VPR presents a special commentary series recognizing women who made significant contributions to Vermont's history and culture. Their remarkable stories are told by Vermont women notable in their own right.

Monday, March 27
Marcelle Leahy speaks about the sisters of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph. Led by Jeanne Mance, the sisters established a school of nursing in Burlington, and transformed care for the sick in Vermont. One of their early students was Ethan Allen's daughter, Fanny.

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Marcelle Leahy is a Registered Nurse and wife of US Senator Patrick Leahy.

Tuesday, March 28
Cyndy Bittinger speaks about Caroline Ardelia Yale. Yale was a Charlotte native and pioneer in the field of special education who developed a phonics based teaching method that revolutionized education of the deaf. One of her students was Grace Goodhue Coolidge.

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Cyndy Bittinger is Executive Director of The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation.

Wednesday, March 29
Ann Lawless talks about the shop women who kept the Machine Tool Industry going in Springfield during WWI...a generation ahead of WWII's "Rosie the Riveter."

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Ann Lawless is Director of the American Precision Museum in Windsor.

Thursday, March 30
Deborah Clifford will speak of Ann Story, who was a Vermont pioneer woman and a larger-than-life legend. She was said to be a spy for the Green Mountain Boys.

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Deborah Clifford is a historian and biographer. Her most recent book is "The Passion of Abby Hemenway: Memory, Spirit, and the Making of History." She served as the first woman president of the Vermont Historical Society and the Sheldon Museum...both at the same time.

Friday, March 31
Edith Hunter talks about local historian Winnie Perkins. Perkins' meticulous notebooks are prized by the Weathersfield Historical Society for their wealth of family stories; researched genealogy of the Perkins and related families; and facts about early Weathersfield people, places and community life.

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Edith Hunter is a writer and historian who lives in Weathersfield Center, Vermont.

Saturday, April 1
Cyndy Bittinger returns to speak on Achsa Sprague, a Plymouth native who became one of the most famous leaders of the American Spiritualist movement of the mid-1800s. Sprague was a "trance medium," as well as a social activist who advocated for urban reform, expanded roles for women, improved prisons for women inmates and freeing the slaves.

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Cyndy Bittinger is Executive Director of The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation.