Sample Stories from Indiana's Trailblazing Women
2000 Calendar
Back to home pageBarbara A. Boyd
Born 4/27/29
 Barbara Boyd Click to enlarge. |
1969 First African-American woman on television news in Indiana (WRTV-6 in Indianapolis) "I'm pretty sure I was hired as a dual token, but I never felt that way. And I wouldn't have kept my job for 25 years had I not produced. I was the office manager at a Head Start program when the station called to audition a teacher for a new spot on the Noon Show. I suggested I'd be interested in auditioning, too. I'd always wanted to be a movie star and had performed since I was a child. Eight of us were auditioned, and I was the oldest. I got started in television late. I was 40 years old. I had a lot of help along the way, but my husband helped me the most. For 46 years of marriage he's been my rock." Barbara's hallmark story on breast cancer in 1973, which she did from her hospital bed after her own mastectomy, catapulted her into the forefront in consumer reporting and into the hearts of viewers. She has been inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. |
Rev. Jacqueline Ehringer Means
Born 08/26/36
 Jacqueline Ehringer Means Click to enlarge. |
1977 First woman officially ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in the U.S. (All Saints' Church in Indianapolis) "I don't know why I was the first. It just happened that way. I was 40 years old, but I had known for a long time I wanted to be a priest and that I wanted to minister to 'marginalized' people. I knew what it was like to be marginalized. Both my parents were alcoholics. I attended 13 different schools in eight years. Nobody would let their kids play at our house... I was a nurse when I started working toward priesthood. I found I loved working in prison ministry. The day I was ordained at All Saints' Church, I had an armed bodyguard walking with me in the procession. My life had been threatened. During the proceedings protesters formally condemned my ordination as an act of heresy and against the will of God." Jackie has served as chaplain at Indiana Women's Prison, rector for St. Marks' Church (Plainfield, IN), and is currently director for prison ministry to the Bishop for the Armed Forces. |
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For the past several years Judy Singleton, a businesswoman and former editor of Indianapolis Woman magazine, has been researching the achievements of Hoosier women for a book she plans to publish in the future. More than 250 women who were the first to break a gender barrier in the state or across the country responded. The photo on the cover of the 2000 calendar was taken in 1943 at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, in front of an open cockpit training plane. Shown are World War II Women Air Force Service Pilots Margaret Monroe, Fran Greene, Wilma Morehead, and Indiana Trailblazer Margaret Ray Ringenberg. Photo provided by Margaret Ray Ringenberg. |
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