Politics/Community Involvement

Sara Robertson was born on July 22, 1934 in Long Beach, California. She was a Worcester School Committee member, president of the Worcester League of Women Voters, and the first woman to serve as Worcester’s mayor (1982-83). She also taught at Becker College and Worcester State College during the 1980s.

Honee A. Hess was born July 11, 1953 in New Orleans and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts in 1986 to take a job at the Worcester Art Museum where she is currently employed as the Director of Education. She lives in “Crown Hill” the first planned neighborhood in the city built in the middle of the 19th century. After the tragedies of Hurricane Katrina, she and her husband started hosting a charity event in order to raise money and awareness for victims of Katrina in New Orleans.

Barbara Haller was born in the suburbs of in Schenectady, NY in 1948 and currently lives in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester. She got involved with activism and the “hippie movement” at a young age, doing community organizing as an Americorps VISTA volunteer in Chicago during the height of Urban Renewal programs and helping to run a collective farm school for delinquent youth in Arkansas. Moving to Massachusetts in the mid-1970s, Barbara began commuting to Worcester to study engineering, first at the former Worcester Junior on Main Street and later at Worcester Polytechnic.

Mary Lou Anderson was born and brought up in Worcester, in The Island and Vernon Hill. She went to Anna Maria College, then earned an M.A. at Assumption College and her Ed.D. at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She taught English in the Worcester Public Schools, later became Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education at Assumption College, and now is Dean of the College and Graduate Studies at Assumption.

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.

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.

Born in 1963 in San Francisco, California, Sheri Hostovsky is the only Deaf member of an all-hearing family. Diagnosed at age two, the doctor didn’t know what caused Sheri’s deafness, and her family never learned American Sign Language which is Sheri’s first language. She formed her Deaf identity from a young age, attending the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut from age three to sixteen; being mainstreamed in a public high school in Chicopee, MA; and attending Gallaudet University for a short period of time.

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.

Mary Jane McKenna was born in Worcester and currently lives in Holden with her husband. A graduate of Worcester’s Classical High School, Mary Jane regrets not having the opportunity to go to college as a result of financial hardship. Deciding against a career as a nurse, she took courses at the Salter Secretarial School and began her career doing administrative work for a local insurance company. After working nights as a secretary for various local boards, Mary Jane became the first woman elected to the Board of Selectmen in the Town of Holden.

Lynne McKenney Lydick was born in Maine in 1955. She is married with three children and lives in Worcester, MA. In this interview she talks about how important it was for her to give birth to her children at home and the causes she is involved in including Planned Parenthood, Worcester Women’s History Project, the Jane Fund, and the Red Cross.