Eunice Baumann Nelson
Born in 1905 on Indian Island in Old Town, Maine, Eunice Baumann-Nelson
was the first of her Penobscot tribe to receive advanced educational
degrees. Graduating from the University of Maine in 1939 and
New York University in 1951 and 1957 with degrees in social work,
psychology, and human relations, Eunice Baumann-Nelson has carved
herself a distinguished career as a librarian, teacher, scholar,
researcher, and peace activist. She has held positions with New
York's Daily News, Vassar College, YWCA, American Museum of the
American Indians (Keye Foundation), American Friends Service
Community, World Council of Churches, and the Board of Fundamental
Education. She has been a professor at Indiana University, Purdue
at Indianapolis, University of California at Davis, University
of Maine, and College of the Atlantic. Outside of the work arena,
Nelson's activities have included membership in numerous educational,
cultural, political, and especially, pacifist organizations.
She traveled to Lima, Peru, where she and her husband conducted
cross-cultural training for Peace Corps volunteers. Throughout
her work and travels, her concern for the people of Indian Island
has remained consistent. After receiving an honorary doctorate
from the University of Maine in 1977, she settled on Indian Island
and became director of the Penobscot's Department of Health and
Human Services. She conducted research on Maine which resulted
in her book, The Wabanaki: An Annotated Bibliography. Nelson
is active in the area of Native American Spirituality and has
presented courses on the topic at Bangor Theological Seminary
and the University of Maine.
Kathryn McInnis
As a child, Kathryn McInnis committed her life to the cause
of social justice. At sixteen she fought to stop a development
project that threatened to wipe out the endangered terns along
her native shores of Saco, Maine. In 1980 she became the youngest
woman ever elected to the Saco City Council and one of a handful
of people with disabilities in the United States to hold public
office. While serving in this position, she successfully achieved
two goals. City Hall was made barrier-free and citizens were
provided with new avenues for political expressions. She also
organized a community group for affordable housing, led a referendum
for a bilateral nuclear freeze with the USSR and defeated an
ordinance designed to censor freedom of speech. McInnis' activities
as a disability rights activist drew the attention of State Senator
Tom Andrews, head of the Maine Association of Handicapped Persons.
Through their leadership, this organization became a catalyst
for the nationwide disability rights movement. McInnis has been
instrumental in the fight to declare equal access to public transportation
for people with disabilities, in stopping a roll-back of equal
education for disabled children, and in the passage of the Americans
with Disabilities Act. She was named Activist of the Decade by
the Guy Gannett Press.
Elizabeth Russell
Elizabeth S. Russell, Emeritus Staff Member at the Jackson Laboratory
in Bar Harbor, Maine, is an internationally acclaimed researcher
in mammalian genetics. Her contributions in the area of metabolic
and malignant diseases in mice led to the development of models
for scientists studying similar diseases in humans. She received
her B.A. in 1933 from the University of Michigan, her M.A. from
Columbia, and her Ph.D. in 1937 from the University of Chicago.
In 1937 she joined the Jackson Laboratory as an independent investigator
and became a regular staff member in 1946. Through her work as
a researcher and teacher, she provided a meeting place for young
students, including Willys and Abigail Silvers of the University
of Pennsylvania and David Baltimore, recipient of the Nobel Prize.
As an educational leader in Maine, she served on the Governor's
Commission on the Status of Education, has taught at two major
Universities, and served on the Board of Trustees for the University
of Maine and the College of the Atlantic. Her honors include
a Guggenheim Fellowship, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, membership in the National Academy of Sciences,
and president of the Genetics Society of America. She has received
honorary doctorates from Ricker College, Colby College, Medical
College of Ohio, and the University of Maine at Farmington. Her
interests in science, religion, and education have taken her
to Egypt, China, Russia, Japan, Liberia, and West Africa as an
ambassador of good will. A true believer in following "your
own interests," Russell has provided inspiration and leadership
for many women in the fields of science and research and for
women in general. Elizabeth Russell passed away in 2001 at the age of 88.
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