Politics/Community Involvement

Mary Jo Nawrocki

School District Superintendent

They [girls] were basically treated as if their sole aspiration should be to graduate from high school and maybe work as a secretary or work in retail and find a good husband, get married, and have some kids. Unlike today, we weren't really encouraged to pursue careers outside of the home.

Mary Jo Nawrocki was born on September 13, 1949 and grew up in Pennsylvania. Central Massachusetts became her home after she moved with her husband to the area. Nawrocki, currently a superintendent of a school district, manages to balance her incredibly active life. Not only has she created a career for herself in education, but she has risen to one of the top levels of that career. She has also managed to raise a family, volunteer in her community, and become engaged in local political life.

Interviewer:

Katherine Biegner

Lindsay Butt

Interview Date:

Wed, 04/15/2009

Interview Focus:

Politics/Community Involvement

Name Sort:

Nawrocki

Brenda Safford

College Administrator, Director of Multicultural Affairs

They told me, 'You should go to college,' and at that point I was 38. So thought, 'It is over for me, I can’t, are you crazy? I can’t go to school now.' And they said, 'Why not?' And that is how I began my educational journey as a late learner, an adult learner.

Brenda Safford was born on August 5, 1956 in Lubbock, Texas. Moving to Worcester with her second husband, Brenda worked within the community and became an adult learner at the age of 38, receiving both her Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Human Services. Brenda is currently the director of Multicultural Affairs at Assumption College. In this interview, Brenda speaks about her days growing up in Lubbock, Texas, and her experiences with both racial segregation and integration in her school system.

Interviewer:

Hannah Brencher

Interview Date:

Mon, 03/30/2009

Interview Focus:

Education

Politics/Community Involvement

Name Sort:

Safford

Sheri Hostovsky

Volunteer Coordinator: Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts in Worcester, Our Deaf Sisters Survival Support Project

As Deaf women, we have a right to know what’s going on around us. For so long, we walked around ignorant, but not anymore. Now we want people to know their rights and that it’s okay to speak up and how to protect ourselves against awful or traumatic experiences. I was a victim before in my life, and I learn now how I can become a survivor. And I really want to show others how they can become survivors too.

Interviewer:

Ada Chen

Katherine Marrone

Interview Date:

Thu, 02/12/2009

Interview Focus:

Politics/Community Involvement

Name Sort:

Hostovsky

Hannah Laipson

College Professor, President of the Worcester Institute for Senior Education (WISE)

But what happened was, when I taught that [first] class, I enjoyed the experience so much that, do you know the term serendipity? Something happens unexpectedly and it changes things. I decided that I really enjoyed that. But, it didn’t come to fruition until quite a number of years later because in the meantime I started having a family. Are you familiar with the writings of Betty Friedan? She was the feminist, she was the first great [modern] writer of feminism, and she wrote a book that became immensely popular. And when I read it, I decided it was time for me to do something more. So that was when I enrolled at Assumption for my Master’s degree, and from that point on, I was a teacher.

Born in 1925 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, Hannah Ethel Karp Laipson has lived in Worcester since her marriage and currently resides with her husband, a former member of the Navy during World War II. Hannah graduated from Colby College in Maine with a major in English and a minor in History. Today, Hannah is as an active member of Common Cause Massachusetts and continues to stay involved with the WISE program at Assumption College, in which she previously served as the board President and course group leader.

Interviewer:

Andrea Gagnon

Danielle Buttafuoco

Interview Date:

Fri, 11/14/2008

Interview Focus:

Politics/Community Involvement

Name Sort:

Laipson

Mary Jane McKenna

Former Holden Selectwoman, State Representative, and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism

"I enjoyed town politics and what was going on, and met a lot of wonderful people. And then I decided I knew as much as anybody, so I ran for the Board of Selectmen for the town of Holden, and I was elected, and I served—and I was the first woman."

Interviewer:

Andrew Whitmore

Mark Thomas

Interview Date:

Mon, 11/13/2006

Interview Focus:

Politics/Community Involvement

Name Sort:

McKenna

Lynne McKenney Lydick

Actress in One-Woman Play on Abby Kelley Foster

"I just think that we owe the next generation much more than we’re giving them. I think the environmental issues, the human rights issues, the financial issues, I just think we owe them trying to get things straightened out before they inherit the mess. And I also think you think differently about the future [as a mother]. It puts you in a different place. I also think as mother, as a mother of sons, it’s important that they know that women have a place, a very important place, and deserve …. a place at the table and be important in decision-making. I find that’s quite a big responsibility, to be mother of boys."

Interviewer:

Meghan Murphy

Interview Date:

Tue, 10/09/2007

Interview Focus:

Politics/Community Involvement

Name Sort:

Lydick

Virginia Swain

Peace Corps volunteer, teacher, UN worker, activist

"It’s called the Culture of Peace Initiative and actually it was started by the Nobel Peace Prize winners in the 1990s and I’ve been working with it at the UN for a number of years, but I decided I would bring it to Worcester because there’s so much potential here for hope -- people don’t see that we can get beyond our divisions…so I’m pretty excited about this and I feel a little bit more intentional here in Worcester because it’s taken me all this time to realize how I can contribute. In Worcester, it’s a very unusual and wondrous community of people who, when I first came, always asked me, why would I come here from Cambridge? I keep feeling that they don’t know the potential, there’s so much here that’s possible for Worcester."