USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume II > Part 19
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(a) To render more tolerable the conditions of their widows, widowers and orphans and to console and help them in their bereavement.
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(b) As worthy daughters of pious ancestors and as faithful members of the Roman Catholic Church, to remain and be strengthened in the Holy Faith, and so to secure eternal happiness.
(c) To cultivate the Slovak language inherited from their forefathers, to preserve it for the coming generations, and thus become worthy of their ancestors.
It is a fraternal insurance society that has grown from the initial group of six members to a membership of 40,000 adults in 450 branches throughout the United States and Canada and a junior membership list which since its organization in 1905 has grown to 25,000 members in 390 branches.
It carries an insurance of $35,500,000 for adults and $5,000,000 for juniors. It has paid out from 1916 to 1938 death claims in the amount of $6,780,000 and to meet the depression emergency from 1924 to 1937 is waived 13 assess- ments amounting to $647,105. An allocation of $5,000 was also provided for needy mothers to meet the dues assessments of their children in the junior branches.
Since 1916 they have donated approximately $350,000 for educational. religious and charitable purposes of which $135,000 was for relief of needy members in the organization.
They have established two scholarships for the education of Slovak stu- dents for the priesthood in Rome, one from the archdiocese of Chicago and the other from the diocese of Cleveland. The sum of $40,000 had been donated for the Benedictine Slovak High school for boys of Cleveland.
Members maintain their own office building at 3756 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, and two of its supreme officers reside in Cleveland, Mrs. Mary E. Grega, secretary and Mrs. Mary Kollar, treasurer.
Their generous gifts to charity, education and religious purposes bear witness to the fact that present members are faithfully carrying out the objec- tives laid down by their founders, Father Furdek and the six Cleveland women.
LADIES AUXILIARY TO THE ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS
Ohio has given several national presidents to the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a national organization of Irish American citizens. The national organization came into being in 1894 and Ohio held its first state convention in 1896.
The late Mrs. Adele Christy of Cleveland served as president of the national group from 1921 to 1925. During her administration she directed and brought to a successful conclusion a campaign for $60,000 for the erection of the bronze monument in Washington, D. C. This is entitled "The Angels of the Battlefields" and is dedicated to the many religious sisterhoods who served their country during the Civil War. It occupies a prominent place in a park opposite St. Matthew's Church on Rhode Island Ave., Washington, D. C.
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Mrs. Mary Horan, a native of Youngstown, Ohio and now a resident of Pittsburgh, Pa., was another national president of the society, having served from 1925 to 1929. During her term of office the sum of $10,000 was donated toward the $50,000 fund raised by the men's group, Ancient Order of Hiber- nians, for the erection of a new Irish college in Rome, for the education of Irish born students in the priesthood.
The national organization also was one of the first fraternal groups to establish a perpetual scholarship in Trinity College, established in Washing- ton, D. C. in 1900 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur of Reading, Ohio. A check for $10,000 from the society was given to the late Cardinal James Gibbons, then archbishop of Baltimore, in which archdiocese Trinity College is located.
In 1912, a gift of $12,000 was voted to the Catholic Church Extension society, whose headquarters are in Chicago, to be used for the extension of mission activities of the church in the United States. During the World War a $12,000 gift was made to provide mass kits for the Catholic chaplains who served in this country and in Europe.
In the national shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C., is a mosaic altar in honor of St. Brigid, patroness of the Ladies Auxiliary and "the Mary of the Gael," which was erected by the auxiliary at a cost of $10,000.
To all of these gifts the Ohio members have contributed, in addition to sponsoring annual essay contests in the Catholic elementary, high schools and colleges of Ohio in the interests of Irish culture and American patriotism.
The objectives of the organization are to preserve the culture of the Irish people, to encourage devotion to Church, home and country-to promote edu- cation, morality and social uplift.
The State presidents who have directed Ohio's program since 1896 have been Mrs. Stella Spaulding, Dayton, Ohio; Mrs. Katherine Collins, Toledo; Mrs. Frances Hoynes, Cleveland; Miss Eva DeVanney, Dayton; Miss Rose Carroll, Cleveland. Mrs. Gertrude Manning, Cincinnati, is the present leader.
LEONARDA SOCIETY
The first Catholic Hospital auxiliary in Cleveland and the second oldest Catholic social service organization in Cleveland is the Leonarda society, organized in 1888 by Mrs. Louisa Beckman and her daughters, Mrs. Hattie Beckman Edwards, now of Toledo, Ohio and Mrs. Katherine Beckman Breen now of Dayton, Ohio.
St. Alexis Hospital had been founded in 1887 by Mother Leonarda and Sister Alexis, in what was then an abandoned school building. With only $2.00 in resources upon their arrival in Cleveland it is easily understood why the help of an organized lay group was sought. Mrs. Beckman was one of
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the leaders in the Catholic social and charitable work at the time, and her husband, Henry Beckman, was prominent in the business life of Cleveland. Mother Leonarda appealed to her for assistance and a group of 12 women were invited to meet weekly in the Beckman home to sew for the needs of the hospitals. Mrs. Beckman provided all of the material. In 1890 Mr. Beckman provided a suite of rooms in his business block at 204 Superior Ave. for the use of the society and the name was changed to Leonarda society in honor of the venerable foundress, Mother Leonarda. The first president of this society was Mrs. John C. Callahan.
The society has continued not only in its weekly meetings to make sponges and bandages for hospital use, but to sew and to conduct social affairs that will provide financial help to the hospital.
The Leonarda society led in the movement immediately preceding the World War to raise the funds for the building of the Leonarda Memorial Wing on the present hospital site and also the later addition of a new nurses home.
In addition the Society provides an annual scholarship for post graduate work for graduate nurses of the Hospital Training school.
NATIONAL DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA
Queen Isabella of Spain, who pawned her jewels that Columbus might go forth on the voyage that was eventually to lead to the discovery of America, is honored and revered by a large group of women in America and Canada, known as the Daughters of Isabella.
An altar has been erected in the national shrine of the Immaculate Con- ception in memory of Queen Isabella and its 50,000 members throughout the United States and Canada, 4500 of whom are in Ohio, in 1933 established the Queen Isabella Foundation in the National Catholic School of Social Service in Washington, D. C.
Ohio members have contributed $10,000 toward the $100,000 fellowship fund that educates college women graduates in the field of social service and social welfare administration as part of the civic, religious and educational program of the Daughters of Isabella.
This society was organized in 1897 in Hartford, Conn., as an auxiliary to a local branch of the Knights of Columbus. In 1904 it became incorporated and the following reasons for organization were assigned :
To become better acquainted; to widen their circle of friends; to combine their resources and energies for mutual assistance; to promote the social and religious upbuilding of their sex; to aid their intellectual growth; to enable them to fill with loftier devotion and more untiring zeal the high as well as the lowly places which fall to their lot; to strive for the development of all that is best and truest in womanhood for the promotion of high ideals of life and morals; to become a united force for the advancement of good in he world.
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In 1929 state circles were formed and there are now 23 such groups of which Ohio is one. There is a total membership of 50,000 in 435 groups throughout the United State and Canada.
There are 37 circles in Ohio with a total membership of 4500 women. Mrs. Mary L. Kopf of Dayton, Ohio, is national Monitor and Mrs. Helen T. Howard, City Clerk at Columbus, Ohio, is State Regent of Ohio groups. The Ohio groups in community charitable and educational work contribute annually about $8,000 and in addition contribute generously to national funds for the promotion of national programs.
During the World War, they contributed towards the $75,000 given for war relief work. Among other gifts is the $10,000 gift for the Sisters college of Catholic University, Washington, D. C.
The Ohio circles are located in Cincinnati, Norwood, Piqua, Hamilton, Harrison, Toledo, Mt. Healthy, Sidney, Columbus, Lima, Fremont, Mansfield, Tiffin, Fostoria, Norwalk, Sandusky, Marion, Galion, Springfield, Marietta, Versailles, St. Henry, Celina, London, Ironton, Chillicothe, Zanesville, Coshoc- ton, New Lexington, and Shelby. Five of these are located in Cincinnati.
One of the early members from Cincinnati and a former national officer was Miss M. Rosalia Conoron who died July 15, 1930. She served as overseas secretary in the Knights of Columbus headquarters in Paris during the World War and at the time of her death was deputy clerk of Hamilton County Pro- bate Court. She was the first State Regent of Ohio Daughters of Isabella. She was deeply interested in the Fontbonne Home for Girls in Cincinnati, and at the time of her death the Sisters of St. Joseph in charge of the home. begged the privilege of having her body lie in state in their convent chapel. The request was granted.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC WOMEN
The World War of 1914 to 1918 was the incentive for the formation of a national organization of the National Council of Catholic Women. Its forma- tion did not mean the establishment of a new organization, but was intended to serve as an agency for federating all the Catholic women's organizations in America, parish, interparish, state and national groups that were function- ing under the approbation of their respective ecclesiastical authorities, with a further view of effecting united action on matters concerning church and country.
Ohio women have been in the forefront of this organization from its very inception in March of 1920 in Washington, D. C. A bishop of Ohio, the Most Rev. Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, now of Cleveland, but then bishop of Toledo, Ohio, was appointed by the American Catholic hierarchy to organize the Catholic women in similar organizations of Catholic men into what has since become known as the lay organizations department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference.
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The first Ohio woman to represent the Catholic women of Ohio on its national board was Mrs. F. E. Mackentepe of Cincinnati. She was succeeded by Mrs. Martin B. Daly, Cleveland, who served as national treasurer, and later Mrs. Wallace C. Benham, Euclid, Ohio, succeeded Mrs. Daly and served as national treasurer and national vice-president successively. Mrs. R. K. Le- Blond of Cincinnati succeeded Mrs. Benham and Mrs. Eugene McCarthy, Cleveland, is Mrs. LeBlond's successor.
The Ohio representative at one time represented the Catholic women from the Catholic dioceses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, which terri- tory formerly was included in the ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati. Since 1938, when Louisville, Ky., was established as a province by Papal authorities, the Cincinnati province now includes Ohio and Indiana.
Cleveland Diocesan Council has the largest number of affiliations in all of Ohio, with more than 200 single groups affiliated.
The federation of societies in the diocesan groups is given national and international recognition through its affiliation with the national headquarters in Washington, D. C., and by reason also of its affiliation with the International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues, which has its headquarters in Rome and whose governing board is composed of 18 women selected from among the Catholic women of the world.
Catholic women federated groups from more than 50 countries are part of the International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues. The American Catholic women are represented on the international board by Miss Anne Sarachon Hooley of Kansas City, Mo., a graduate of the academy of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, at Reading, Ohio, and later a graduate of Trinity College, Washington, D. C., which is conducted by the same nuns.
The International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues has won the high- est commendation and approval of four Popes, the first Pius X under whose reign it was organized in 1913; by his successors, Pope Benedict, Pope Pius XI and the present Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XII.
The National Council of Catholic Women has had the approval of the three Popes who have reigned since its establishment, Pope Benedict XV, Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII.
The international headquarters in Rome as well as the national headquar- ters in Washington serve as clearing houses, the first for the Catholic women groups of the various countries and the latter for the Catholic women's groups in America.
Exchange of programs among their sister groups on civic and religious education, youth, the family and its problems, the wage-earning woman, dis- armament, world peace, and other matters of vital concern is shared with the unit affiliations, and serves to strengthen the effectiveness of Catholic women's efforts throughout the world.
The major activity of the National Council of Catholic Women in America is its sponsorship and maintenance of the National Catholic School of Social
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Service, located at 2400 Nineteenth St., N. W., Washington, D. C. It is a graduate school, affiliated with the Catholic University at Washington, D. C. The primary aim of this school is to provide a program of social work train- ing which embodies the philosophy and culture of the Catholic Church. In conformity with its original and continuous objective the National Catholic School of Social Service is properly a School of Catholic Social Work. The school is the successor of the service school known as the Clifton School which was organized in 1918 by the National Catholic War Council to meet the un- anticipated need of social workers in this country and in Europe during the war and in the reconstruction days immediately following. Between 1918 and 1921, the Clifton School provided short courses of training for 290 students who entered the field of social work in this country and in Europe.
The widespread demands for Catholic trained social workers following the World War prompted the reorganization of the emergency school into a permanent institution with a recognized professional curriculum and a pro- fessional staff. It became the first resident school to train social workers in the country.
In the development of this school and in its maintenance, again Ohio women have been in the forefront. Three Ohio women have been members of the Board of Trustees almost from the beginning. These include Mrs. R. K. LeBlond, Cincinnati, Mrs. M. B. Daly, and Mrs. John J. Bernet, Cleveland.
The Mary Gess Schrembs scholarship was established in the school in 1929 by the Cleveland Diocesan Council of Women in observance of the 40th anni- versary of priesthood of Archbishop Joseph Schrembs, and was named by him in memory of his mother, Mary Gess Schrembs. This scholarship provided two years tuition for a Catholic woman graduate of a recognized school. Mrs. Daly, Mrs. Bernet and Mrs. Wallace C. Benham, Euclid, directed the plans for raising this gift. It is the only perpetual scholarship for Ohio girls. Mrs. LeBlond. Cincinnati, has provided an annual fellowship, known as the Le- Blond Fellowship for many years.
Each of the three councils in Ohio, the Cincinnati Archdiocesan Council. the Toledo Diocesan Council and the Cleveland Diocesan Council, as council groups and through generous gifts of individual members, have contributed more than $50,000 in scholarships and in maintenance of the school since its inception. Approximately $5,000 annually continues to be provided for the maintenance of the school.
Since the establishment of the school on a permanent basis in 1921, more than 400 women have been graduated from it. They are engaged in social work in practically every state in the Union and in many foreign lands, includ- ing China, Australia, Mexico, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Gautemala, Canada. These graduate students have come from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, China, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Gautemala and other distant countries, and from practically every state in the Union.
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One of its Ohio graduates, Anna Rose Kimpel, Toledo, former recreation director at the Toledo Catholic Community House, is now National Youth Director for the National Council of Catholic Women. She represented the Catholic Youth of America in the Youth Conference held in Rome, Easter Week of 1939, which was attended by 630 youth leaders from 31 different countries. This conclave was addressed by Pope Pius XII.
Miss Minnie Byrne, executive secretary of the Toledo Catholic Community House, is a graduate of the school and was once the president of the Alumnae Association of the National Catholic School of Social Service.
Miss Helen Thollen, Cleveland, is Medical Social Service director of the University Hospitals, Cleveland, and of the faculty of the School of Social Science of Western Reserve University.
Miss Mary Rita Shea, Cleveland, the first to win the Mary Gess Schrembs scholarship is on the staff of the U. S. Department of Labor, with headquar- ters in Washington, D. C.
THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY HOUSE-TOLEDO, OHIO
The Catholic Community House of Toledo, Ohio, was organized in 1919, immediately following the World War and was financed by funds left over from the National Catholic War Council, which did social welfare work in this country and overseas during the World War. The needs of America immediately following the World War suggested the establishment of social service bureaus throughout the United States. Key cities of the country were selected by the bishops for the establishment of such centers.
Toledo was one of the cities selected. The National Catholic War Council provided funds with which to finance it for a period of nearly three years. At the time of its organization, Bishop Joseph Schrembs, then Bishop of Cleveland, organized a group of Toledo Catholic women to serve as an auxiliary to the Community House and to further its work. This group became known as the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and Mrs. E. F. Brucker became its organizer and first president. Although the Community House is now one of the agencies of the Toledo Catholic Charities, the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and the Toledo Diocesan Council continue to aid in its support. It is staffed by trained social workers under the leadership of Miss Minnie Byrne, executive secretary, who is a graduate of the National Catholic School of Social Service.
The Community House not only serves as a work, educational, and a recreational center, it serves also as a residence for normal business girls. Each resident has a private room, two well planned and well cooked meals daily at a reasonable rate.
Its social service staff cooperates with all existing accredited welfare agencies and in addition to all of this, the Community House serves as the central office for the Toledo Council of Catholic Women and the Toledo
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Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. Miss Byrne serves in the dual capacity of executive secretary of the Community House and corresponding secretary for the Toledo Deanery and the Toledo Diocesan Councils.
CATHOLIC DAUGHTERS OF AMERICA
Ohio Catholic women have another Catholic fraternal organization in which they are interested. Organized in 1903 by the Knights of Columbus of Utica, N. Y., with a membership of 60 women, it had a man as its chief officer for a number of years, but now is directed entirely by women. For more than 10 years, until 1937, Miss Catherine V. Mylett, Cleveland, served as a national director. The first state deputy for Ohio was Mrs. May Daly Brady, wife of Edward L. Brady, prominent Cleveland attorney. Mrs. Brady organized the first Court of the Catholic Daughters of America in Cleveland in 1918 from a group of women who had been meeting regularly during the period of the World War to knit and to make hospital comforts for the soldiers in this country and Europe. The organization now extends into 45 states, into Panama, Porto Rico, Cuba, Canada and Alaska. Mrs. Brady organized the Ohio State Court and was its first state regent.
With the organization of Court Cleveland, its first work following the war was to support the newly organized Girls' Catholic High School, which was established in the Cathedral School, of Cleveland. The Catholic Daughters contributed more than $20,000 toward this work and following the com- pletion of this, Bishop Joseph Schrembs assigned them to sponsor the Catholic Big Sister work.
For many years they provided two weeks summer camp for 100 or more young girls. They continue to assist in the summer camp program of the Catholic Big Sisters.
They have branches in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Canton, Massillon, Ravenna, Wooster, Ashland, Cambridge, Steubenville, Salem, East Liverpool, and Pomeroy, Ohio.
The Ohio State members have provided a perpetual scholarship for the education of one priest for the mission fields of the Catholic Church in the southland-and contribute also to the approximately $400,000 that is expended annually by the national organization for missionary, civic and religious educational work and social welfare throughout the country, which money is raised by contributions from state subordinate groups.
The national organization sponsors scholarships in the Mundelein Sem- inary, Chicago; the National Catholic School of Social Service, Washington, D. C.
Youngstown, Ohio Court maintains a residence home for business girls at 238 Lincoln Ave. It is known as the St. Jeanne D'Arc home and was given to Bishop Joseph Schremb, free of debt, to be used as a residence home for girls and a social service center.
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INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC ALUMNAE
Ohio has 40 alumnae groups that form the Ohio Chapter of the Interna- tional Federation of Catholic Alumnae, an international organization which had its beginning in 1914 at a meeting in St. Joseph's College, Emmitsburg, Md. Mrs. James J. Sheeran of New York and Miss Clare I. Cogan, now Sister De Paul of the Maryknoll Sisters, were the organizers of it. Among those from Ohio who attended the initial meeting were Mrs. Lillian Murney McNally of Cleveland and the late Rose Daly Champion, also of Cleveland.
Today its membership exceeds 100,000 graduates from nearly 600 Catholic academies and colleges.
Perhaps the service for which it was most noted was its preview work in classifying film productions, an international project aimed toward a program for clean and suitable films. One of its New York members, Mrs. James F. Looran, is national chairman for the I.F.C.A.
Miss Gertrude Savage, Cleveland, is state chairman of the Motion Pic- tures Committee and has pioneered in the preview work in Ohio. She has received special commendation for her work in Ohio, from national head- quarters of I.F.C.A.
The work, however, of which little is known, is its scholarship fund, which provides scholarships for teaching nuns of the various religious con !- munities. Ohio Chapter for its Ohio nuns sponsors 13 scholarships, five in Ursuline College, Cleveland; one in Notre Dame College, Cleveland; two in Xavier University, Cincinnati, and four in St. Mary's of the Springs College, Columbus. These are made possible by the cooperation of the Nuns in charge of these schools. The Ohio Chapter and its affiliated groups contribute also to the national scholarship fund, which has reached $1,000,000 and provides for graduate study in the Catholic University and other universities.
Sister Mary Edith Kelley, St. Ursula Alumnae, Toledo, Ohio, was winner of the Edward A. Pace Scholarship in Catholic University and received her Ph.D. degree from Catholic University in 1938. The Edward A. Pace Scholar- ship is part of the $1,000,000 fund.
Another activity worthy of mention and a work in which Ohio has part, is that of the training of Braille writers, to aid in the national program of providing literature for the blind. A Sister of Mercy from Cincinnati is pioneering in this special activity in Ohio. Four Braille classes are organized. Miss Josephine Hanhauser, Miss Ada Hummell, Mrs. William Martin and Miss Florence Ellerhorst, all of Cincinnati are instructors. Sister Mary Catherine of the Sisters of Mercy is advisor of the Mercy Braille Club of Cincinnati.
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