Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame:

Catherine R. (Arnold) Williams (1790-1872)

Inducted in 2002

Catharine R. (Arnold) Williams (1790-1872) of Providence was one of Rhode Island's major literary figures of the nineteenth century. She was the daughter of Alfred Arnold, a sea captain, and Amey Read. Her mother died when Catharine was a child, so the oft-absent father entrusted her education and upbringing to two of her aunts. Read more >

Dr. Doris M. Hollway Abels

Inducted in 2000

The late Dr. Doris M. Holloway Abels, formerly of North Kingstown accomplished educator, performing artist and advocate of the arts founded her own school of dance and helped to establish the Trinity Reperatory Company. The versatile Dr. Read more >

Margaret F. Ackroyd

Inducted in 1972

Margaret Ackroyd was a native Rhode Islander who served in the State Labor Department for thirty years before her retirement. She served as Chief in the Division of Women and Children and Commissioner of minimum wage. She became known as the "architect of non-discriminatory employment standards for women".

Karen L. Adams

Inducted in 2012

Karen L. Adams was born on the Fourth of July in the rural midwestern town of Nevada, Missouri. Upon graduating in 1975 from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, she went to work in radio but quickly moved into television news.

KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas was the first stop in her television career, where she was initially hired as a reporter but later advanced to anchor and news director. Read more >

M. Therese Antone, RSM, Ed.D.

Inducted in 2006

Antone, M. Therese

Therese Antone was born in Central Falls, the third of seven children raised by Florence Smith Antone and George Antone, a cobbler. After graduation from Cumberland High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Salve Regina University, a master’s from Villanova University, and a Doctor of Education degree from Harvard University. She also completed the senior executive program at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Read more >

Marion F. Avarista

Inducted in 1988

Ms. Marion Avarista was founder of the Traveler's Aid Runaway Youth Project and developer of the Travelers Aid Medical Van providing free service for the homeless in Providence. A Cranston resident, she is one of those most responsible for the growth and development of the Traveler's Aid Society in RI and is a very active civic and community leader. Read more >

Christiana Carteaux Bannister

Inducted in 2003

Bannister, Christiana Carteaux, 1822-1903

Christiana Carteaux Bannister was born Christiana Babcock in Rhode Island's South County sometime between 1820 and 1822. Details concerning her birth and background are obscure, but she appears to have been of mixed native American and African-American parentage and was undoubtedly descended from slaves that worked the plantations of South County during the eighteenth century.

As a young woman she moved to Boston and took up the trade of hairdressing. During her twenty-five year residence in Massachusetts she owned salons both in Boston and Worcester and prospered as an independent businesswoman and self-styled “hair doctress. Read more >

Sister Mary Bernard, RSM

Inducted in 1987

Sister Mary Bernard served the community as a dedicated religious educator and Mercy missionary for over sixty years. She continued at St. Mary's Academy well into her eighties where she has been a teacher, Principle, and Head of the Guidance Department. She was also Principle and taught for many years at St. Read more >

Helen A. Bert (1922-2002)

Inducted in 1996

Ms. Bert, of North Providence, was a Director of Women’s Athletics at Providence College, and widely recognized for her decades of service promoting athletic opportunities for Women. Coming to the Rhode Island when the College became co-educational in 1970, she was the first woman to be elected into the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984. She developed a women’s program which included 14 sports during her 19 year tenure as Department Head. Read more >

Ade Bethune (1914-2002)

Inducted in 1990

Ade Bethune, 1914-2002, of Newport, whose world-renowned expertise in liturgical architecture and iconography led her to a distinguished career as a much sought-after consultant for church planning. She held special concern for less fortunate parishes, as well as community efforts to include low-income housing, solar heating, and energy efficiency. A recipient of six Honorary Degrees and several prestigious awards and honors, she served as Art Director of the Terra Santa Guild and Editor of Sacred Signs and The Catholic Art Quarterly. Read more >

Gladys Williams Brayton (1890-1990)

Inducted in 1991

The late Gladys Brayton was a direct descendant of Roger Williams and a lifelong resident of Rhode Island. She became one of the State's most prominent historians, teachers, and authors. She was a former curator of Cranston Historical Society, and an honorary member of the Warwick Historical Society. She was also a member of the City of Cranston Hall of Fame, was nominated as Cranston's "Woman of the Year," and was a well-known author of historical documents. Read more >

E. Doris Brennan (Weir)

Inducted in 1968

E. Doris Brennen (Weir), a Providence native, held twenty national and world records in swimming during the late 1930's and 1940's. She was named to the U.S. Read more >

Wilma H. Briggs (1930-)

Inducted in 2013

Wilma Briggs was born in East Greenwich on November 6, 1930. One of 11 children, she grew up on a farm in the Frenchtown section of town. Her father, Fred Briggs, was a semi-professional baseball player and coach. As a young girl, after performing daily farm chores, Wilma typically joined her father and brothers in highly- competitive family baseball games. Read more >

Billie Ann Burrill (1921-2010)

Inducted in 2013

World-class master’s athlete, coach, sports administrator, and indefatigable worker for the performing arts in Rhode Island, Billie Ann Burrill’s talents have known no bounds. While she was director of the Health and Physical Education Department at Rhode Island College, her drive and enthusiasm enabled the school’s Performing Arts Series to become the finest in the state.

Burrill was born in Joliet, Illinois on March 11, 1921. She served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. Read more >

Joanne Carner (1939-)

Inducted in 1969

Joanne Carner was a five time national women's amateur golf champion, and won the Rhode Island title three times, as well as the New England and Eastern championships. She also won a professional-amateur tournament that included most of the top women professionals in the field. She is thought to be the best female golfer in the world. Read more >

Elizabeth Buffum Chace (1806-1899)

Inducted in 2002

Elizabeth Buffum Chace, the first woman to be memorialized with a statue in the Rhode Island State House, was an antislavery activist and a pioneering advocate for women’s suffrage. The daughter of abolitionist leader Arnold Buffum, she married fellow Quaker Samuel Chace, a Fall River textile manufacturer. The Chaces had ten children; tragically the oldest five died of ilnesses before the second five were born.

Chace first became publicly active in the cause of abolition in 1835 when she and two sisters helped to organize the Fall River Female Anti-Slavery Society, which was allied with the radical wing of the antislavery movement led by William Lloyd Garrison. Read more >

Catherine O'Reilly Collette

Inducted in 2014

Cathy Collette was born in North Providence, grew up in Harmony, and is a 1969 graduate of Rhode Island College. She began her illustrious career with the state Department of Elderly Affairs where she helped to organize workers and became active in her local union, an affiliate of the 1.3 million member American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

In 1979, when her husband Will was recruited to work for Legal Services Corporation in Washington, DC, she took a job in that city with national AFSCME. Read more >

Dr. Frances P. Conklin

Inducted in 1991

Dr. Frances P. Conklin, a distinguished radiologist and long-time community leader who became the first woman President of the Providence Medical Society. She was the only woman member of the RI Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, and named RI's "Woman Physician of 1989" by the Rhode Island Medical Woman's Association. Read more >

Kathleen S. Connell

Inducted in 2010

Kathleen Sullivan Connell was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the only daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Sullivan. She attended St. Mary’s School and St. Catherine Academy, graduated magna cum laude from Salve Regina University with a BS in Nursing, and then earned a master’s degree in International Relations from Salve. Read more >

Diane L. Coutu (1953-)

Inducted in 1980

Diane Coutu, a native of West Warwick, was named a Rhode Scholar at Oxford after graduating with honors at Yale University. She was the winner of the Rotary International Fellowship, an Oxford University Graduate, and interned as Yale's Griswold Scholar. At the age of 27, she was appointed to the Rand Corporation in California, where she worked until 1997. Read more >

Prudence Crandall (1803-1890)

Inducted in 2001

Prudence Crandall was born in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, the daughter of Pardon Crandall, a Quaker farmer and Esther Carpenter, both of whom were descended from prominent old-line South County families. When Prudence was ten she moved to a farm in nearby Canterbury, Connecticut, but returned to Rhode Island from 1825 to 1830 as a student at the New England Friends’ Boarding School (Moses Brown) in Providence. She therefore, was both Rhode Island born and educated.

In 1831, some leading citizens of Canterbury hired Crandall to organize a school for girls. Read more >

Helen Metcalf Danforth (1887-1984)

Inducted in 1998

The late Helen Metcalf Danforth, 1887-1984, formerly of Providence, served as President of the Corporation of the Rhode Island School of Design from 1931-1947. She also served as a member of the RISD education committee until 1965, when she was elected Chairman Emeratia. During her term of office she is credited with guiding RISD from a diploma-granting vocational school to a degree-granting accredited college, overseeing significant physical expansion, and for guiding the prestigious RISD Museum of Art to national prominence. Read more >

Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (1813-1876)

Inducted in 2003

Davis, Paulina W. (Paulina Wright), 1813-1876

Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis was born in Bloomfield, New York on August 7, 1813, the daughter of Captain Ebenezer Kellogg and Polly Saxon. After the death of both parents, Paulina was raised by a strict orthodox Presbyterian aunt. After a brief immersion with religion, Paulina married Francis Wright, a wealthy Utica merchant, in 1833. Read more >

Sara DeCosta (Hayes)

Inducted in 2004

Sara DeCosta (Hayes): gold medalist in women’s hockey at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Games and silver medalist as goalie for the United States women’s hockey team in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Sara was an all-state goalie on the boy’s varsity team at Toll Gate High School in 1996. She played intermittently for Providence College, between her tours with the U. S. Read more >

Paula Deubel -Phillips (1935-1993)

Inducted in 1968

Paula Deubel-Phillips, 1935-1993, was a member of the U.S. Women's Track and Field Team as a shot putter in the 1956 Melbourne Games. Although a resident of Swansea, Massachusetts, she trained with and competed for the Little Rhody AC, a local track club that pioneered women's competition in track and field. Read more >

Antoinette F. Downing (1904-2001)

Inducted in 1978

Antoinette F. Downing, 1904-2001, was the preservationist who was Chairwoman of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission and the Providence Historic District Commission. Her tireless efforts on behalf of the buildings of Rhode Island have made her name synonymous with historic preservation in the state. Read more >

Sarah Elizabeth Doyle (1830-1922)

Inducted in 2005

Doyle, Sarah Elizabeth, 1830-1922

Sarah Elizabeth Doyle (1830-1922) was a lifelong resident of Rhode Island who participated in the social reform ferment that engulfed the state during the Gilded Age. Despite the conservative political nature of local thinking, she successfully pioneered educational opportunities for women at the highest level.

She entered Providence High School during its initial enrollment in 1843 and would later teach there from 1856 to 1892. During that time she helped nurture other women in the field of education while searching for institutional ways to solidify academic gains. Read more >

Mary Dyer (1611-1660)

Inducted in 1997

Mary Dyer, 1611-1660, was a Quaker missionary and martyr. She moved to Rhode Island in 1638 and become one of the founders of Portsmouth. She ultimately returned to Boston where she was hanged for supporting the Quakers.

Conn, J. Read more >

Sarah J. Eddy (1851-1945)

Inducted in 2017

Sarah J. Eddy was a philanthropist and humanitarian; she was also a nationally recognized artist (painter and sculptor), photographer, suffragette and author.

Born in 1851, the second of four children, to James Eddy of Providence, a wealthy art connoisseur and philanthropist, and Elisa Jackson of Boston, a staunch woman's rights advocate and suffragette.

Sarah studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and later at New York's Art Students League. Read more >

Maud Howe Elliott (1854-1948)

Inducted in 2008

Elliott, Maud Howe, 1854-1948

Maud Howe Elliott lived a very long life and certainly made the most of it. She was born at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston on November 9, 1854. Her father, Samuel Gridley Howe, a noted physician and social reformer, directed the institution, but most people became familiar with her mother, Julia Ward Howe, who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic and later battled for the cause of women's rights.

Maud was the driving force behind the founding of the Newport Art Association and served as its secretary until she was eighty-seven years old. Read more >

Susan L. Farmer

Inducted in 2010

Susan L. Farmer joins her forebears, Bishop Alexander Griswold and Anne Hutchinson as an inductee into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. Like Hutchinson, a pioneer in many areas, including the advancement of women, Susan was a “first” as well. When elected Secretary of State in 1982, she became the first woman elected in Rhode Island to a statewide office. Read more >

Marie Rode Ferron (1902-1936)

Inducted in 2017

Marie Rose Ferron was born to devout Catholic parents on May 24, 1902, in the countryside near Quebec. Her mother had dedicated each of her 15 children to the mysteries of the Rosary. As the tenth child, Marie Rose honored the Crucifixion. These extraordinary circumstances surrounding Rose's birth seemed to foreshadow her destiny. Read more >

James & Ann Smith Franklin (1696-1763)

Inducted in 1998

James Franklin ,1696-1735, and Ann Smith Franklin, 1696-1763, of Newport, were journalists and Rhode Island's first printers and newspaper publishers. In 1727 they set up Rhode Island's first printing press. In 1732 he issued the Rhode Island Gazette, Rhode Island's first newspaper. When James died in February, 1735, the printing shop was continued under the auspices of Ann Franklin, whose imprint appeared as “The Widow Franklin. Read more >

Norma Ann (Bergquist) Garnett, Ed.D. (1930-)

Inducted in 2005

Garnett, Norma Ann, 1930-

Norma Ann (Bergquist) Garnett, Doctor Education, an innovative educator, has been a luminary in foreign language education since 1964. Dr. Garnett has instructed thousands of students and mentored hundreds of teachers, while receiving many prestigious local and national honors. She received one of Rhode Island’s first Milken Educator Awards. Read more >

Carole Garnett (Wheeler)

Inducted in 1968

Carole Wheeler (Garnett) was a member of the U.S. women's swim team who competed in the 1924 Paris Games. Later she coached swimming and diving. Read more >

Nancy Gewirtz, Ph.D.

Inducted in 2006

When Nancy Gewirtz died in 2004 after her courageous and graceful battle with cancer, she was widely and appropriately known by a title the Fund for Community Progress had aptly bestowed upon her in 1997--“A Voice for the Voiceless.” Indeed, Dr. Gewirtz's entire life was marked by her tireless efforts on behalf of the poor, the exploited, the defenseless, and the marginalized.

Ever since she completed her graduate studies, which included a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Social Work from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Dr. Read more >

Katharine Gibbs (1863-1934)

Inducted in 1983

Katharine Gibbs, 1863-1934, was the founder of the famed schools of business which bears her name. A resident of Edgewood area of Providence, she revolutionized stenography in 1911 with tenacity and vision that brought her to the forefront of American education. Today, thousands of Katherine Gibbs graduates, representing generations of Americans, owe their success to her foresight and imagination. The first of seven schools was originally opened in Providence. Read more >

Sarah Updike Goddard (1701-1770)

Inducted in 1998

Sarah Updike Goddard, 1701-1770, of North Kingstown and Providence was a journalist, publisher, civic leader, and editor of the Providence Gazette. She was descended from the Smiths and Updikes of Cocumscussoc and married DiGiles Goddard in 1735. Her son William founded the Providence Gazette in 1762 but left the business in 1765. Sarah continued to print the paper on a weekly basis until 1768 when she sold her interest to John Carter. Read more >

John Hackett

Inducted in 1982

The late John Hackett was a former Dean of the University of Rhode Island Extension Division. Under his leadership, the division grew to be one of the largest university extension divisions in the nation, offering college credit courses and degrees. He was responsible for instituting the URI Continuing Education of Women(CEW)Program. Read more >

Catherine T. Hammet

Inducted in 1996

Hammett, Catherine Tilley

Ms. Hammett of Newport was an internationally recognized Girl Scout Official who continued to serve as a volunteer even after retirement. She was the first young woman in Newport to become a Girl Scout in 1917, then joined the Rhode Island staff as a field captain and served on the national staff from 1936 to 1967. Specializing in outdoor activities, over a career spanning 79 years, she served in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Read more >

Caroline Hazard (1856-1945)

Inducted in 2010

Hazard, Caroline, 1856-1945

Caroline Hazard, educator, philanthropist, and author, was born in the South Kingstown village of Peace Dale on June 10,1856. She was educated by private tutors in Providence, by attending some courses at Brown University, and by private study in Europe. She worked side-by-side with her father, industrialist and social reformer Rowland G. Hazard, in various business ventures. Read more >

Gertrude Hochberg

Inducted in 1977

Gertrude Hochberg was Vice-President of Bryant College and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in Journalism. She was a past President of the Rhode Island Advertising Club, and a member of the Board of the National Council of Christians and Jews. She also served as Director of the Speakers Bureau for the United Way, and the first Chairman of the Rhode Island Commission on the Status of Women. Read more >

Ruth Hussey (Longenecker) (1911-2005)

Inducted in 1967

Ruth Hussey of Providence became a Hollywood movie star and accomplished supporting actress after her graduation from Pembroke College. Miss Hussey began her theatrical career on the Broadway stage where she won acclaim for her performances in "State of the Union", "Goodbye Mr. Fancy", and "Desk Set". She also appeared in more than 30 films including "Flight Command", "The Great Gatsby" and "The Philadelphia Story, which won her an Oscar nomination. Read more >

Anne M. Hutchinson (1591-1643)

Inducted in 1997

Hutchinson, Anne, 1591-1643

Ms. Hutchinson, formerly of Pocasset which is now Portsmouth, was born in England and immigrated to the Mass Bay Colony in 1634. Her early liberal upbringing and Puritan leanings inspired her to take a strong part in the religious life of the community, which led to her banishment from the Colony. She later took up residence with her family in Rhode Island and became one of the most influential religious activists of her time. Read more >

Lynne Jewell (Shore)

Inducted in 2004

Lynne Jewell (Shore) won a gold medal in yachting at the Seoul Games in the 470 class. Lynne’s yachting career spans two coasts. She grew up in California, summered with her grandparents in Plymouth, Massachusetts, starred in sailing as a student at Boston University (Class of 1981), and came to live in Rhode Island in 1985, with her sailing coach and former husband Bill Shore.

A competitive sailor since the age of seven, Lynne was the U. Read more >

Helen Johns (Carroll) (1914-)

Inducted in 2004

Helen Johns (Carroll) was a gold medalist in the women’s 400-meter freestyle swim relay in 1932 at the Los Angeles Games in a world record time of 4:38. Helen is shown here (at left) with Albina Osipowich, who became a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame at its 1968 Olympic induction for winning two gold medals in swimming at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics (100-meter freestyle in world record time of 1:11 and the 400-meter freestyle relay).

Raised in Medford, Massachusetts, Helen Johns learned swimming from her father. She trained primarily in the ocean because there were few pools in the area. Read more >

Gertrude I. Johnson (1876-1961)

Inducted in 2015

Gertrude I. Johnson, 1876-1961, and Mary Tiffany Wales, 1874-1952, founding mothers of Johnson & Wales University. Mary Tiffany Wales was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1874 and graduated from the Pennsylvania State Normal School at Millersville in 1893. Following graduation, Mary taught school, first in Pennsylvania and later in Massachusetts. Read more >

Matilda Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933)

Inducted in 1977

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones ("Black Patti") 1869-1933, was a famous concert singer of the 19th century. After becoming the the first African-American artist to perform at the Wallack's Theatre in New York, she toured South America, Europe and Canada. Known as "the Black Patti," after Italian diva Adelina Patti, Ms. Jones performed in Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, and before the crowned heads of Europe. Read more >

Leona McElroy Kelly (1919-2000)

Inducted in 2002

Former Rhode Island Representative from South Kingstown.

Leona A. Kelley was born in Providence on August 15, 1919. She attended Classical High School and the University of Rhode Island graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1941. Read more >

Kathryn "Katie" King (1975-)

Inducted in 2004

Katie King-Crowley was a member of the gold medal winning women’s ice hockey team at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Games, and silver medalist as a member of the United States women’s hockey team in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Although a New Hampshire resident, Katie competed for Brown University (Class of 1997) and is the daughter of Rhode Islanders. Her father, Joseph, was raised in Warwick and her mother, Susan, in East Providence.

At Brown, Katie was a two-sport superstar and team captain. Read more >

Frances G. Knight (1905-1999)

Inducted in 1978

Frances Knight, 1905-1999, was a Newport native who was Director of Passport Service. An independent who ran her own show through many presidential administrations, Frances transformed an inefficient federal agency into a model of efficiency. Read more >

Clara Lamore (Walker) (1926-)

Inducted in 1968

Clara Lamore (Walker) was a member of the U.S. Women's swim team at the 1948 London Games where she was a finalist in the breaststroke. During the 1940's Lamore set two U. Read more >

Margaret Langdon-Kelly

Inducted in 1997

Mrs. Langdon-Kelly, of Little Compton, was affectionately known to all as “Poggy”. She, along with Dr. Eric Denhoff, founded Rhode Island’s famed Meeting Street School, a world renowned institution providing early education as well as medical intervention for special needs children. Read more >

Victoria S. Lederberg (1937-2002)

Inducted in 2003

Lederberg, Victoria, -- 1937-

Lederberg was a psychology professor and state legislator before becoming a state Supreme Court judge in 1993.

Lederberg earned her bachelors and masters at doctoral degrees Brown University. She served as Providence Municipal Court judge and was professor of psychology at Rhode Island College. She served as state representative from 1975-1983 ,representing the East Side of Providence, and state senator from 1985-1991. Read more >

Idawally "Ida" Lewis (1842-1911)

Inducted in 2005

Lewis, Ida, 1842-1911

Idawalley “Ida” Lewis is considered the most famous person ever to serve in the U.S. Lighthouse Service, an agency that evolved into the U. S. Read more >

Jean Madeira (1918-1972)

Inducted in 1970

Jean (Browning) Madeira, 1918-1972, sang as contralto diva of the Metropolitan Opera. She gained world renown for her performances in the role of Carmen and starred in the Munich, Salzburg, and Bayreath Festivals. She sang leading roles at LaScala, San Carlo, Vienna, Convent Garden, the Stockholm and Paris Operas, and was sensational as Delilah at the Israeli National Opera. Jean was the only American ever to sing Carmen in the Aix-en-Provence Festival as performed in 1957. Read more >

Dr. Eleanor M. McMahon (1929-2002)

Inducted in 1986

Dr. Eleanor McMahon, 1929-2002, was the Rhode Island Commissioner of Higher Education and former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rhode Island College. A Brown University Alumni Trustee, she has been the recipient of five honorary doctoral degrees and is the author of twenty treatises on education. Beginning her distinguished career as a classroom teacher in Pawtucket, she devoted her life to education. Read more >

Colonel Martha E. McSally

Inducted in 2013

Warwick-born and raised, Martha McSally is truly a renaissance woman. She is an Air Force Academy graduate who was the first American woman to fly in combat and was also the first woman to command a USAF fighter squadron.

No slouch at school, Martha was a Rhodes Scholarship regional finalist and a White House Fellowship National Finalist. She graduated from the Air War College, first in her class of 225 future senior military leaders. Read more >

Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf (1830-1895)

Inducted in 1996

Metcalf, Helen Adelia Rowe, -- -1895.

Ms. Rowe Metcalf, formerly of Providence, was leader in the drive to establish the Rhode Island School of Design and devoted most of her time from 1878 to her death in 1895 to directing the School. Her influence and administrative skills enabled RISD to be founded with the goals of training artisans, teaching students the principles of art, and promoting appreciation of art, allowing it to become recognized as one of the most prestigious fine arts schools in the country. Read more >

Harriet "Holly" Metcalf

Inducted in 2004

Harriet M. “Holly” Metcalf won a gold medal in rowing in the eight-oars with coxswain at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Holly, a Rhode Island native, attended Mt. Holyoke College and holds an advanced degree from Harvard University. Read more >

Elizabeth " Lizzie" Murphy (1894-1964)

Inducted in 1994

The late Elizabeth "Lizzie" Murphy, 1894-1964, a native of Warren, was an outstanding athlete who was the first woman ever to play in Major League Baseball competition, and who starred for more than thirty years for otherwise all-male professional, semi-professional, and amateur baseball teams throughout New England and other Eastern states. She has been cited as a legend in her time by both the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Rhode Island General Assembly. Her 100^th birthday was celebrated as a town-wide observance in Warren on April 13, 1994. Read more >

Sister Eileen Murphy, RSM (1935-1983)

Inducted in 1987

The late Sister Murphy was founder of the Amos House in Providence for the care of the homeless and needy of Rhode Island. A tireless worker for the cause of homeless men and women and helping to provide daily services, including food for low-income Rhode Islanders. Sister Murphy dedicated a lifetime to the teaching and ministering of the needy. She died in 1983 at the age of forty-eight, leaving a legacy for all citizens to follow. Read more >

Florence Kerins Murray (1916-2004)

Inducted in 1980

Florence Kerins Murray, 1916-2004,was a high-ranking officer in the Women's Army Corps, Rhode Island's first female state senator (and was reelected four times), female judge and member of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Read more >

Albina Osipowich (Van Aken) (1911-1964)

Inducted in 1968

Albina Osipowich (Van Aken), 1911-1964, was the women's swimming star of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Albina, a member of the Pembroke swim team, won gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle in an Olympic record time of 1.11.0, and swam the third leg of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay that set a world record of 4:47. Read more >

Isabelle Florence Ahearn O’Neill (1880-1975)

Inducted in 2014

Isabelle Florence Ahearn O’Neill, 1880-1975, stage and silent-film actress and suffragette. She was the state’s first female legislator, elected to the House in 1922. She also served as deputy Democratic floor leader in the Senate.

Inductees in Women

Catherine R. (Arnold) Williams (1790-1872)

Helen A. Bert (1922-2002)

Ade Bethune (1914-2002)

Gladys Williams Brayton (1890-1990)

Wilma H. Briggs (1930-)

Billie Ann Burrill (1921-2010)

Joanne Carner (1939-)

Elizabeth Buffum Chace (1806-1899)

Diane L. Coutu (1953-)

Prudence Crandall (1803-1890)

Helen Metcalf Danforth (1887-1984)

Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (1813-1876)

Paula Deubel -Phillips (1935-1993)

Antoinette F. Downing (1904-2001)

Sarah Elizabeth Doyle (1830-1922)

Mary Dyer (1611-1660)

Sarah J. Eddy (1851-1945)

Maud Howe Elliott (1854-1948)

Marie Rode Ferron (1902-1936)

James & Ann Smith Franklin (1696-1763)

Norma Ann (Bergquist) Garnett, Ed.D. (1930-)

Katharine Gibbs (1863-1934)

Sarah Updike Goddard (1701-1770)

Caroline Hazard (1856-1945)

Ruth Hussey (Longenecker) (1911-2005)

Anne M. Hutchinson (1591-1643)

Helen Johns (Carroll) (1914-)

Gertrude I. Johnson (1876-1961)

Matilda Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933)

Leona McElroy Kelly (1919-2000)

Kathryn "Katie" King (1975-)

Frances G. Knight (1905-1999)

Clara Lamore (Walker) (1926-)

Victoria S. Lederberg (1937-2002)

Idawally "Ida" Lewis (1842-1911)

Jean Madeira (1918-1972)

Dr. Eleanor M. McMahon (1929-2002)

Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf (1830-1895)

Elizabeth " Lizzie" Murphy (1894-1964)

Sister Eileen Murphy, RSM (1935-1983)

Florence Kerins Murray (1916-2004)

Albina Osipowich (Van Aken) (1911-1964)

Isabelle Florence Ahearn O’Neill (1880-1975)

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