Dale McCormick

Women Unlimited was founded in 1988 by Dale McCormick, the first woman in the nation to complete an apprenticeship with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters in 1975. She believed that women should have equal opportunities to enter and succeed in good-paying fields, and began the "Mother Truckers" program for women to get off welfare and move into careers that were both financially and professionally rewarding. Also, Dale was a co-founder of Northeast Women in Transportation. In 1984, she helped found and became the first president of the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance (now Equality Maine).

Dale served three terms as a Maine State senator, then she became Maine's first female State Treasurer. In January of 2005 she assumed leadership at Maine Housing Authority.

Dale was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in spring of 2007.

Eleanor K. Baum

In 1984, Dr. Eleanor K. Baum became the first female engineer to be named dean of an engineering college in the United States, breaking many professional gender barriers along the way. In 1995, she became the first female president of the American Society for Engineering Education.

An electrical engineer who has worked in the aerospace industry, Dr. Baum is a respected leader in recruitment and retention of women in the engineering profession.

Mother Jones

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living" was the motto of Mary Harris Jones, known to thousands of struggling workers as "Mother Jones.

Born in Cork, Ireland in 1837, she emmigrated to the United States as a child. After the death of her husband and children, she was drawn to the plight of laborers who had no protections or alternatives. Active as an educator and an organizer, she challenged the owners of mining companies, and worked toward unionizing miners and the development of child-labor laws.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."

- Helen Keller