HEIRLOOM ROSES, INC. AN OREGON NURSERY, CHOSEN TO HONOR GLORIA STEINEM AT THE ELIZABETH SACKLER CENTER FOR FEMINIST ARTS ‘FIRST AWARDS’ HELD IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK APRIL 18TH, 2012 .
Cheryl Malone, General Manager, represented Heirloom Roses, located in St. Paul, Oregon, during the prestigious event at The Brooklyn Museum which recognized the achievements of fifteen contemporary women who were the first in their varied fields of endeavor.
The renowned Ms. Steinem writer, lecturer, editor and co-founder of Ms. Magazine and feminist activist is internationally recognized for her work as an organizer and spokeswoman for issues of equality and gender and Elizabeth A. Sacker, Ph.D: public historian, arts activist and American Indian Advocate were the presenters of the Awards. *Each of the honorees has broken a gender barrier to make a remarkable achievement and contribution in her respective field.
Ms. Steinem declined to be a recipient of an award; however months prior to the event Ms. Sackler contacted Heirloom Roses asking if they would name a rose for Gloria Steinem. Secrecy surrounded the preparation.
Ms. Steinem did not know the rose; ‘Gloria Steinem™’ would be the surprise presentation at the culmination of the event. A photo of the white rose appeared much larger than life behind the podium as Ms. Steinem and audience listened to Elizabeth Sackler explain the timeline of how such a rose is bred and evaluated and then selected. Once the announcement was made that the rose they were viewing would be named for Ms. Steinem, a standing ovation with thunderous applause filled the auditorium with almost deafening praise. She was presented with the plaque, cameras flashed, Ms. Steinem blushed with surprise and it became the talk of the night.
Cheryl Malone, General Manager and Louise Clements, owner of Heirloom Roses tell us that the first availability of this rose will be Spring 2013. Contact Heirloom Roses, Inc. in St. Paul, Oregon, for details on pre-ordering. Additional photos and information will be forthcoming at www.heirloomroses.com.
Recipients of the Sackler Center First Awards were:
Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Ret), the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court (1981)
Marin Alsop, Music Director of the Baltimore Orchestra, the first woman to be appointed to direct a major American orchestra (2007)
[Her Oregon connections: 1997 - Receives distinguished Service Award from University of Oregon
1996 - Accepts title of Conductor Laureate with the Eugene Symphony ]
Connie Chung, broadcast journalist, who became the first person of Asian Pacific descent to hold a network anchor position when she joined Walter Cronkite as co-anchor of the CBS Evening News (1971)
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, the first African American woman president ofSpelmanCollege(1987)
Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, founder and chairman of the first museum devoted exclusively to women artists, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (1987)
Sandy Lerner, a developer of the first commercial router and founder of Cisco Systems 1984)
Lucy R. Lippard, leader of the first generation of feminist art critics; her first book on the subject was From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women’s Art (1976)
Wilma Mankiller (deceased), the first woman chief of an American Indian nation (Cherokee Nation, 1985)
Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1993)
Linda Nochlin, leader of the first generation of feminist art historians, known for her essay “Why Have There Been No Great Woman Artists?” (1971)
Jessye Norman youngest recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor (1997)
Judith Rodin, who became the first woman to lead an Ivy League institution when appointed president of theUniversityofPennsylvania(1994), and the first woman president of the Rockefeller Foundation (2005)
Muriel Siebert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (1967) and known as “The First Woman of Finance”
Susan Stroman, the first woman commissioned by the New York City Ballet to choreograph a full-length ballet (Double Feature, with music by Irving Berlin and Walter Donaldson, 2004)
Faye Wattleton, the first woman and the first African American President and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (1978)
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