get respect, women feel loved by intimacy. Both are needed to make a marriage work.
i am not sure if this is helpful or insightful but it seems that this needs to be shared. My prayer is that all that John, Bob and Toni have said will spur men and women to seek peace rather than lord it over motivated competition.
Good comments Bob near Seattle. it has taken this idiot guy a long time to learn to work together with women. I work in children’s ministry in my church. Since the sex abuse scandals of the 80’s and 90’s at the elementary level men have not come back to teach young children. Fear of reprisals has kept them away. For many years i was the only guy. Yes I was ruled and am still ruled by women. They are just like men, some are kind loving and supportive but not push overs, others are my way or the highway.
Basically, although there is much more to this, men need to be respected to feel loved and women need intimacy from their man to feel loved. This main guiding principle once adopted in my marriage has made me love JAne more than ever before.
The first comment appeared to have disappeared in cyber space so I gave a shorter version of my thoughts. Now they are all there. It feels awkward to me, hope it is helpful to others.
I always thought women got the short end of the stick for no apparent reason other than men found ways to think of themselves as superior. God made the woman for and out of the man. Wow, from within me comes what I need most, someone to love.
why would i not try to do what God wants.
Thank you, Peter for sharing your important thoughts with us and the progression towards your conclusions. Women need respect, too. Marti calls it “Bringing respect back to women.”