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Here is biographical information for the 281 women honored in the L.A.W. project, 50 Years of Pioneers: Early Women in the Law. Lutie A. Lytle Lutie A. Lytle, an African American, was admitted to the criminal court in Memphis in 1897, which is the earliest record of a woman lawyer of any race in Tennessee. Ms. Lytle graduated from Central Tennessee College on June 1, 1897. Although she left Tennessee briefly, she later returned to join the faculty of Central Tennessee College as a law professor. Ms. Lytle taught domestic relations, evidence, real property and criminal law. She never actively practiced law in the State of Tennessee. Susan E. Anthony 1907 Susie Anthony was from Ripley, Tennessee, and was one of the first women admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1907. There is no indication where Miss Anthony received her legal education or the course her career took following admission. Eleanor Coonrod 1907 Eleanor Coonrod was from Chattanooga and was admitted to practice law in Tennessee in 1907, along with Marion Griffin and Francis Wolf. She was reportedly the first woman admitted to membership in the Tennessee Bar Association, in 1909. By 1915, she was in charge of collecting delinquent membership dues of that organization, but was accused of having collected and not remitted approximately $125.00. She was referred to the Grievance Committee and after that year was no longer on the roster of the Tennessee Bar Association. No other information is known about her career. Marion S. Griffin 1907 Marion Griffin was born in or near Greensboro, Georgia. She was a legal stenographer. In 1900, Circuit Court Judge Thomas Scruggs issued a license for her to practice law in his court. She was also admitted to practice before Chancellor Dehaven. Her application for admission to the Bar, which would have permitted her to practice in all courts of Tennessee, was denied in 1900 and again in 1901. She petitioned the Supreme Court, but in Ex parte Griffin, 71 S.W. 746 (Tenn. 1901), the Court voted three to two to deny her admission. While she was lobbying the Legislature to allow women to be admitted in all Tennessee Courts, she attended the University of Michigan Law School, from which she graduated within six months. She eventually won her battle in the Tennessee Legislature, and the law as passed in February 1907 decreed that "Any woman of the age of twenty-one years and otherwise possessing the necessary qualifications, who shall hereafter apply for the same, may be granted a license to practice law in the courts of this State." In 1907, Marion Griffin became the first woman licensed to practice law in Tennessee. She was a general practitioner until she retired in 1949. In 1923, she became the first woman elected to the Tennessee State Legislature. The Nashville Chapter of the Lawyers’ Association for Women is named after her. Edith Likens 1907 Edith Likens was from Clarksdale, Mississippi. She attended Centenary College in Cleveland, Tennessee, and Bowling Green Business College before entering Cumberland Law School. She graduated from Cumberland in 1906. She returned to Clarksdale and planned to become a legal secretary, but instead married John Owens Wallis in 1911. She had two children and four grandchildren. She was active in the Woman’s Club, the League of Women Voters, the Presbyterian Church, the DAR, and the Daughters of Founders and Patriots. She died in 1950 at the age of 63. Asked about overcoming obstacles to obtain a law degree, she said: Law has always been a subject to which in my secret thoughts I turned with a fascinated interest; but as a Southern girl of very conservative people, I had kept this interest hidden in my heart until the opportune moment came for divulging it. Needless to add, I won the case of my life in persuading my father to permit me to take up the study. Frances Wolf 1907 Frances Wolf was a legal stenographer from Memphis who graduated from the University of Tennessee School of Law in 1905. By statute at that time, only "males" could be licensed to practice law in Tennessee. She went to Missouri, where she passed the bar exam and was admitted to practice. She later returned to Tennessee and joined her friend, Marion Griffin, in efforts that culminated in 1907 with the enactment of a statute allowing women applicants for bar examinations. She took the bar exam in 1907 and was admitted to the Tennessee Bar five days after Marion Griffin. She worked in the law office of John Houston, who was later joined in his practice by John Johnston. Under their tutelage, she became an excellent title lawyer and an effective trial lawyer. In 1916, she was a charter member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club. She lived with her mother while practicing law and, when her mother died, quit working to care for her invalid sister. Frances Wolf died in 1957 in Memphis. A resolution in her memory, signed by Margaret Wilkinson, Laura Brasher, Samuel Little, and W.D. Bejach, said that she was "[b]y precept and example … a guiding light to women who followed her in the law as a career. Never losing her femininity, her gentleness, or her gentility, she attained a firmness and ruggedness of spirit and endeavor which helped blaze trails for others to follow. She is remembered for her keen sense of humor, her ready smile, her keen wit, as well as her ability to present and argue her cases in the Courts." Alberta Sandel 1908 Alberta Sandel listed Clarksdale, Mississippi, as her hometown and graduated from Cumberland Law School. Lacy Brown Sutherland 1908 Maude Riseden Hughett 1909 Maude Riseden Hughett was the first woman to graduate from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Ms. Hughett was raised in Wartburg, Tennessee, and her father served as the first judge of Morgan County. She had one sister, Mae, and three brothers. While all three of her brothers moved to California, both Maude and Mae became Southern lawyers, and both sisters married lawyers. She obtained her law degree ten years before women were granted the right to vote, at a time when there were only 1,000 women with law degrees in the entire United States. She moved to Louisville, Kentucky, practicing with her husband at the firm of Hughett & Hughett in Louisville. She was an active member of the Louisville Bar Association, and her portrait hangs in the foyer of that organization’s headquarters. The Riseden sisters joined forces in 1939 to represent Benedum-Trees Oil Company before the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in a dispute set in their native Morgan County, Tennessee. Mrs. Hughett had a daughter, Josephine Hughett, who also practiced law in Louisville until her death just a few years ago. A. Elizabeth Todd 1909 Elizabeth Todd was from Lebanon and graduated from Cumberland Law School. Dora Young 1910 Katherine Watson 1912 Katherine Watson was born in Fayette County, Mississippi, in 1887, but listed Memphis as her hometown when she was admitted to the Bar in 1912. She had graduated from the Natchez Institute in 1905 and Memphis Law School in 1912. From 1914 to 1918, she was a secretary for Henry Craft, and she practiced with him as a lawyer from 1919 to 1925. She was a sole practitioner in 1926 and then in 1927 joined the firm of Wilson Gates & Armstrong (predecessor to Armstrong, McCadden, Allen, Braden & Goodman), with which she was listed as an associate, but for which she actually served as office manager. (Her obituary said she was a partner, but as she said once to a young man who made partner in the 1950s, "Why would I want to be a partner? Sure, you share in the profits, but you also share in the losses."). She was formidable and well-respected. Every day, she had all attorneys in the office (including, at one point, the President of the ABA) come to the library where she would pass out the mail. She retired in 1961 or 1962. When she died in 1978, virtually every attorney in Memphis came to the memorial service and signed the guest book. Verna Moore 1913 Verna Moore, from Chattanooga, earned her law degree from Cumberland Law School. Hollie L. Maxon 1914 Zina B. Huffman Powell 1914 Zina Huffman was born in 1886. Her parents were William Green Huffman and Mary Jane Miller, and she married Wilk Powell. She died in Texas in 1980. Ruth Forcum Lannom 1915 Ruth Forcum was born in Paducah, Kentucky, on March 5, 1896. She attended Cumberland Law School where she obtained her LL.B. in 1915. When she was admitted to the Bar, she listed Obion, Tennessee, as her hometown. She married Edward H. Lannom, an attorney, with whom she practiced for a short time. Susan Benedict Keefe 1917 Dixie B. Smith 1917 Gertrude Dale 1918 Gertrude Dale graduated from Cumberland Law School and listed Nashville as her hometown. Ruth I. Gothard 1918 Ruth Gothard graduated from Memphis Law School. She reported in 1930 that she was not working and was living alone in Memphis. As of 1951, she was working as a clerk at PC Clarke, Inc. Isabel Klein 1918 Isabel Klein, from Lebanon, graduated from Cumberland Law School. Elizabeth Lee Miller 1918 Elizabeth Lee Miller listed Bolivar as her hometown when she was admitted to the Bar. She graduated from Cumberland Law School. Nellie Overend 1918 Nellie Overend was born in 1889 and died in 1965. She attended Chattanooga School of Law in her hometown. Clara Marie Weber 1918 Clara Marie Weber, from Nashville, obtained her law degree from Vanderbilt School of Law. Nora E. Dunn 1919 Nora E. Dunn was from Maryville in East Tennessee. She had no formal legal training, but instead learned the law through an office apprenticeship. Sophie G. Friedman 1919 Sophie Goldberger was the daughter of Louis and Mollie Goldberger of Natchez, Mississippi. She graduated from the University of Memphis Law School in 1919. She was a member of the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and was licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Although she apparently did not actively practice law, she used her legal training to promote social reform legislation. She was the sponsor of a law requiring advance notice of marriages. In 1936, she was a national officer in the National Association of Women Lawyers. Ms. Friedman was most recognized for her work in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and was active in obtaining Tennessee ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. She was active in the legislative program of the National League of Women Voters, and served as Vice President of that organization. She was remembered as noting that legal practice for women was very limited in the South, but that she believed a legal education greatly aided women in their pursuit of progress in public movements. She died in Memphis in 1964 at the age of 87. Clare Parks 1919 Clare Parks was from Union City, and obtained her legal training through an office apprenticeship. Margaret Williams 1919 Margaret Williams was from Lebanon and graduated from Cumberland Law School. Elizabeth Ann Jecusco 1920 Elizabeth Ann Jecusco obtained her law degree from Cumberland Law School, which was located in her hometown, Lebanon, Tennessee. Eleanor McCormack 1920 Eleanor McCormack graduated from Memphis Law School. Letitia Riley 1920 Letitia Riley, who was from Memphis, graduated from Memphis Law School and thereafter lived with her sister Edith, with whom she owned and operated the "FP Riley School of Dance." Marilla Waite Freeman 1921 Marilla Waite Freeman was born in Honeoye Falls, New York, the daughter of Samuel Alden Freeman and Sarah Allen Freeman. She received a degree from the University of Chicago in 1897. She graduated from Memphis Law School before gaining admission to practice before Tennessee courts in 1921. Ms. Freeman held positions as librarian in the Newberry Library in Chicago, the University of Chicago library, the University of Michigan library, the Davenport library, the Goodwyn Institute library in Memphis, the Louisville library, the Foreign Law Library at Harvard University, the Cleveland Public Library, and St. Joseph’s Hospital Library in New York. She was a lecturer and author, and contributing editor to the Encyclopedia Americana. Ms. Freeman served as First Vice President and Chair of the Motion Picture Review Board of the American Library Association. She received a Distinguished Service Medal on the 50th Anniversary of the University of Chicago in 1941. Cora Newbern 1921 Cora Newbern obtained her law degree from Memphis Law School and, as of 1930, reported that she was practicing law at 67 Madison in Memphis. Mary M. Ryan 1921 Mary M. Ryan was from Nashville and attended Vanderbilt School of Law. Irene Helen Walsh 1921 Irene Helen Walsh earned a law degree from Memphis Law School and practiced law at least until 1924. She was married to Harold M. Walsh. Grace Wilson 1921 Grace Wilson earned a law degree from Vanderbilt School of Law in her hometown of Nashville. Theresa Sherrer Davidson 1922 Theresa Sherrer Davidson was admitted to the Bar after attending Vanderbilt School of Law. Lydia Douglass 1922 Lydia Douglass, who was from Memphis, attended Memphis Law School. She reported in 1930 that she was working as a stenographer. Irene Virginia Moore 1922 Irene Virginia Moore, who was from Memphis, earned a law degree from Memphis Law School. Elizabeth Calhoun Myers 1922 Elizabeth Calhoun Myers of Chattanooga graduated from Chattanooga School of Law. Madeline V. Smith 1922 Madeline Smith, who graduated from Memphis Law School, was a domestic relations lawyer famous for her hats. In 1947, she observed that the low divorce rate in Memphis at the time might be due to financially insecurity. "In hard times, [men and women] try to adjust their difficulties. Where there is loose money, there are loose morals. Men go haywire with other women. Wives say, ‘To heck with him! I’ll get myself a job.’" She also believed that divorce rates would be lowered, not by stricter divorce laws, but by stricter marriage laws. She believed that men should not be required to support their ex-wives and children "forever." Divorced women should be able to make their own way, she said, and should provide half of the support for the children. It was good, she said, for married women to work. In 1939, Ms. Smith married Clyde Cooper, but she kept her own name. In the 1950s she was convicted of income tax evasion, and served one year in prison. She was paroled in 1958 as a model prisoner, and shortly after that she resumed her law practice. She continued practicing law until her death in 1967 at the age of 73. Shelia N. Starnes 1922 Shelia N. Starnes was from Lebanon, Tennessee, but traveled to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt School of Law. Josephine Lois Barry 1923 Josephine Lois Barry attended Memphis Law School in her hometown. Bernice Edith Bass 1923 Bernice Edith Bass listed Memphis as her hometown when she was admitted to the Bar, and she had obtained her law degree from Memphis Law School. Dora Bland 1923 When she was admitted to the Bar, Dora Bland stated that Nashville was her hometown and that she had obtained her law degree from "LaSalle Ex. U." Sara Rivers Lodge 1923 Sara Rivers Lodge was admitted to the Bar after obtaining a law degree from Memphis Law School in her hometown. Stella Treadwell Polk 1923 Stella Treadwell Polk was one of the leading teachers at Miss Hutchison’s School for Girls (now known as Hutchison School) during its first 50 years. She earned an undergraduate degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Beloit College and a masters degree in English from the University of Chicago. While teaching at an all-girls school in El Paso, Texas, she met her husband, Ernest Lee Watkins Polk. They moved to Memphis where he went to law school at Memphis Law School. She read some of his textbooks and, on a lark, took a test with him (as an unenrolled student). She received a higher grade than any of the other students and decided to go to law school. She graduated with her husband. After law school, she became an English and Latin teacher for the upper school students at Miss Hutchison’s and later became head of the English Department. At the same time, she taught law at Memphis Law School. She was a charter member and the second President of the AAUW. The AAUW Fellowship Fund is named in her honor. Wista Lamar Tillett 1923 Wista Lamar Tillett was from Chattanooga and received her legal education at the University of Tennessee. Sue Shelton White 1923 Sue Shelton White was born in 1887 in Henderson, Tennessee. Her parents were teachers and liberal thinkers, and encouraged her to pursue her education. In 1923, she earned a law degree from Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. Ms. White was an active suffragist. She served as recording secretary for the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association and worked to increase support for suffrage in Tennessee. She became Tennessee chair of the National Woman’s Party, and was arrested in Washington, D.C., during a demonstration that included burning President Wilson in effigy. In 1920, when Tennessee became the pivotal state in the fight over the Nineteenth Amendment, she helped lobby for and achieve ratification by the Legislature. In 1923, she helped write the Equal Rights Amendment, which was sponsored by the National Woman’s Party. In 1926, she returned to Jackson, Tennessee, where she practiced law until 1930. In 1932, President Roosevelt appointed her to the Consumers Division of the National Recovery Administration, after which she joined the Social Security Administration. She died in 1943. Maude Wilkerson 1923 Maude Wilkerson was from Memphis and attended Memphis Law School before being admitted to the Bar in 1923. She died in 1978 at the age of 82. Mrs. Rom Wright 1923 Mrs. Rom Wright used only her married name when she was admitted to the Bar in 1923, and she listed Hartsville as her hometown. She received her law degree from Cumberland Law School in Lebanon. Althea Arcenaux Eccles 1924 Althea Arcenaux Eccles, a native of Eunice, Louisiana, attended Louisiana State University and then obtained her law degree from Cumberland Law School. After law school, she moved to the District of Columbia, where she began working on Capitol Hill in 1931. She served on the staffs of Rep. J.B. Shannon (D-Mo.) and Rep. Edward Eugene Cox (D-Ga.) before 1948, when she became a shorthand committee reporter with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. She retired in 1969 as chief of the House committee reporters. She died in 1987 at the age of 83. Charlotte Annella Long 1924 Charlotte Annella Long traveled from her hometown of Chattanooga to Lebanon to obtain her law degree from Cumberland Law School. Agnes Keating Phillips 1924 Agnes Keating Phillips graduated from Cumberland Law School, but listed New York City as her hometown when she was admitted to the Bar. Cora Abbott Crawford 1925 Cora Abbott Crawford attended the University of Memphis in her hometown. Emma Dalton Keen 1925 Emma Dalton Keen was from Scottsville, Kentucky, and graduated from Cumberland Law School. Kate Elizabeth Barham Rison 1925 Kate Elizabeth Barham was born on September 25, 1902, in Henry County, and claimed Paris, Tennessee, as her hometown. Her parents were William and Irma Wright Barham. After graduating from Cumberland Law School, she was the first woman from Henry County admitted to the Tennessee Bar. It is unclear whether Miss Barham ever practiced law, but she did not practice following her marriage to Eugene H. Rison. Mrs. Rison had no children, and passed away in 1979. Olive Ferne Robinson 1925 Olive Ferne Robinson made her way from Jamaica, Iowa, to attend Cumberland Law School. Helen Shapiro 1925 Helen Shapiro attended Chattanooga Law School in her hometown. Although she was not the first woman to graduate from Chattanooga Law School, she might have been the first woman to graduate from that school and then be admitted to the practice of law. Ada M. Thompson 1925 Ada Thompson was from Lebanon, where she attended Cumberland Law School. Ersa W. Akard 1926 Ersa Akard, from Knoxville, was admitted to the Bar in 1926 after graduating from Cumberland Law School. Ivy May Aspray 1926 Ivy May Aspray was from Chattanooga and attended Cumberland Law School. Edna Loy Clary 1926 When Edna Loy Clary was admitted to the Bar in 1926, she reported that she was from Lebanon and had attended Cumberland Law School. Augusta Gene Thomas Dorsey 1926 Augusta Gene Thomas was born on August 27, 1902 in St. Joseph, Missouri, but when she was admitted to the Bar in 1926, she listed Memphis as her hometown. She attended the University of Memphis. It is unknown whether she practiced law. She was married to Doyle Dorsey. Mrs. Dorsey passed away in Memphis in 1960. Beulah Wood Fite 1926 Beulah Wood Fite obtained her law degree from the University of Memphis and was admitted to the Bar in 1926. She reported in 1930 that she was serving as the Chief Probation Officer for Memphis Juvenile Court. Carrie E. Hunter 1926 Carrie E. Hunter was from Elizabethtown, attended Washington College of Law, and was admitted to the practice of law in Tennessee in 1926. Marguerite Aehle 1927 Marguerite Aehle, who received her law degree from the University of Memphis, practiced law in Memphis for a time and lived with her widowed mother Annie Aehle. By 1935 she was a legal stenographer at Union Planters Bank. It is unclear whether she remained in Memphis past 1940. Emma Lou Lawson 1927 Emma Lou Lawson, from Pulaski, attended Cumberland Law School. Amy E. Sunderland 1927 Amy E. Sunderland was from Memphis and obtained her law degree from the University of Memphis. She reported in 1930 that she was a teacher. Mary Katherine Suter 1927 Mary Katherine Suter obtained her law degree from the University of Memphis in her hometown. Ann Margaret Sutherland 1927 Ann Margaret Sutherland was from Nashville and attended Vanderbilt School of Law. Okie Baugus 1928 Miss Okie Baugus was the first woman to graduate from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville in 1929. However, the records of the Board of Law Examiners indicate that she was admitted to practice law in Tennessee in 1928, and listed both the University of Memphis and Vanderbilt University as her alma maters. Eleanor Ruth Blakeley 1928 Eleanor Ruth Blakeley, from Lebanon, received her law degree from Cumberland Law School. Mary C. Dean 1928 Mary C. Dean attended Cumberland Law School in her hometown Lebanon, Tennessee. Willa Ruth Bounds DePrater 1928 Willa Ruth Bounds was born on July 27, 1892. She earned a law degree from the University of Memphis. She was actively engaged in practicing law in 1930 at 78 Madison Avenue in Memphis. She was married to Willie W. DePrater, who worked in a laboratory. Mrs. DePrater passed away in August 1973 in Memphis. Grace Bohannon 1929 Grace Bohannon was the second woman to graduate from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. All that is known of her career is that in 1940 she was listed as engaged in private practice in the Cotn. States Life Building in Nashville. Katherine M. Carlin 1929 After graduating from law school at the University of Memphis and being admitted to the practice of law, Katherine M. Carlin took a position as a legal stenographer with the Internal Revenue Service in Memphis and, in 1930, reported that she was living with her sister Marguerite and brother Frank in Memphis. Eunetta Clouse 1929 Eunetta Clouse, from Nashville, received her legal education from Cumberland Law School. Olivia Long Jenkins Hardin 1929 Olivia Long Jenkins was born October 26, 1903, in Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee. As a young woman, she studied at Howard High School and the National Cathedral School of Washington, D.C. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Vassar College in 1926. In 1929, she graduated from Cumberland Law School and was admitted to practice before Tennessee courts that same year. Ms. Jenkins was the first woman attorney admitted to the courts of Maury County. In 1929, she married Judge William Gregg Hardin, and the couple practiced together in the firm of Hardin & Hardin in Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee. She also served as educator and Latin teacher at Hay Long High School in Mt. Pleasant for many years. Mrs. Hardin was very active in the civic and community affairs of Maury County. She served in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Confederacy, as well as the James K. Polk Auxiliary and King's Daughters. In addition, she participated in several Mt. Pleasant city planning committees, and was an active member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. She died in 1970, and in January 1975, the Maury County Bar Association passed a memorial Resolution in her honor, citing her lifetime of service to her community and noting that she was an outstanding citizen and lady, and an outstanding legal mind, devoted to the welfare of her county, her school and her church. Muriel M. Harris 1929 Muriel M. Harris, from Nashville, graduated from Cumberland Law School before being admitted to the Bar in 1929. Elizabeth Cody Johnson 1929 When Elizabeth Cody Johnson was admitted to the Bar in 1929, she reported that her hometown was Springfield, and that she had attended LaSalle Ex. U Lucille Winifred Leslie 1929 Lucille Winifred Leslie, from Lebanon, received her legal education at Cumberland Law School. Elizabeth Morse 1929 Elizabeth Morse, like many of her classmates at Cumberland Law School, was from Lebanon. Carrie A. Morton 1929 Carrie A. Morton was admitted to the Bar in 1929. She reported that her hometown was Graysville and that she had attended Cumberland Law School. Mary Morrow Nicholson 1929 Mary Morrow Nicholson was admitted to the Bar in 1929, after receiving her law degree from the University of Memphis. The next year, she reported that she was working as a nurse. Minnie Grace Schiffrin 1929 Minnie Grace Schiffrin, from Lebanon, received her legal education at Cumberland Law School. Geneva Maurine Sharpe 1929 Geneva Maurine Sharpe was born in Williamsburg, Kentucky, in 1901. She was the daughter of J.N. Sharpe, a former U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Commonwealth Attorney for the 34th Judicial District. She attended law school at the University of Kentucky and was admitted to the Bar in Kentucky and Florida in 1925 and later in Tennessee. She was attorney for the Department of Revenue in Frankfort, Kentucky. Margaret Spann 1929 Margaret Spann was born in 1907. She obtained her legal education at the University of Memphis and was admitted to the Bar in 1929. She was a well-respected attorney and was reported to be the first woman judge in the city of Memphis. She retired from the practice of law in Memphis in 1971. She died in 1991 at the age of 84 in Somerville, Tennessee. Elizabeth Ann Turner 1929 It is believed that Elizabeth Ann Turner lived all her life in Memphis, where she received her legal education at the University of Memphis. She was secretary for United States District Judge Marion S. Boyd, and then worked for Judge Robert McRae until her retirement. Federal District Judge Jerome Turner is her nephew. Doris Brown Van Aller 1929 Doris Van Aller was from Lebanon, where she attended Cumberland Law School. She later practiced in Mobile, Alabama. She died in 1990. Floreine Barber 1930 Floreine Barber, from Springfield, attended Cumberland Law School. Katherine Frank Eldridge 1930 Katherine Frank Eldridge attended Chattanooga College of Law in her hometown. Helen Ethel Fuhr 1930 Helen Ethel Fuhr, from Memphis, reported that she received her legal training from Tulane and from an office apprenticeship. Erma Hawkins 1930 Erma Hawkins was admitted to the Bar in 1930 after receiving her law degree from Cumberland Law School. Ruth Louise Jeter 1930 Ruth Lousie Jeter was one of a number of women from Lebanon who attended Cumberland Law School and were admitted to the Bar in 1930. Ethel J. McCabe 1930 Ethel J. McCabe received her legal education from Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, her hometown. Ada J. Russell 1930 Ada J. Russell was from Memphis and was admitted to the practice of law in 1930. She was one of a few women admitted to the Bar who did not have a formal legal education. When she was admitted to the Bar, she listed an office apprenticeship as her legal background. Mamie Rust 1930 Mamie Rust was the third woman to graduate from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Jean Crowley Stormer 1930 When Jean Crowley Stormer was admitted to the Bar in 1930, she stated that her hometown was Washington, D.C. She reported, however, that she received her legal education from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Amelia Corkland Strauss 1930 Amelia Corkland was born in 1908 in Knoxville, Tennessee. She received her law degree in 1930 from the University of Tennessee where she was Order of The Coif. She began her practice with the firm of Campbell & Corkland. In 1932, she and her husband, Harry Strauss, formed the firm of Strauss & Strauss. Late in her career, the East Tennessee Association of Women Lawyers staged a mock trial in her honor in which she was charged and found guilty of offenses including "conduct unbecoming a bride" and "obtaining a husband under false pretenses." She had two children, Joanne and Madelyn Grace. Mrs. Strauss died in 1976. In addition to her practice and family, Mrs. Strauss was an active member of the Tennessee Bar Association and served as a President of the Women's Section. She was also a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers and the Knoxville and American Bar Associations. She was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, American Association of University Women, and the League of Women Voters. She was Vice President of The Knox County Board of Children's Bureau and a commander of the Women's Field Army of American Cancer Society. Madolyn Townsend 1930 Madolyn Townsend was born in 1897. She received her legal education at the University of Memphis and through an office apprenticeship. At the time of her admission to the Bar, she was a stenographer at Holmes, Canale, Loch & Glankler. She died in 1980. Wilma Turner 1930 Wilma Turner was from Knoxville and received her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Martha Louise Adams 1931 Martha Louise Adams listed Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, as her hometown when she was admitted to the Bar, but she attended Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, Tennessee. Nelle Evans Carson 1931 Nelle Evans Carson, from Chattanooga, attended Cumberland Law School. Dorothy Ann Donaldson 1931 Dorothy Ann Donaldson of Morristown was admitted to the practice of law in 1931, after attending Cumberland Law School and the University of Tennessee. Eleanor Sophia Babendrier Moore 1931 Eleanor Babendrier was born in Kentucky in 1901. Both of her parents were physicians from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. When she took and passed the bar in 1931, she claimed Memphis as her hometown and stated that she received her legal education in Mississippi. Ms. Babendrier married accountant Walter D. Moore from Florence, Alabama. Before her death in 1984, Mrs. Moore was a regular Sunday School teacher at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Memphis. Doris B. Mousley 1931 Doris B. Mousley, from Lebanon, attended Cumberland Law School. Margaret Waddell Peters 1931 Margaret Waddell was the daughter of Dr. J. Clyde Waddell and grew up in Nebraska. She and her husband moved to Tennessee shortly after their marriage. She attended Cumberland law School and, when she was admitted to the Bar, reported that Chattanooga was her hometown. She returned to Nebraska when she retired from law and from teaching, and she published a book, "What Good Is Your Religion Doing You?" in 1986. She also published a collection of poetry, "Impressions," in 1982, and a biography of her father, "Footsteps on the Roof," in 1979. Sarah Rauch 1931 Sarah Rauch was from Memphis and was admitted to the practice of law in 1931, after attending Cumberland Law School. Mary Elizabeth Sherer 1931 Mary Elizabeth was one of the earliest women to graduate from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville, which was her hometown. Mary West 1931 Mary West, from Nashville, attended Cumberland Law School. Edna Miller Williams 1931 Edna Miller Williams was from Nashville and reported that she received her legal education from the YMCA Night Law School and through an office apprenticeship. Elizabeth Barton 1932 Elizabeth Barton attended Memphis Law School in her hometown. Nannie Belle Miller Crume 1932 Nannie Belle Miller was born December 25, 1887, and lived in Memphis. She attended Memphis Law School. In 1946, she was serving as a legal secretary to attorney Henry J. Livingston. She married James Matthew Crume. Nellie Rebecca Gourse 1932 Nellie Rebecca Gourse was from Knoxville and received her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Mary Guidi 1932 Mary Guidi was born in 1906. She received her law degree from Memphis Law School, was admitted to the Bar in 1932, and had a personal injury practice in Memphis for 42 years. In 1949 she won a Supreme Court-ordered new trial for a client on the grounds that the trial judge had an "aversion and prejudice to women lawyers." She also won a 1955 state Supreme Court decision requiring more specific language for police warrants in City Court cases. She was a candidate for chancellor in 1966. Mary Guidi passed away in June 1983. Amy E. Light 1932 Amy Light attended the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville, her hometown. Hattie Love 1932 When Hattie Love was admitted to the practice of law in 1932, she listed Knoxville as her hometown and her legal education as Neal. Katherine Elizabeth Miller 1932 Katherine Elizabeth Miller was admitted to the Bar in 1932, having attended Vanderbilt School of Law in her hometown of Nashville. Alta Osteen 1932 Alto Osteen attended Memphis Law School in her hometown. Lyda Gore Rice 1932 Lyda Gore Rice received her legal education in her hometown at Chattanooga College of Law. Beulah Dennis Sharpe 1932 Beulah Sharpe was born in 1901. She received her law degree from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville and served as acting director of the Tennessee Retirement System. Ms. Sharpe died in 1993. Mae Riseden Stricklin 1932 Mae Riseden Stricklin listed her hometown as Wartburg and reported that she received her legal education from Neal and an office apprenticeship. Golda Willoughby 1932 Golda Willoughby, from Knoxville, received her legal education from Neal. Lucy Rambo Carter 1933 Lucy Rambo Carter attended law school in her hometown at Chattanooga College of Law. Eugenia Freeman 1933 Eugenia Freeman attended Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, her hometown. Lenora Collins Graham 1933 When she was admitted to practice law in Tennessee, Lenora Collins Graham reported that she was from Washington, D.C., and had received her legal education at National University. Pattie L. Hilliard 1933 Pattie Hilliard graduated from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Katherine Hughes 1933 Katherine Hughes was from Tazwell and received her education at the University of Tennessee and Duke. Pearl Lesley Johnson 1933 Pearl Lesley Johnson was from Nashville, but received her legal education at Memphis Law School. Elsie Naomi Jones 1933 Elsie Naomi Jones attended Chattanooga College of Law in her hometown. Lenora Burns Jones 1933 Lenora Burns Jones was one of three women from Chattanooga and the Chattanooga College of Law who were admitted to the Bar in 1933. Pauline Electa Tallman 1933 Pauline Electa Tallman was from Cookeville and attended nearby Cumberland Law School. Virginia Akans 1934 Virginia Akans, from Leas Springs, received her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Helen M. Berridge 1934 Helen Berridge received a law degree from Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, her hometown. John Bostick 1934 John "Johnnie" Bostick was born in Triune, Tennessee, to William H. and Nettie Jordan Bostick. She was one of six children and her father was a farmer and dairyman. Johnnie attended Teachers College in Murfreesboro and taught elementary school for three years before taking a business course. From 1931 to 1935 she worked at the Tennessee Legislature enrolling bills. She was inspired to attend law school, and graduated from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville in 1934. She was the first woman from Williamson County to pass the Bar. Johnnie Bostick served in the Land Acquisition Division of the U.S. Engineers before taking on the position of Adjudicator at the Veterans Administration in Nashville. In 1954, she was transferred to the Social Security Administration Payment Center in Birmingham, Alabama, where she held a similar post as a claims examiner. At the time of her retirement in 1969, she had worked for the U.S. Government for 26 years. In a 1975 biographical article, Miss Bostick recalled that she and another unnamed woman attorney organized a group of woman lawyers to ask the Tennessee Bar Association to grant women membership prior to the then-effective rule that women must have 25 years of work experience before membership was granted. Eventually, the Tennessee Bar Association agreed to grant membership to both men and women equally. In 1949, she appeared in "Who’s Who for Women Judges and Lawyers." Johnnie Bostick was also a dedicated member of the Soroptomist Club, which she first joined in Birmingham and continued to enjoy throughout her life. After retirement, she pursued volunteer work with the Red Cross, Cancer Fund and Heart Fund, and wrote wills in her spare time. She was honored by the Tennessee Legislature for her authorship of the "Salute to the Tennessee Flag," which was adopted in 1987: Flag of Tennessee, I salute thee To thee I pledge my allegiance with My affection, my service and my life In 1996, she was declared an "honored guest" by the City of Franklin and Williamson County, during the Bicentennial Celebration. Johnnie Bostick passed away on February 28, 2000. Ruth Edwards 1934 Ruth Edwards was one of four women from Nashville admitted to the practice of law in 1934 who attended the YMCA Night Law School. Etta Greenhill 1934 Etta Greenhill received her legal education from an apprenticeship. She was from Clarksville. Mary Stewart Howarth 1934 Mary Stewart was born in Deland, Florida, in 1886, the daughter of Isaac A. Stewart and Kate Brinley Stewart. She had a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and earned her L.L.B. from the John B. Stetson Law School in 1912. She was admitted to practice in Florida in 1908, where she was in private practice for a time, in Pennsylvania in 1914, and in Tennessee in 1934. In 1920, she was President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Chester, Pennsylvania, and in 1949 she was President of Robert Howarth Sons, also in Chester. She married Casper Howarth in 1912 and had three daughters. June Elizabeth Maloney 1934 June Elizabeth Maloney attended Cumberland Law School. She was from McMinnville. Bessie Margolin 1934 Bessie Margolin was from Knoxville, but received her legal education in Louisiana. Bernice Miller 1934 Bernice Miller, from Elizabethton, received her legal education through an apprenticeship. Elizabeth Powell 1934 Elizabeth Powell attended the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Hallie Kieffer Riner 1934 Hallie Kieffer was born in Petersburg, West Virginia, in 1908. She received her legal training at the Chattanooga College of Law and the East Tennessee Law School. She was in private practice in the Carter County Bank Building in Elizabethton, Tennessee, for most of her career. She served one year in the Real Estate Branch of the War Department in Washington, D.C., during World War II. She was a member of the American Bar Association and served as President of the Carter County Bar Association and the Women's Section of the Tennessee Bar Association. She was also a member of the Business & Professional Women’s Club and Iota Tau Legal Sorority. She was a member of the Democratic Executive Committee for Carter County and the Election Commission for Carter County. May A. Ross 1934 May Ross was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1898. She received her legal education at East Tennessee Law School. She was affiliated with the Empire Chair Company in Johnson City for 14 years and then was in private practice for seven years before becoming affiliated with Johnson City Foundry & Machine Works, Inc. She was a member of the Women’s Division of the Tennessee Bar Association, The National Association of Women Lawyers, the Business & Professional Women’s Clubs, the Order of the Eastern Star, and the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce. She was the first woman to serve on the Washington County Republican Executive Committee and as a member of the Republican State Executive Committee. She was married to George H. McDowell and her hobbies were rose growing and scrapbooks. Rosa Cox Russell 1934 Rosa Cox Russell, from Lebanon, attended Cumberland Law School. Hazel Elizabeth Sweet Schaeffer 1934 Hazel Sweet was born in 1914 in Chattanooga and graduated from the Chattanooga College of Law in 1934. She worked during the day as a secretary and attended law school at night. Classes were taught by local judges and attorneys in the evenings. After graduation, she went into practice with her future husband, Harry Schaffer, who had been her corporations instructor and part-time employer while she was in law school. She practiced law full time for five years, until her first child was born in 1939, when she took a sabbatical for some years until her three sons were older. She was the first woman in Chattanooga to practice law full time. Ms. Schaeffer began practicing law during the depression. Lawyers received little or no payment for legal services from clients who were barely able to pay filing fees and court costs. When she was working as a secretary while she attended law school, she was paid nothing and worked only for the legal experience. She and fellow law students would gather at the Home Plate Cafeteria for a dinner of cooked carrots, corn sticks, and buttermilk. She remembers that lawyers considered pro bono work a necessity and never turned away a client who could not afford to pay. After practicing almost 50 years, Ms. Schaeffer handled her last case, a probate estate, when she was almost 80 years old. She retains an active and keen mind and lives in a retirement facility in Chattanooga. Ms. Schaeffer was an early organizer of Chattanooga’s League of Women Voters. Asked for her words to live by, she said, "Always help those who are less fortunate than yourself." Ruth M. Short 1934 Ruth Short, from Oakdale, attended Cumberland Law School. Elizabeth Wilson 1934 Elizabeth Wilson attended the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Bluma Pearl Wise 1934 Bluma Pearl Wise was from Chattanooga and attended Chattanooga College of Law. Rebecca Johnson Young 1934 Rebecca Johnson Young was a teacher before she attended Memphis Law School. She practiced family law and bankruptcy law in Memphis until her death in 1975. She was also a businesswoman who was a partner with Ideal Heating Company and Arnold & Young, General Contractors. She was an active and valued member of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Tillie Blen Strauch Alperin 1935 Tillie Blen Strauch was born in Memphis in 1907. She was Judge Fitzhugh’s secretary, and he encouraged her to go to law school. She continued to work while she attended Memphis Law School, as well as to care for her young daughter. She was married to Joseph Alperin. Working through the Memphis Jewish Housing Development Corporation, Ms. Alperin spearheaded efforts to build Plough Towers, a subsidized housing facility for the elderly, which was completed in 1980. She remained actively involved in Plough Towers, working to help its residents maintain their quality of life. Ms. Alperin also founded the Golden Circle, a social and cultural organization for women. Dorothy Greenberg 1935 Dorothy Greenberg attended the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Pearl J. Hair 1935 Pearl Hair was from Memphis, where she received her legal education at Memphis Law School. Mildred Lunn 1935 Mildred Lunn was born in Pope County, Illinois, in 1907. She was one of seven children. Her family moved to Nashville and in 1924 she graduated from Central High School. She was a secretary in the offices of Judge Elmer D. Davies and Mr. Ferriss Bailey, and while there she attended the YMCA Night Law School. She remained with that firm and its successors as a legal associate until her retirement in 1970. Ms. Lunn was active in her community and church. She was a Life Member of the Soroptimist Club of Nashville and President of the Women's Civic Forum. She served on the Board of Directors of The Young Women's Christian Association and the Nashville Mental Health Association. She was also President of the Women's Section of the Tennessee State Bar Association. In her practice, she was known for her expertise in the field of worker's compensation law. Ms. Lunn was always ready to assist young attorneys and was an advocate for the greater recognition of women lawyers. Louise Shell Smith 1935 Louise Smith was from Memphis where she attended Memphis Law School. Charlotte Louise Wright 1935 Charlotte Louise Wright was admitted to the Bar in 1935, after attending Memphis Law School. Della T. Chandler 1936 Della Chandler, from Nashville, reported that she received her legal education at Andrew Jackson University. Catherine E. Edmondson 1936 When she was admitted to the bar in 1936, Catherine Edmondson reported that she was from Washington, D.C., and had received her legal education at National University D.C. Mary Elizabeth Wincler Foster 1936 Mary Elizabeth Wincler was born in 1913. She attended Memphis Law School and reported Memphis as her hometown. Pauline A. LaFon Gore 1936 Pauline LaFon grew up in Cold Corner, Tennessee, where her father ran a country store. She began her education in a one-room schoolhouse and later got a $100 loan from the Jackson Rotary Club and enrolled at Union College in the fall of 1931. Pauline insisted on bringing her blind sister, Thelma, with her to Union and took notes and read lessons for both of them. She supported both of them by waiting tables at the old Andrew Jackson Hotel – working for 25-cent tips, and living in the downtown YWCA for two dollars a week. She met her husband, Albert Gore Sr., while working at the Andrew Jackson. Gore drove from Nashville to Carthage every day for a cup of coffee, which he liked to say didn’t taste good unless it was poured by Pauline LaFon. They were married in 1937. Ms. Gore graduated from Vanderbilt Law School and passed the bar exam on the same day as her husband. She found it virtually impossible to find a legal job in Nashville, so she left for Texarkana, where she practiced oil and gas law, and also took on divorce cases -- unprecedented for a woman attorney at that time. After only a year in Texarkana, she returned to Tennessee. Soon after, her husband decided to run for Congress, and she helped to forge a new role for political spouses -- campaigning actively and serving as a close adviser. She also found time to volunteer answering letters for her friend and role model, Eleanor Roosevelt, and later at the Red Cross, interviewing young women who wanted to go overseas to help with the war effort. In 1970, after Senator Gore lost his Senate seat, Ms. Gore returned to her legal career -- first at a firm the Gores opened together, then as managing partner at a large firm in Washington, DC. During her law firm years, she served as an advisor for young women who were considering legal careers. Pauline LaFon Gore lives in Carthage, Tennessee. Her husband passed away in 1998. They had two children, Albert Jr., who was Vice President of the Untied States from 1992-2000, and Nancy, who died of lung cancer at age 45 in 1984. Harriett Wilson Ingram 1936 Harriett Ingram attended YMCA Night Law School in Nashville, her hometown. Marguerite Kelly Lanham 1936 After graduating from Chattanooga College of Law and gaining admission to the Bar, Marguerite Kelly Lanham had an active private practice was the first female member of the Chattanooga Bar to try a criminal case. Ms. Lanham was a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Catherine Lewis 1936 Catherine Lewis worked in the Fire Mortgage Division of Metropolitan life with Osta Underwood. They both attened the YMCA Night Law School and they studied together. They had only one typewriter between them, so they took turns summarizing cases and then quizzing each other. Winnifred G. Mashburn 1936 When she was admitted to the Bar in 1936, Winnifred G. Mashburn stated that she had received her legal education in Texas, but she listed Memphis as her hometown. Her husband, William, was an attorney in private practice. In 1946, she reported that she was Assistant Attorney in the County Tax Department. Beverly Medley 1936 Admitted to the Bar in 1936, Beverly Medley was from Buffalo Valley and attended the University of Tennessee and Cumberland Law School. Daisy M. Peltz O’Mell 1936 Daisy Peltz O’Mell attended Southern Law University and was admitted to the practice of law in 1936. At a time when there were fewer than 6,000 women attorneys in the country, she was a candidate to become the first woman judge of the Court of General Sessions in Memphis. "I think the day will come when the qualifications for judgeships will be integrity and ability only," she told The Commercial Appeal in 1957, "with the matter of the sex of the candidate not entering in at all. The lawyers who signed my petition did so because they think I would make a capable judge." Ms. O’Mell was valedictorian of her class at Southern Law University. She directed the Legal Aid office in Memphis in the 1960s, and for awhile was the only lawyer working there. Virginia MacKenzie Ritter 1936 Virginia Ritter was born in 1903 and was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1936. Ms. Ritter lived in Nashville and studied law at the YMCA Night Law School. In the 1950's she worked in the Social Security Office. Ms. Ritter died in 1994. Leona M. Rutherford 1936 Leona Rutherford was from Murphy, North Carolina. She stated that she had received her legal education from working in a law office. Lera Marie Stevens 1936 Lera Marie Stevens attended Vanderbilt School of Law in her hometown, Nashville. Ezelle Leftwich Tavel 1936 Ezelle Leftwich was born in 1896 in Nashville. She graduated from the Watkins Institute, the University of Alabama, and Florence State Teachers College. She worked for a law firm in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1923 to 1935. She received her law degree from Jones University in Montgomery, Alabama. She worked in the Legal Department of TVA in Alabama and in Jackson, Tennessee, and then was Assistant Clerk of the Alabama Supreme Court. She moved to New Orleans and entered private practice for a time. Ms. Tavel was married to Paul Frederic Tavel, IV, but was a widow for many years. She had one daughter, Anne Tavel Hughes. Osta Underwood 1936 Osta Underwood was born in 1914 in Knoxville. She moved to Nashville and attended Nashville Business College while working for the Fire Mortgage Division of Metropolitan Life. Even so, she had to borrow to pay for school. After graduation, her mother urged her to attend law school. She attended the YMCA Night Law School and graduated in 1936. At the time she received her law degree, and through the end of World War II, economic circumstances discouraged young attorneys from hanging a shingle. Ms. Underwood therefore stayed with Metropolitan Life, working in the mortgage division. She was manager of her division, and was able to use her legal education even though the position did not require a law degree. In the course of her work for Metropolitan Life, she moved to Peoria, Illinois, then to South Carolina, and then started a new office in Freemont, Nebraska. At that time, women were never considered to be "running" an office. As Chief Clerk she really did so, however, since the "boss" was always out in the field helping farmers whose farms had been mortgaged to grow crops to feed the country and the Army during the war effort. When she returned to Nashville, she came back to her old office under her boss, Ed Dunn. By then, Ms. Underwood was active in the Business and Professional Women=s Club. BP&W had the same role for women that LAW and TLAW do for women attorneys now. Mr. Dunn told her that she could carry on with her BP&W business as long as she supported his efforts in the Underwriter=s Association. He even allowed her to have a side practice of law, which was primarily in wills and trusts. Her primary success during her BP&W time was when the Legislature granted women the opportunity to serve on juries, a victory that took 24 years of hard work. She and her sister BP&Ws were also hard at work in the U.S. Congress in attempting to pass the ERA many years before it passed in 1972. (Tennessee was the sixth state to ratify it initially in 1973, and the first to un-ratify it some years later.) In addition, she worked with the BP&W foundation to give scholarships to women in non-traditional fields. Ms. Underwood worked at Metropolitan Life until she was 75. Then she worked on her own until her retirement several years ago. She recently survived a cancer scare and is feeling quite healthy again, as feisty and gracious as ever. Wilena Roberts Bejach 1937 Wilena Roberts was born in Illinois in 1909 to William H. and Lura Kronmiller Roberts. She was educated at the University of Iowa, the University of Oklahoma, Southwestern University, and the Memphis Law School. Ms. Roberts married Chancellor L.D. Bejach, Judge of the 10th Chancery Division of Tennessee, and was the mother of two children, Adam Buchanan Lanning III and Lois Patricia Bejach. She served as legal secretary to her husband, who in 1913 authored the Bejach Law, giving married women the right to own property. In 1947, the Digest of Women Lawyers and Judges indicated that she was in private practice in Memphis. She served on the Committee on War Work of the Memphis Bar Association, was President of the Memphis Chapter of Phi Delta Delta Legal Fraternity, and participated in the Memphis Little Theater. In addition, Mrs. Bejach was affiliated with the Memphis and Shelby County War and Welfare Fund, the Memphis Council of Social Agencies, and the Democratic Party. Mrs. Bejach’s other devotion was genealogical work. She served as president of the Memphis chapter of the Tennessee Genealogical Society, state president of the National League of American Penwomen, state president of the Daughters of 1812, state president of the Daughters of the American Colonies, twice president of the local chapter of the Colonial Dames of the 17th century, president of the Dames of the Court of Honor, regent of the Fort Assumption Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and an honorary member of the Latham Chapter of the UDC. She authored two books, Letters from a Son to his Mother during the Civil War and Williamson County, TN Marriages (1800-1850), in addition to several articles. She died in Memphis in 1994. Leota Green 1937 Leota Green, from Johnson City, attended East Tennessee Law School. Rose Lemm Kehoe 1937 Rose Kehoe was from Memphis, where she received her law degree from Memphis Law School. Yoneatte Greene McGown 1937 Yoneatte McGown attended Southern Law University in Memphis, her hometown. She passed away in 1992 at the age of 84. Patricia Azalea North 1937 Patricia North received her law degree from Chattanooga College of Law. Josephine Farley Wall 1937 Josephine Farley Wall was from Memphis, where she received her legal education at Memphis Law School. May Margaret Wilkinson 1937 Margaret Wilkinson was born in East St. Louis. She and her husband moved to Memphis to operate the Fisher Lyman Cement Company. She received a degree from Alice V. Wylie Business School in 1930. She worked as a legal secretary for Herbert Moriarty from 1931 to 1937, when she received her law degree from Memphis Law School. She continued to work as a legal secretary for a time after law school. During the war, she was an associate with Evans, Exby & Moriarty in Memphis from 1943 through 1952, and then went into private practice on her own. Appointed by Mayor William Ingram in 1967 to fill an unexpired term on the City Court, she was the first woman judge in Tennessee. She served for four months before being defeated in a reelection bid. She was also the first woman elected to the Board of Directors of the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Association. She was a President of the Women’s Bar Conference, local and state President of the Tennessee Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Club, and District Governor of Zonta International. She was on Governor Frank G. Clement’s Status of Women Commission. She died in 1991 at the age of 80. Nell Reid Allan 1938 Nell Reid Allan attended the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Nell Agnes Sanders Aspero 1938 Nell Sanders was born in 1908 in Corinth, Mississippi, to Edgar Y. and Maude McCullar Sanders. Her family soon moved to Memphis. She studied music in Memphis and then attended the New England Conservatory of Music. She did graduate study in music education at Columbia University, and taught piano in Memphis for ten years. She received her law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1938 and in 1940 became the first woman from Memphis to be licensed to practice before the Tennessee Supreme Court. She organized and was the first President of the Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association in 1942-43. She served as vice president of the National Association of Women Lawyers and as an adjunct professor at Memphis State University’s graduate college of education. She also served as a special judge in General Sessions Court. She met her husband, Anthony A. Aspero, when they both had law offices in what is now the Lincoln American Tower in Memphis. He would practice his violin in the mornings, distracting her from her work. They married in 1946, after he returned from military service in World War II. They eventually established the first husband-and-wife law firm in Memphis. Ms. Aspero established a strong reputation for herself as a labor lawyer, handling many lawsuits for minority workers to receive equal wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. In 1983 the Memphis City Council honored her with a Nell Sanders Aspero Day. Her numerous accomplishments also led the State Legislature to sponsor a resolution in her honor in 1989: "Every female attorney practicing law today owes a great debt to Nell Aspero, for in many different ways she fought battles against prejudice, chauvinism, and arrogance to gain social and professional equality for women." Elizabeth Hunt Figgins 1938 Elizabeth Figgins attended the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville. Eva Friedman 1938 Eva Friedman was from Memphis, where she attended Memphis Law School. Dorothy Ellison Greer 1938 Dorothy Greer was admitted to the Bar in 1938 after receiving her law degree from Memphis Law School. Lucy Connell Moore Humphreys 1938 Lucy Connell Moore was born in 1912. A native of Memphis, she was admitted to practice before Tennessee courts in 1938. At that time, she indicated that she studied law in Georgia, although there is anecdotal evidence that she attended Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. However, she must have been a practicing lawyer in another state at least two years prior to her admission in Tennessee, because she was believed to have been the youngest woman ever admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court when she gained admission before that Court in 1936. She left the law to become a homemaker, and was active in the First United Methodist Church of Tarpon Springs, Florida. She died in 1996. Alice Irvin 1938 Alice Irvin was from Franklin, Tennessee, and was one of a few women who traveled to the plateau to attend Cumberland Law School. Lillian Iris Lake 1938 Lillian Iris Lake attended Southern Law University in Memphis, her hometown. Doris M. Mitchell 1938 Doris Mitchell was the widow of Horace D. Mitchell when she went to law school at Southern Law University. After law school, she worked as a bookkeeper for Malone & Hyde Grocers in Memphis. Claire Hughes Paden Altick 1939 Claire Hughes was born in Houston, Texas, in 1911, the daughter of Mrs. H.G. Winn. She was raised by her grandparents, whose last name she adopted. She was a graduate of San Jacinto High School and Galloway College in Searcy, Arkansas. She obtained her law degree, Magna Cum Laude, at Southern Law University. She was in private practice in Memphis, at one time as a law partner of A.M. Robinson, and later on her own. She assisted in organizing and was a President of the Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association. She also belonged to the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of Women Lawyers, as well as the Quota Club, the 19th Century Club, and the Credit Women’s Club. She was a democrat and an animal lover. She enjoyed reading, gardening and cooking. She was married to and divorced from Gerald Paden, and then married to Harry R. Altick. She died in 1950, leaving a six-month-old son. Her obituary, written by her friends Annie Morton Stout, Ruby Tubbs Martin, Hugh Stanton, and Louis E. Peiser, remembered her as "easy to negotiate with, unselfish, considerate, very respectful. She was honest and entirely trustworthy. She took her life work seriously, feeling a deep sense of obligation to her clients, yet she did not seek for them that which the law did not justify." Ida Mae Buchanan Beeler 1939 Ida Mae Buchanan was born in Gallatin in 1913. She graduated from the Nashville Business College and the YMCA Night Law School, in addition to attending Tennessee College and Columbia University in New York. She married Luther Beeler, also a lawyer, and worked for the Veterans Administration. In 1947, Mrs. Beeler reported that she worked as Secretary and Office Assistant to the President of the Castner-Knott Co. in Nashville, although she had formerly been a secretary and law clerk for the U.S. Engineers. Aline Joy Kahn Bernheim 1939 Aline Joy Kahn received her legal education at Southern Law University. She served as an Army legal officer in the Women’s Army Corp during World War II. She married Bert M. Bernheim and the couple had four children, Janna Bernheim Bernstein of Memphis, Deborah Bernheim Schklar of San Antonio, Rick Bernheim of Memphis, and David M. Bernheim of Knoxville. Until her retirement, Mrs. Bernheim was owner of Bernheim Realtor Co. and a member of the Memphis Board of Realtors. She was a member of Temple Israel in Memphis, and passed away on July 27, 2000, survived by her children and eight grandchildren. Nelle Juanita Bledsoe 1939 Nelle Juanita Bledsoe was from Memphis and attended Memphis Law School. Laura E. Brasher 1939 Laura E. Brasher was born in 1907 in Alabama to Arthur and Salama Lee Brasher. She was a secretary before attending Memphis Law School and Southern Law University. She was admitted to the Bar in 1939. From 1940 to1943 she served as a law clerk. She had a general civil practice as an associate at the firm of Clifton & Tual in Memphis beginning in 1943. She was President of the Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association from 1944-45. She was still in practice at the 1814 Exchange Building in Memphis in 1951. She enjoyed golf and reading. Mary Gladys Brown 1939 Mary Gladys Brown, from Hampton, Tennessee, received her legal training through an office apprenticeship. Edith Herring Cockrill 1939 Edith Cockrill was born in Covington, Tennessee, in 1914. After she graduated from law school at the University of Tennessee, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she set up private practice until she became a juvenile court judge in 1949. In 1957 she returned to private practice. In 1960 she became a hearing examiner for the Interstate Commerce Commission, and was appointed an administrative law judge for the ICC in 1972. She retired in 1976 and passed away in 1992. Jean Louise Dolan 1939 Jean Louise Dolan ran a large travel agency in Memphis that is still in existence. Although she graduated from Memphis Law School and was admitted to the Bar, she never practiced law. Mary Macon Aylett Fitzhugh 1939 Mary Fitzhugh was born in New Roads, Louisiana, in 1909, but claimed Memphis as her home when she was admitted to the Bar. She had attended Memphis Law School. She was secretary for Stratton Warren Hardware Company beginning in 1930, and was assistant to the President of the Company beginning in 1956. She was a member of the Memphis Bar Association and the D.A.R. Effie E. Harper 1939 Admitted to practice law in Tennessee in 1939, Effie Harper was from Conroe, Texas, and received her legal education in Texas. Emily E. Anderson Kindel 1939 Emily Anderson Kindel was born in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, in 1916. She was the only woman in her class at the University of Tennessee College of Law. She was a member of the Tennessee Law Review, but was discouraged from attending the Law Review banquet because the conversation might "turn to topics that would be unpleasant for a young lady." She graduated in the top 10% of her class (though a classmate who had told her that "law school is no place for a girl" failed out of law school). After law school, Robert Strange, who was General Counsel for the Department of Agriculture, offered her a job with the Department at its southeastern office in Raleigh. Mr. Strange advised her that she had two strikes against her: she was a woman and she was a Democrat. He hired her anyway, possibly because his daughter was an attorney. She worked for the Department in Raleigh for 30 years, turning down offers of a post as administrative law judge and with the General Counsel’s Office in D.C. She enjoyed the diversity of her practice and she believed in the Department’s mission of improving the quality of life in rural areas. She retired in 1997. Shortly before she and W. Allen Kindel, a Raleigh businessman, were married, her brother felt it necessary to warn the groom that his sister would never cook and would continue to work. Ms. Kindel had two children and remained active in her community into her 80s. Edna E. Leatherwood 1939 Edna E. Leatherwood was admitted to practice law in Tennessee in 1939, but was from Washington, D.C., and received her legal education at Columbus University. Margaret B. Matthews 1939 From Adamsville, Margaret Matthews attended Cumberland Law School. Lillian Catherine McLaurin 1939 Lillian McLaurin, from Nashville, attended Vanderbilt School of Law. Edna Duke Norman 1939 Edna Norman was from Nashville. When she was admitted to the Bar in 1939, she reported that she had received her legal education at Andrew Jackson University and through an office apprenticeship. Mary Evelyn Rittelmeyer 1939 Admitted to the practice of law in 1939, Evelyn Rittelmeyer had attended Southern Law University. In 1946, Mary Rittelmeyer reported that she was not working and was living alone in Memphis. Ann W. Smith 1939 Ann W. Smith was from White Bluff and attended Cumberland Law School. Rebecca Thomas 1939 Rebecca Thomas was born in Nashville and attended Hume Fogg High School. When she was a senior in high school, her family moved to Birmingham, Alabama. When she graduated from high school, she was hired as a secretary in the law office of Hollis Black, a nephew of Hugo Black, who was at that time a U.S. Senator and later becamse a Supreme Court Justice. When her family moved back to Nashville, she secured a position in the law offices of Judge Albert Williams and Judge Sam Felts, Sr. While she was employed there, she attended classes at the YMCA Night Law School and graduated in 1939. After graduation she was asked to join the firm. Both Judge Williams and Judge Felts later served on the Tennessee Supreme Court. Miss Thomas was with the firm, and its successor firms, for 55 years, retiring in 1994. She litigated and worked in probate and estate law. Miss Thomas is a member of the American, Tennessee, and Nashville Bar Associations. She served on the TBA Board of Govenors and, in 1999, she recieved the Nashville Bar Associations' highest honor - The John C. Tune Award, given for the highest degree of dedication not only to the legal profession but to the betterment of the community. Marion Maxine Thompson 1939 Marion Thompson, from Memphis, received her law degree from Memphis Law School. E. Corynne Brazzell Arney 1940 Corynne Brazell was born in 1918 in Sumner County. Her father, Reuben Hale Brazzell, was a telegraph operator for the L&N Railroad Company. When Miss Brazzell was in high school, the family moved to Nashville where her father became involved in the labor movement and decided to attend the YMCA Night Law School. Ms. Brazzell did not want to be a nurse or teacher, the only options she believed were open to her as a woman. Her mother encouraged her to be a librarian, but her father suggested she enroll in the YMCA Law School and become "the next Mabel Willebrant." She started law school during her senior year of high school, graduating from high school in 1938 and law school in 1940. She attended law school with several other women, including Jean Norman, Bess Blake, Marjorie Binkley, and Rebecca Thomas. A newspaper article that heralded her admission to the bar noted that she was believed to be the youngest woman ever admitted to the Nashville Bar. After her admission, she attended court sessions and took what cases she was offered there. After the start of World War II, she took a position as an associate at the law firm of Manier & Crouch in Nashville, and practiced alongside colleague Mabry Covington and the senior members of the firm. Her practice consisted mostly of drafting documents and performing other administrative tasks. She did not believe that clients wanted to work with her as their primary attorney because she was a young woman, so when she decided to marry Cloyd Lee Arney, then a Vanderbilt law student, she retired from the practice of law. Mrs. Arney noted in a recent interview that, in addition to Messrs. Manier and Crouch with whom she practiced, she greatly admired Judge Albert Williams and Mr. Cecil Sims during her legal career. Mrs. Arney continued her professional life by serving as Executive Director of the Board of Cosmetology for the State of Tennessee during the term of Governor Browning. Her husband was serving in the Korean War at that time, and when he returned to the United States the Arneys lived in various parts of the country before returning to Mr. Arney’s hometown of Livingston, Tennessee. In addition to her professional career, Mrs. Arney had a daughter, Anne Sumpter Arney, whom she encouraged to pursue a legal career and who is now a partner at the Nashville firm Doramus, Trauger & Ney. Asked her words to live by, Mrs. Arney replied: "If you think the world is not a good place, you don’t know the right people." Bess Blake 1940 Bess Blake was the daughter of Rodney and Fannie Boone Blake of Houston County, Tennessee. She attended the Houston County public schools, Ward Belmont School in Nashville and Middle Tennessee State College in Murfreesboro. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Peabody College and a law degree from the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville in 1940. Ms. Blake was a state employee for 36 years, serving as an employee of the Public Welfare Department, and later serving as General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Public Welfare, which post she held until she retired in 1968. She was a member of the Tennessee and Nashville Bar Associations and the National Association of Women Lawyers. She was a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Dickson at the time of her death in 1984. Mary Sue Robertson Boushe 1940 Mary Sue Robertson Boushe attended Southern Law University to be with her husband, but ended up excelling and graduated Magna Cum Laude. During the War, she was legal secretary for a time to Joe Bearman. She assumed her husband’s law practice when he went on the bench, but later left the profession, explaining that she identified too much with her clients: when they cried, she cried. She earned a law librarian certificate and a real estate license. She worked for Holiday Inn in the 1960s and later served as librarian at the Shelby County Courthouse Library. At her retirement, she was Executive Director of the Memphis and Shelby County Trial Lawyer’s Association. She was known as a beautiful and gracious woman. Mary Ruth Chiles 1940 Mary Ruth Chiles received her legal education from an office apprenticeship in Knoxville and was admitted to the Bar in 1940. Marjorie Binkley Greer 1940 Marjorie Binkley was born in Nashville and attended Hume Fogg High School. After graduating from high school, Mrs. Greer attended business school for two years and began working for Mr. J. G. Lackey, who was dean of the YMCA Night Law School. With Mr. Lackey’s encouragement, Mrs. Greer enrolled in the YMCA Night Law School and graduated in 1940. There were five women in her class. After graduation, Mrs. Greer became a member of the Bar and worked for the State of Tennessee for 30 years until her retirement in 1973. She served in the Departments of Health, Motor Vehicle Registration and Welfare where she was a staff attorney. Mrs. Greer is a past President of Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association. Mrs. Greer is married to Thomas Greer and lives in Nashville. She is a member of the Nashville Woman’s Club and her hobbies include bridge. When asked for her words to live by, Mrs. Greer said that the secret of a successful life is to live by the Golden Rule and to forgive people. Jean Shannon Norman 1940 Jean Shannon was born in 1901 in Williamson County, Tennessee. She was the daughter of Dr. James Shannon, a prominent country doctor. She attended BGA and Vanderbilt University, and then went to New York and Boston for a time. When she returned to Nashville she worked in a law office. She met her husband, Charles Norman, Jr., in the Circuit Court Clerk=s office. (His brother was Jack Norman, Sr., the father of Jack and Seth Norman). They had four children. In 1934 in the midst of the Depression, she returned to work in the Circuit Court Clerk=s office and then enrolled at the YMCA Night Law School, from which she graduated in 1940. She continued working in the Clerk’s office until 1946, when she was offered a job for the three Circuit Court Judges. Her office was in the chambers of the Second Circuit Court, under Judge Byrd Douglas. She acted more like a legal assistant than a secretary. She even got a bill passed through the legislature in order to get paid a salary. Ms. Norman was always a great supporter of women=s issues. She told her son, "any given woman is as good as any given man." She was the State Legislative Chairman the year preceding the final and successful effort to get women to serve as jurors. Judge Douglas had been supportive of those efforts, particularly after dealing with a case involving malpractice of surgery to a woman=s breast. He thought it crucial to have women jurors hear such a case. Along with Osta Underwood, she was also involved in passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress. While she was a secretary to the Judges, she also ran for Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge against Mr. Jenkins, who became the first judge of the Juvenile Court. A news article quoted her as believing that there is a definite place for women in public life, particularly in such places as the juvenile courts "where woman=s sympathetic and intuitive understanding can be combined with proper discipline to achieve suitable solutions of the problems arising there." She retired from her job as the judges= secretary in 1961. The judges stated, "We judges have always found Mrs. Norman to be a lady of the finest southern tradition and at all times devoted to her duties, efficient and loyal to the ethics involved in her work..." Ms. Norman also served as President of the Women=s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association and the President of the Bill Wilkerson Center. She died of a stroke in 1981. Grace Waverlyn Jackson Peebles 1940 Grace Waverlyn Jackson graduated as a straight-A student from Central High School in Columbia, Tennessee. She graduated from Cumberland Law School in 1933 at the age of 19. At that time, only persons who were 21 years of age or older could sit for the Bar Exam. A special Act of the Tennessee Legislature was passed to allow Ms. Jackson to take the Exam. She failed at her first attempt, but passed several years later on her second attempt, when she registered using only the initials of her first and middle name so that her gender was not readily apparent. Although there is no record of her practicing law, she worked for the American Red Cross and as a bookkeeper for a number of businesses and organizations in Columbia. She was married to Thomas H. Peebles, Jr., and had one son, Thomas H. Peebles, III, an attorney with Miller Martin & Trabue in Nashville. She was an avid local historian, reader, and genealogist. Her son believes that Judge A.B. Neil was her mentor. Maxine Porter 1940 Maxine Porter, from Paris, Tennessee, graduated from Cumberland Law School. Thelma Ford Rust 1940 Thelma Ford Rust was married to John D. Rust, an engineer. He and his brother invented the wildly successful Rust Cotton Picking Machine, which was manufactured by International Harvester. Mrs. Rust graduated from Southern Law University. She did not practice law, but she was the President of the League of Women Voters in the late 1940s and campaigned through the State of Tennessee in support of a graduated state income tax. She and her husband later left Memphis and returned to their home state of Louisiana. Rebecca Weakley 1940 Ruth Howard Wyckoff 1940 Ruth Howard was born in 1892. She was a teacher for two years before she married Lawrence Hunt Wyckoff. Her two children were grown when she enrolled in Memphis Law School. When she was admitted to the Bar in 1940, she said, "It’s the biggest hill I’ve ever climbed! I feel as if somebody had just lifted the weight of the Sterick Building off me!" She was one of 64 people who passed the Bar Exam in January 1940. She worked for a time as a probation officer for the Memphis City Juvenile Court and for the Fire Department. She died in 1983 at the age of 91. Rosa Marie Burckell 1941 Rosa Marie Burckell was admitted to the practice of law in Tennessee in 1941, having attended Columbus University. She was from Washington, D.C. Martha A. Burleigh 1941 Martha Burleigh received part of her legal education from Memphis Law School and part from an office apprenticeship. She was from Memphis. Dolly Lee Butler 1941 Dolly Lee Butler was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1893. In addition to a number of other colleges and law schools, she attended Southwestern University. She was admitted to practice law in Georgia in 1935, and was a highly successful Georgia attorney and active member of the bar. She was admitted to practice in Tennessee in 1941, when she listed Chattanooga as her hometown. By 1947, Dolly Lee Butler, who was married to John Lawrence Butler, Jr., was an associate of Ernest P. Morgan, who maintained law offices in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and was residing on Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California. Mary Frances Clift 1941 Mary Frances Clift earned her law degree from Memphis Law School. Mozelle Crouse 1941 Mozelle Crouse was one of four women admitted to the Bar in 1941 who reported that they had received their legal education from an office apprenticeship. She was from Trenton, Tennessee. In 1946, she was listed as one of 15 Tennesseans who were members of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Bertha G. Engelberg 1941 Bertha Engelberg was from Memphis, where she graduated from Southern Law University. Rosa Haywood 1941 Rosa Haywood, from Brownsville, received her legal education from an office apprenticeship. Mary Russell Robinson Herod 1941 Mary Russell Robinson was born in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1916, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J.R. Robinson. She began working for Will and Miller Manier in Nashville during the Depression, and she soon decided to go to law school. Although she had attended Vanderbilt for only two years and had not graduated, at that time it was not necessary to have a degree before attending law school. She attended the YMCA Night Law School while working for what was then Manier & Crouch, the forerunner of Manier, Herod, Hollabaugh & Smith, of which her husband, William Ed Herod was a named partner. She obtained her law degree and passed the Bar in 1941, while she was eight and one-half months pregnant with her first child. According to her daughter, Melissa Herod Holloway, Mrs. Herod never practiced law as an actual attorney, but she did handle court martials during the War, while her husband was stationed in Langley Field, Virginia, and while he was serving in China. She was also a stenographer and was willing and able to serve in any capacity on the base, whether it was as a secretary or as a legal advisor. Mrs. Holloway says "I am sure that my mother’s legal education, background and knowledge was instrumental in my father’s successful career as an attorney. He was made partner at his law firm in the early 1950's and it was not accepted for wives of successful men to work, so my mother stayed home to raise my sister and me. She did practice oral arguments on us as we grew up! She also instilled in me a curious mind and ability to reason things out. While never actually practicing law, she kept her license active every year until her death in 1988. It was a source of great pride and accomplishment for her. I suppose her words to live by would have to involve education. It was very important to her, and she and my father made many sacrifices to further their own educations. She always encouraged me to learn as much as I could about everything." Edith A. Ingle 1941 Edith Ingle was one of several women admitted to the practice of law in Tennessee during the first half of the Twentieth Century who was from Washington D.C.. She received her legal education at Washington College of Law. Margaret Virginia Karr 1941 Margaret Virginia Karr graduated from Southern Law University before being admitted to the practice of law in 1941. She was a practicing attorney at 8 South Main Street in Memphis. In 1946, the National Association of Women Lawyers listed her as one of eight women actively engaged in the practice of law in Memphis. Dorothea W. Broadbent Montgomery Keck 1941 Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Dorothea W. Broadbent was raised in Ocala, Florida. She studied at Williams Junior College in Berkeley, California, and at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. She attended Cumberland University and graduated with an LL.B. from the Law School in 1941. She was also admitted to practice law in both Tennessee and Florida in 1941. She returned to Ocala and took a position as an associate with Mr. Wallace Sturgis. She married Mr. Karl M. Keck sometime during the 1940s, but by the 1950s she had changed her name to Montgomery, presumably after a subsequent marriage. She moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and became one of the few women attorneys in that city, practicing probate, misdemeanor criminal law, and domestic relations law for 30 years, often out of her home. She passed away in 1984. Mary Louise Kupfer 1941 Mary Louise Kupfer, from Knoxville, earned a law degree from the University of Tennessee. Dorothea Allen Long 1941 Dorothea Long was from Lebanon, where she attended Cumberland Law School. Marie M. Lowery 1941 Marie Lowery was from Ocoee, Tennessee. She received a law degree from the University of Tennessee. Ruby Tubbs Martin 1941 Ruby T. Martin of Memphis attended Southern Law University. She was a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers and was admitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1946. She practiced in Memphis for a while, and then moved to Dover, Tennessee, her hometown, where she served as Clerk and Master of Stewart County Court until her retirement. Alva Cochran Murphy 1941 Alva Murphy was from Knoxville, where she earned a law degree from the University of Tennessee. Norma McCullough Pool 1941 Norma Pool attended Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, her hometown. Lula Obaugh Robinson 1941 Lula Robinson was one of several women admitted to the Bar in 1941 who reported that they received their legal educations from an office apprenticeship. This was the last year in which women with an apprenticeship education were admitted to the Bar. She was from Madisonville. Fannie May Schwab 1941 Fannie Schwab was from Memphis and attended Columbia University. She was married to Leo L. Schwab, who owned a famous store on Beale Street in Memphis. In 1946, she reported that she was not working. Mabel Elizabeth Stockton 1941 When Mabel Stockton was admitted to the Bar in 1941, she listed Washington, D.C., as her hometown. She had, however, graduated from Cumberland Law School. Harriett Otis Storms 1941 Harriett Otis Storms was from Memphis, where she graduated from Southern Law University. She reported in 1946 that she was a homemaker in Memphis and was married to John W. Storms. Peggy Deane Hall Bell 1942 Peggy Deane Hall Bell was from Hartsville and graduated from Cumberland Law School. She practiced in partnership with her husband in Greeneville, Tennessee, and also operated a credit union. Caroline Meek Cooper 1942 Caroline Meek was born in 1897 to Melvin Parit and Isola Heiner Meek of St. Frances, Kansas. She was a graduate of Southwest Texas State Normal College in San Marco, Texas, before attending Southern Law University in Memphis. When she was admitted to the Bar in 1942, she claimed Memphis as her hometown. In 1947, she was serving as secretary to the Superintendent of the Industrial Relations Department of the Western Union Telegraph Co. in Memphis. She was a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and the National Association of Women Lawyers at that time. She was married to Robert E. Cooper. Anna Christine Kelley 1942 Anna Christine Kelley was born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, on April 18, 1912. She worked as a secretary, bookkeeper, and assistant to V.V. Dupratt in Memphis. She graduated from Southern Law University and was admitted to the Bar in 1942, after which she practiced law. Margaret C. Leech 1942 Margaret Leech was from Chattanooga, but received her legal education in Georgia. Edna May Lenahan 1942 Edna May Lenahan was from Memphis and graduated from Memphis Law School. In 1946, she reported that she was secretary at DeSoto Plymouth Motor Corporation in Memphis. Virginia Emerson Lewis 1942 Virginia Lewis was born in Memphis. She graduated from Washington University in St. Lewis in 1935 and later moved to the District of Columbia. She earned a law degree at George Washington University in 1941 and a doctorate in political science at New York University in 1955. She was a lawyer at the Treasury Department, and then joined the faculty at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, in 1947. She retired with the rank of Professor Emeritus in 1979, and died in 1985. Dorothy Osradker 1942 After attending Southern Law University and being admitted to the Bar, Dorothy Osradker found that no one wanted to hire a woman lawyer, so she took an office job. In 1945, she began working for the City of Memphis as a secretary in the City Comptroller’s Office. She took the minutes of the old City Commission and the City Council. She had a front-row seat to all governmental legislative actions and discussions. Ms. Osradker was not able to work as a lawyer until 1969, when she joined the City Attorney’s staff, where she served for more than twenty-five years. The move from the Comptroller’s Office was made at the request of then-City Attorney James Manire. Her work in the City Attorney’s Office concentrated on contracts: she reviewed all city contracts, as well as drafting proposed ordinances. One of the earliest women on the bench in Memphis, Dorothy Osradker was specially appointed to an interim position as Judge of Division I of the City Court in Memphis by Mayor Richard Hackett. Judge Osradker served from September 12, 1990, until January 1, 1991, before returning to the City Attorney’s Office. Ms. Osradker also traveled widely, visiting every major area of the globe except the Poles, Greenland, Iceland, and the southern tip of South America. Myra Winifred Towson 1942 Myra Winifred Towson was from Knoxville and earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Ruth Cantrell 1943 Ruth Cantrell, from Watertown, graduated from Southern Law University. Blanche Cecile Warren Goke 1943 Blanche Warren was born in 1915. She graduated from West Tennessee Teachers College in 1941. She taught for a year, and then married Louis P. Goke, an attorney. At that time, teachers could not be married, so for the next three years she attended night law school at Southern Law University, where she finished cum laude. She entered practice with Nell Sanders, but her husband was almost immediately drafted by the Navy and stationed in Chicago. She left law practice then and worked on contracts for the Society of Visual Education in Chicago. She and her husband moved often during the War, and at each place her law degree opened doors. On the Mississippi coast, for example, she was in charge of overdraft bank accounts, and her employer was happy to have a lawyer in charge. She did not return to practice when she returned to Memphis, but instead raised her son. She thought about returning to the law when he went to college, but she felt she had been away from the profession too long. Instead, she took a job at the Memphis Public Library Information Center in the Reference Library and was in charge of the legal section. She retired from that job in 1980. Erma Griffith Greenwood 1943 Erma Griffith Greenwood came from a family of lawyers and always wanted to practice law. Her father tried to talk her out of it because he wanted her "to be a lady." She enrolled in the University of Virginia law school anyway, and was admitted to practice in Virginia in 1938 and in Tennessee in 1943. She argued her first case before the Virginia Supreme Court the day after finishing law school. She practiced with her father in Virginia until World War II started. During the War, she worked for a Knoxville firm that hired her because she was not subject to the draft. Eventually she became a partner with Kramer, Rayson, Leake, Rodgers & Morgan in Knoxville. Ann Kirby Nigro 1943 Ann Kirby was born in Concord, Tennessee, in 1919, one of seven children. She wanted all her life to go to law school, and her family supported her dream. Her parents signed her promissory notes so she could borrow the money for school. She enrolled at the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1940, working her way through school as a nurse’s aide at Fort Sanders Hospital. She was the only woman in her class, but her classmates treated her with dignity and respect. At least one professor was not so kind. She recalls that he had firey red hair and a temper to match. One day he asked her why she was in law school. She gave him her reasons, but he simply replied, "You should be home looking after your husband and children." She excelled in law school. She was the first woman to win the interschool Moot Court Competition. Because she was a woman, however, she was not invited to join the Phi Delta Phi legal honor society. She met her husband, Joe Nigro, during law school. He was a Yankee, with a New Jersey accent so thick that the professors often asked Ann to translate for them. They were married after graduation, and Mr. Nigro served as Assistant District Attorney for Knox County for twelve years, and then as Judge for Criminal Court, Division I. Ms. Nigro practiced with the firm of Southern & Southern for several years, until she and her husband formed Nigro & Nigro. In 1951, she took a leave of absence when the Nigros adopted their daughter, and returned to work when her daughter started school. Frances Grant Loring 1944 Frances Grant Loring earned a Masters’ degree in Theology at St. Xavier University, a J.D. from Vanderbilt, and studied in New York, Chicago, and Rome. She taught at Christian Brothers University and Memphis Theological Seminary. In 1976 she ran for probate court judge, the first time a woman had run for a court of record in Shelby County. Ms. Loring has served on dozens of local and national boards providing leadership to women and girls, such as the YWCA, Church Women United, Memphis Literary Council, Memphis Roundtable Council of Christians and Jews, and the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, of which she was a founding member. She was also a founding member of the Association of Women Attorneys and the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women. In 1989, the Association for Women Attorneys established the Frances Grant Loring Award to recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to women in the legal profession. Ms. Loring was the Award’s first recipient. At her request, the name of the award was changed to the Marion Griffin – Frances Loring Award. Renee Guillard McGee 1944 Renee Guillard McGee listed Memphis as her hometown when she was admitted to the Bar. She had graduated from Southern Law University. In 1946, she reported that she was a teacher. She died in 1996 in San Diego, California. Mary Rogers Pidar 1944 Mary Pidar was from Chattanooga and received her legal education in Georgia. Annie Morton Stout 1944 Annie Morton Stout was born in Nashville in 1896. She was the daughter of Samuel Herdman Stout and Queenie Humphreys Morton Stout. She attended Columbia University, Memphis State College, and the University of the South summer training school, and received her law degree from the Southern Law University, Cum Laude. She was an associate with Metcalf, Apperson & Crump, and claimed to be the first Memphis woman admitted to the Bar who had not been a legal secretary. During World War II, she served as Air Raid Warden and Chairman of the Memphis and Shelby County Civilian Defense Training Office. When the War ended, the women attorneys in the law firm were fired and she struck out on her own in 1946. She lived her entire life with her sister, Margaret, who was her legal secretary. Margaret also had a law degree, but she never passed the bar. Annie Morton Stout was a founding member of the Association of Women Attorneys in Memphis in 1979 and she was a President of the Tennessee Bar Association Women’s Section. Ms. Stout was Dean of the Educational Faculty of the Sewanee Summer Training School and served on the faculty of the Southern Conference of Mental Hygiene at the University of the South and as a field staff member of the Department of Christian Education Province of Sewanee. She was Vice President of the Fellowship of Memphis Teachers and was an organizer and the first President of the Brooks Art Gallery League. She was also the author of one book and numerous articles on education. She received an Achievement Award and a Service Award from the Association of Women Attorneys, as well as being named the Outstanding Professional Woman by the Downtown Association in 1964. Ms. Stout’s great-grandfather was Judge West H. Humphries, who was state Attorney General. Her grandfather, Captain John Watson Morton, was chief of General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s artillery and a Secretary of State. Her other grandfather, John L. Stout, and an uncle, John L. Stout, Jr., were attorneys in Kentucky. She was once quoted as saying that she was carrying on the legal traditions of the family "because there aren’t any boys to do it." Harriett Mathilda Hamner 1945 Harriett Mathilda Hamner was admitted to the Bar in 1945, after graduating from Vanderbilt School of Law. She was from Nashville. Mary Barbara Bresnahan 1946 Mary Barbara Bresnahan was from Knoxville, where she received her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Betty Ann Canale 1946 When she was admitted to the Bar, Betty Ann Canale listed Memphis as her hometown, but she had received her legal education in Iowa. Hazel Elizabeth Horton 1946 Hazel Elizabeth Horton was from Washington, D.C. Virginia Miller Newman 1946 Virginia Miller Newman moved to Memphis from Mississippi. She attended Southern Law University with her husband, Roy Newman, with whom she practiced law after graduation. She was a teacher before law school. Naida Ann Thomas 1946 Naida Ann Thomas came from Raleigh to attend Southern Law University in Memphis. Gladys Solar Alfrey 1947 Gladys Solar Alfrey, from Knoxville, received her legal education in Ohio. Mary Abbie Gillespie 1947 Mary Abbie Gillespie was from Maryville, Tennessee, but received her legal education in Washington, D.C. Nellie Stoess Hayse 1947 Nellie Stoess was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on September 24, 1913. She was the daughter of John S. and Mary Hoke Stoess. She graduated from the University of Louisville with an A.B. and later an LL.B. degree. She was admitted to practice in the state of Kentucky in 1942, and was admitted to practice before Tennessee courts in 1947. She was a practicing attorney in Louisville and an active member of the Kentucky bar. She married Joseph Murray Hayse and they had three children. Selma Greenberg Cash Paty 1947 Selma Greenberg was born in 1927 in New York City. Her family moved to Chattanooga when she was six years old. She wanted to be a journalist, not a lawyer. "No woman in her right mind would want to be a lawyer in 1947," she recalls. Her husband planned to attend Cumberland Law School and assured her that she could study journalism there. She soon learned, however, that Cumberland graduate degrees were available only in divinity and law. Being Jewish, she decided to study law. She had a baby while she was in law school and her classmates sometimes looked after the baby in the hall while she was in class. After law school, she went into practice with her husband. She had four more children, each time working until the Friday before the baby was due and returning to work the following week. She has been President of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association and Director of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. She was also President of the Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association in 1968-69 and of the Chattanooga Bar Association, but, perhaps because of her gender, was unable to garner support for a term as President of the Tennessee Bar Association. For many years she felt snubbed by the local and state bar associations, and she believed the reason was that she was Jewish. Eventually she realized that her religion had nothing to do with it, but instead that the reason was her gender. She felt tremendously relieved because she loved being a woman and could handle being discriminated against on that basis. She smiles now when she looks around and sees the proliferation of women in the Bar. Anne Wood Harris Schneider 1947 Anne Wood Harris was born in Corinth, Mississippi, in 1921 and grew up in Jackson, Tennessee. When she was in the ninth grade she decided she wanted to be a lawyer, so her mother suggested she talk to a lawyer about that choice. He told her a woman had no chance of succeeding at the law. Years later, her husband, Victor Schneider, suggested they go to law school together. There were only two other women in their class at Cumberland Law School. She and her husband set up practice together after law school. She worked as a correspondent for the Memphis Commercial Appeal during the first 18 months, and later worked for the Jackson Sun in the mornings while she practiced law in the afternoons. She was the only woman lawyer in Jackson for many years and served as the first woman President of the Madison County Bar Association. She served as President of the Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association. The Lawyers Association for Women's Chapter in Jackson-Madison County bears her name. She retired in 1983. She had two daughters, Lanella Schneider Hunt and Victoria Schneider Lake. Lanella Hunt, who recently passed away, was also an attorney. In 1977, Mrs. Schneider said, "There's one secret to the whole thing and that's work hard. It's the same 40 years ago as it is now. You just have to work hard and keep current." Elizabeth Day Evans 1948 Elizabeth Day Evans was from Memphis where she graduated from Southern Law University. Sophia Marinell Ross 1948 A native of Maryville, Tennessee, Sophia Marinell Ross attended the University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt School of Law. Claude Galbreath Swafford 1948 Claude Galbreath was born in Greenville, Tennessee, in 1925. She attended the University of Tennessee College of Law and was admitted to the Bar in 1949. While she was in law school, she married Howard Swafford, and they soon moved to Marion County. She remembers that women lawyers were not highly regarded at that time, so when Judge John Raulston, the senior partner in her husband’s firm, was looking for a legal secretary, she applied. He hired her and she notes that he appeared quite pleased to have a secretary who had gone to law school. Working as his secretary, she learned how to draft legal documents and had the opportunity to go to court with him. Ms. Swafford has lived and practiced law in Marion County, South Pittsburg, and Jasper, Tennessee, for over 50 years. Ms. Swafford has been politically active as well. She has served on the Marion County School Board and was President of the Tennessee State School Boards Association. In 1984 President Reagan nominated her to serve on the National Legal Services Board, where she served until 1988. In 1989, Defense Secretary Chaney named her to the Defense Advisory Council for Women in the Military Services, where she served for three years. Now 75 years old, she chairs the Marion County Board of Education and recently received the Statesman Award for the Tennessee Republican Party. Her words to live by are from Philippians 4:6: "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Shirley Bumgardner Underwood 1948 Shirley Bumgardner was born in Bristol, Tennessee. After attending East Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee, she went on to law school at the University of Tennessee and passed the Bar Exam in April of 1948. She joined her father, John Dixon Bumgardner, in private practice in Bristol. She is presently serving her 40th year as a Juvenile Court Judge in Johnson City. Her mentors were her father and Judge A. Tyler Campbell, both of Bristol. Mrs. Underwood is the widow of the late Charles T.R. Underwood, M.D. The highlights of her career were being appointed Judge in October 1961 and being elected by her peers in the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges as America=s Outstanding Juvenile and Family Court Judge in 1995. She is a member of the Female Attorneys of the Mountain Empire, a senior counselor in the Tennessee Bar Association and a member of the University of Tennessee College of Law Dean=s Circle. She is also active in her church and has served as a member of the Tennessee Baptist Children=s Homes. Her words to live by are "Always wear the same size hat." Mrs. William K. Weldon 1948 Ann Weldon of Memphis attended Southern Law University. She has been active in the Republican Party. She served on the Shelby County Election Commission for eighteen years and was its Chairperson for some of that time. Shirley France 1949 Shirley France received her law degree from the University of Memphis. As of 1946, she was working as a stenographer at Continental Insurance in Memphis. Catherine Kelly 1949 Catherine Kelly attended Vanderbilt School of Law in her hometown of Nashville. June A. Perrigan 1949 June Perrigan graduated from Cumberland Law School. Elizabeth Rawlings Post 1949 Edith Post reported that she received her legal education at Yale. Dea Kelly Thomas 1949 Dea Kelly Thomas, from Fountain City, received her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Barbara Blackburn Wade 1949 Barbara Wade was born in 1927. She graduated from Mississippi State College for Women and Southern Law University. She worked for a time as a chemist for Du Pont Company. In the 1960s, Mayor William Ingram chose her as the first female assistant city attorney in Memphis. From 1973 until her retirement, she was a partner with Wade & Kelly. She was a President of the Women’s Section of the Tennessee Bar Association, of the Soroptomist Club, and of the Madonna Circle. She died in 1990 in Memphis at the age of 69. Mary Eulalia Warren 1949 Mary Warren was from Memphis and attended Vanderbilt school of law. She was an Assistant Federal Marshall in Memphis. Nell I. Williams 1949 Nell Williams, from Etowah, received her law degree from the University of Tennessee. Jo Ann Rosenberg 1950 Jo Ann Rosenberg was from Memphis, where she graduated from Southern Law University. Nancy Smith Sellers 1950 Nancy Smith Sellers was the first woman attorney to practice in Murfreesboro. In 1945, she entered the University of Tennessee as an undergraduate. At that time it was possible to attend law school at the same time as undergraduate school, so by the time she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, she had completed one year of law school. She was determined to complete her legal education. Her father, who was a lawyer, told her that if she wanted to practice in the south, she should graduate from the University of Virginia. In 1948, she and her father met with the Dean in Charlottesville. Speaking only to Mr. Smith, the Dean said, "Your daughter is too young and immature to attend the University of Virginia. She will be wasting your money and our time. She will never graduate, or even if she does graduate, she will never practice law. There is no market for women in the legal practice. However, because of her credentials, we will accept her if you insist." She graduated in 1950 and was married on the same day. She began practicing law in Murfreesboro with her father and her husband. She was the only woman practicing in Murfreesboro until 1977. Ms. Sellers does not believe she was ever discriminated against, though she surmises she might have been too naïve to recognize discrimination. In law school, the men did not view her as a threat and they treated her generously. When she appeared in court for her first divorce case, the judge indicated that her case would be heard first, out of order. She told him that she would wait her turn. "I have never felt like I should receive preferential treatment, but only equal treatment from my fellow lawyers and judges, and I think that I have." In many respects, Ms. Sellers represents her clients from cradle to grave. She recognizes that this type of practice is increasingly difficult because of the changing profession. She notes that in the last ten years she has seen tremendous changes in the profession, more than in her first 32 years of practice combined. "I feel that I have seen the golden years of the practice of law." Ms. Sellers’ daughter, Cindy Sellers, is an attorney with the Nashville office of Stites & Harbison. |
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