Nine to be honored at Woman of the Year awards ceremony
Nine local women will receive the Woman of the Year award for 2022 from the Women’s History Project of the Akron Area, a program of the Summit County Historical Society.
The recipients will be honored June 15 at the John Brown House, 514 Diagonal Road, Akron. The gate opens at 4 p.m., with award presentations at 4:30 p.m. Heather Pollock of the University of Akron will be the emcee.
The nine being honored are:
• Darlene Anderson-Katz of Dare to Love More Food and Resources is receiving the Faith Award. She's worked with the residential program Shelter Care, American Greetings’ Christmas Families Program and One Piece Ministries. Dare to Love More is a collaboration among Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Project Rise and One Piece Ministries.
"Darlene has built on her faith to assist families in crisis," the society said. "Darlene went from volunteer to director of the program, steering the group through the pandemic, offering help and hope to more than 100 families."
• Regina King and Denise Brandon, cofounders and coaches of West Akron Track Club, are receiving the Perseverance Award. Both are graduates of Buchtel High School.
The club was started in 2000 to teach the fundamentals of track and field while encouraging sportsmanship and has trained hundreds of young Akron athletes, some of whom have become national champions and medalists. In 2018 and 2019, the club was named one of the top 100 teams in the country.
"It’s only right that Denise Brandon and Regina Rae King share the Perseverance Award. The two have shared so much," the society said. "The two may have taken different career paths — Denise into nursing and Regina into hair styling — but the two shared a vision, which became the West Akron Track Club."
• Virginia Wojno-Forney, a preservation activist working with many different organizations, is receiving the Imagination Award.
"For decades, Virginia has been a force behind some key institutions in the city, including Summit County Historical Society, Progress Through Preservation, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the Akron Art Museum. But it is at the Cascade Locks Park that Virginia’s imagination is most apparent," the society said. "Back in the 1980s, she saw the potential of a canal-era provisions store, the ruins of a series of step locks and the overgrown trashy urban jungle and saw a park where Akron could rediscover its canal history. Today, Cascade Locks Park, 'a heritage park for Akron’s future,' is a testament to Virginia’s vision of what could be."
• Kathleen Meyer, a hospice nurse and founder and president of Peace Together Choir (hopefulmusic.com), is receiving the Creativity Award.
"Kathleen Meyer’s work with the Peace Together Choir is an extension of her work as a hospice nurse," the society said. "In 2000, unable to find the right collection of hymns and songs to bring the healing power of music to her patients and their families, Kathy 'pieced together' the Peace Together Choir. She recruited friends, hospice workers and local musicians to record music that would be comforting and peaceful. Since then, the group has recorded six CDs, with proceeds of the sales going to hospice, Visiting Nurses and other charities."
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• Julia Perry, a composer and conductor whom the society describes as a "great albeit forgotten composer of classical music," will receive the Posthumous Award. She was born in Lexington, Kentucky, but lived in Akron most of her life. A graduate of Spicer School, Central High School (1942) and Westminster Choir College (B.A. and M.A., Princeton, New Jersey), she died in Akron in 1979 at age 55.
"Julia Perry is one of the greatest classical music composers/conductors that the city has ever produced," the society said. "Julia reached initial success in vocal works and then to orchestral works. She also conducted a number of major symphonic orchestras, including the BBC Orchestra in England."
The Akron Symphony Orchestra will perform several of Perry's works this season.
• Lisa Mansfield, community outreach specialist with Summit County Probate Court, will receive the Courage Award.
A lifelong resident of Akron and graduate of North High School and the University of Akron, Mansfield formed an online support group for military spouses during the Iraq war, led a LaLeche League support group for new mothers, helped at-risk students stay in school and helped nonprofits connect with Summit County seniors. She was also a member of the Akron Public Schools Board of Education for three terms, with her last ending in 2021.
"Courage comes in many different forms," the society said. "Lisa Mansfield has shown courage in many different ways."
• Ellen McWilliams-Woods, chief academic officer with Akron Public Schools, will receive the Innovation Award.
McWilliams-Woods joined Akron Public Schools in 1989 as a deaf education teacher and will retire as chief academic officer/assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She's designed a new school-based Medicaid program for students with disabilities, started the first Ford Next Generation Learning community in Ohio and set up and helped staff an after-hours support center during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"For 33 years, the Akron Public Schools has benefited from Ellen K. McWilliams-Woods' innovation in the classroom and the academic offices," the society said.
• Janis Worley, a community volunteer and documentarian, will receive the Integrity Award.
The finance and operations manager for First Congregational Church of Akron, Worley also works with the Akron Children’s Hospital’s Women’s Board, Junior League of Akron, Old Trail School, Ronald McDonald House of Akron and Summit County Historical Society. She won the National Gracie Allen Award for Best Documentary for “Heart of a Nation” from the Alliance for Women in Media.
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Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased online at bit.ly/2022WHPAkron or by calling the Summit County Historical Society office at 330-535-1120.
It will be a lawn event with limited seats under a tent available, but attendees should dress for the weather. Light refreshments will be served by A Taste of Fine Dining.
“The Women’s History Project is honored to recognize these women, who through their selfless work, paid and volunteer, supply an essential need: hope," said Summit County Historical Society President and CEO Leianne Neff Heppner. "In the words of Mother Theresa, 'Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.'"
The Women's History Project selection committee included co-chairs Kitty Endres and Theresa Beyerle; Judy James; and Willette Riley.
Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit County Historical Society to present nine Woman of the Year awards
