The biographies below highlight notable women in California and CFWC history. CFWC appreciates and thanks California clubwoman Deborah Bushnell for compiling these informative biographies.
Clara Wheeler Burdette (1900-1902 1st CFWC President; 1902-1904 GFWC Officer)
Annette Abbott Adams (1942 Presiding Justice, Calif Court of Appeal)
Mary Gilmore Barnum (Graduate of UC Los Angeles; 1913 CA Board of Education)
Dr. Mariana Bertola (CFWC President 1926-1927)
Sarah Ingersoll Cooper (Helped establish kindergarten in San Francisco schools; GFWC treasurer 1894)
Ione Hill Cowles (GFWC President twice – during and after World War I)
Helen Gahagan Douglas (Opera singer; Actress; U.S. Congresswoman)
Oda Hunt Faulconer (In Other Words: A Variety of Purpose is the Spice of Life!)
Sarah Knox-Goodrich (1876 Led a Suffrage Brigade in a 4th of July Parade)
Phoebe Apperson Hearst (1897 Helped Establish the National PTA; mother of William Randolph Hearst)
Lotta Hetler James (from CFWC President to Candidate for California Governor)
Florence Prag Kahn (1925 Elected to U.S. Congress; Re-elected 5 times)
Beatrice Reynolds Kinkead (American Suffragist)
Laura Perrott Mahan (1923 CFWC Convention in Her Hometown Led to Saving California’s Redwoods)
June Robertson McCarroll (1917 Painted the 1st White Stripe on a California Highway)
Susan Tolman Mills (mid-19th Century Missionary to Sri Lanka & Hawaiian Islands; founder of 1st West Coast Women’s College)
Mae Ella Nolan (Only Female in 68th U.S. Congress: “A capable woman is a better representative than an incapable man…”)
Eliza Orr/Helen Kimberly/ Mary Shirk (3 Women: A CFWC President and Mom-Daughter Duo Vital to GFWC Juniors)
Sarah Platt-Decker (GFWC president 1904-1908; inducted 1990 to Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame)
Dr. Aurelia Henry Reinhardt (GFWC Education Chair 1928-1930)
Ellen Clark Sargent (Friend of Susan B. Anthony; president of Calif Women Suffrage Assn)
Adella Tuttle Schloss (CFWC President 1920-1921)
Caroline Seymour Severance (19th Century Champion of Women’s Rights)
Sarah Bixby Smith (Author, Historian, Advocate for Women’s Education)
Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (Co-Founder of Stanford University; Advocated to Admit Female Students)
Flora Rawson Stephens (1888 Graduate of “UCLA”; Served as a First Lady of California)
Eleanor Joy Toll (Educator; Clubwoman; Founder of Glendale Symphony Orchestra)
Laura Lyon White (1900 Co-Founder of CFWC; Protector of Coastal Redwoods & Giant Sequoias)
Maud Younger (Millionaire; Waitress; Champion of Women’s Rights; Adventurer)