Politics/Community Involvement

Ann R. Witkes was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1914 and attended Ash St. Elementary School and Commerce High School in Worcester. Ann spent all her life in Worcester, except for the last 20 years in Florida. She returned to Worcester as a widow, to the Eisenberg Assisted Living Residence a few years ago, to be close to her family. Ann worked as a hairdresser until she retired. She began at her father’s barber shop in Worcester.

Micki Aaron Davis was born in 1980 in Whitley, Kentucky. She obtained her bachelor's degree in History from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, and her master’s from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She has never married and currently lives and works in Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating from Hollins University, Micki devoted three years of her life to AmeriCorps, which brought her to both Assumption College and Brandeis University. These past experiences ultimately lead Micki to her current position in higher education department at Clark University.

Alison Gale Graham was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1979. She was raised in Worcester until roughly six years old, and now lives in Holden, Massachusetts.

Linda Rosenlund was born in Worcester in 1960 and grew up in Bellingham, Massachusetts after the age of seven. After graduating from Assumption College in 1982, she got married and worked a few different jobs before finally working where she is now, at Assumption College. In this interview, Linda discusses her life story, including her various jobs, her experience with her family, and her affiliation with the Worcester Women’s History Project. Linda was raised in a family which was held up by traditional values through her father.

Dianne Bruce was born at Worcester Memorial Hospital on August 11^th, 1958. Throughout her lifetime, she has managed to overcome many difficulties, getting her to where she is today. Dianne is currently the Executive Director for Edward Street Child Services. She goes on to describe that her work allows her to “get up in the morning and feel good about what she’s doing.” Throughout this interview, Dianne discusses the hardships that she and others have faced growing up in Worcester, as well as the accomplishments that she has come to have in her life.

Eve Rifkah was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1948. She graduated from Canton High School and did not go back to school until she decided to get her Master’s in Fine Arts from Vermont College. Although Eve moved around a lot when she was younger, she settled in Worcester, Massachusetts during the year 1983.

Sen. Harriette Chandler is the first woman from Worcester to be elected to the Massachusetts State Senate and has also served on the Worcester School Committee and the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in 1959, a Ph.D. from Clark University in 1973, and an M.B.A. from Simmons Graduate School of Management in 1983. She is married to Atty. Burton Chandler and has three children and four grandchildren.

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.