Excelle

My hero..........for 1 God is not a girl.

And I would have to say. Sorry cant think of anyone. me

MY BEST FRIEND HER NAME IS DREMA WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS FOR 25 YEARS. SHE WAS THERE FOR BAD

TIMES AND WHEN I LOST FAMILY MEMBERS SHE WAS THERE WHEN I LOST MY JOB SHE WAS THERE AND

HELP ME STAY SANE AND STILL HAVE HOPE.

One of my heros is my great great great aunt Julia Ann Marcum.  She was the only female recongized by the U.S. goverment to have legally fought in the Civil War and not only drew a pension for fighting when she died at the age of 91 she was given a full military funeral.  She did not pretend to be a male as many females did.  She has a statue of her at the Courthouse at Williamsburg ,KY.  She went on to be a teacher after the war and she had lost a finger in the war.  She lived a full and productive life in those days as a woman and was a respected member of her community.    She inspires me because she didn't change herself in order to do what she wanted to do. 

 My friend Evalyn.  She is around my mother's age.  We met back in 1976, when I was a brand-new court reporter.  I didn't make it, but she did.  She'd already been a college professor in Ohio, and in Egypt!  She came back to the country in the middle of the Women's Movement, and faced discrimination  as a professor.  

She went to court reporting school, and was doing that when I met her.  I went back to office work (because of my hearing).  She moved around a bit as a court reporter, and we kept up with each other.  After a few years of that, her shoulder started to bother her too much, so she went to *law school!*  She passed the bar on the first attempt, and started that work.

She did it in one state then moved to one with better weather.  At that point, her mother was elderly and needed attention, so Evalyn picked up stakes again and moved to her home state.  From there, she worked during the week, and commuted to take care of her mother on weekend.  omigod, that was difficult for her!  So in these days, she was a caregiver before it became a current term.  Once her mother passed away, she was able to settle into a social life on the weekends, instead of that commute.  

She was near retirement by then, and it happened suddenly because of a fall, where she was too injured to work.  Her grown son and his family visited, packed her up and moved her to a place close to them.  Since then, she started writing.  She's got two book published:  a fiction first, then a nonfiction.  

She's always been self-sufficient.  She was married for a time, but he turned out to be quite irresponsible and deserted her and their child.  

She's a true intellectual, and has suffered for that.  I'm one, too, but didn't have the problems she had early on.  Her difficult experiences made it easier for me down the road.  That's a lot of what the Women's Movement is about.  Also, for a few years, my hubby and I were having money troubles.  She helped us significantly, though she didn't have to do so.

There are other important women in my life, but this lady has been a good example of a self-sufficient, confident woman.  Hats off!

Check her out on Amazon.com  Her first book is called Vampires Don't Backpack.  (I helped edit it.)  

Shouldn't we say heroine???? that's the female hero. Suffragettes, rights workers, any woman who puts themselves out there for equality.

My heroes are my mother and my sister. They have both always had my back. My little mommy has dementia today, but I am thankful for having been raised by her. My sister was my first teacher and I was her first student (not counting her dollies).

Thanks for a great question!

Sincerely,

Bonnie Mahaffey

Polished Professional Image

Visit online at www.polishedprofessionalimage.com

I would have to say that my hero would be my father's mother.  She was over half Cherokee Indian raised on the reservation and only stood about 5 fett tall.  She raised 3 boys and 3 girls, my dad being the oldest.  She raised them all equally and instilled in my dad how to raise us.  I am the only girl with 2 older brothers.  We all had to take turns cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, changing the oil in the car, etc.  There was no definite line of women's work and men's work, it was all equal.  I never understood one of the spankings I got as a kid until well into my adult years.  My dad was working shift work at a chemical plant and my mom was out of town.  I was lonely so I was sitting in the hallway outside of my brothers' room when my next older brother decided he didn't want me to watch them, so he hit me.  I started to cry and it woke my dad up.  He spanked my brother for hitting me and he spanked me for sitting there crying instead of doing something about it like getting out of the way or hitting him back.  I didn't understand that he was teaching me to stand up for myself and not allow myself to be a victim all of my life.  This eye opener hit me during a multi-cultural class my job had sponsored.  This class also explained my grandmother's choice of weapon - the broom.  If anything misbehaved - mean roosters, pet cows trying to come into the house, kids misbehaving, husband misbehaving, etc. - the broom would come out and the bad behavior would be swept away and replaced with an acceptable behavior.

I've always looked up to women more than me!

First you is my mom, I have been closer to her than my dad. We always like to talk together and enjoyed each other company!

Then my older sister, we shared rooms together and we played together, either with her dolls or with my cars or trucks.

Here are some women I've looked up to--

Lucille Ball

Carol Burnett

Florence Henderson

Mary Tyler Moore

Bonnie Blair

Peggy Fleming

Danica Patrick

Sarah Fisher

I would have to say that my grandmother of my fathers side. She lost her left arm and right leg to Diabeties and still managed her own home. I had seen her cook, clean, and love with out the limbs most of us take for granted. In her motherhood she was a short comer emotionaly often mean and sometimes obusive in her ways of tring to teach her daughters and son independance. Although this can be a very bad trait, she always made sure there was food, clean clothing, good shelter, college education for her children, as well as put herself in the tub and bathed herself and in her later years a changed and loveing woman. She lived alone for a very long time. I've never seen someone with all their limbs be able to acomplish alot of the outstanding things I had seen her do and accomplish. She was a very independant woman. Sometimes to independent.  We had to eventually put in a nursing home my mom worked at two broken hips later. Mom was off that weekend. The rest home had told her that her mothers head had gotten stuck between the table and the bed but they didn't think that it caused any damage that following monday. I don't understand why they didn't emediatly send grandma to the hospital. By the time she was sent it was to late, there had been to much himeraging, she went comatose and died in front of me, fighting for her life. It was a sad day when she died, My grandmothers was an amazeing woman.