Page 18 - Life In Naples March 2022 Flipbook

Generational Influences
The Naples community hosts many accomplished women who
A labor of have achieved much by overriding belief systems with consummate
prudence. Mrs. Adams would be so proud.
Angela Melvin, founder of Valerie’s House, lost her mom, Valerie
love and legacy during Melvin, in an automobile accident in Ft. Myers in 1987. Her mom
was 33 years old and left behind a loving husband and two small
Women’s History Month children, including a ten year old, Angela. After her journalism
career in Washington D.C. Angela moved back to Ft. Myers,
with a void in her life. She knew she wanted to volunteer with
grieving children, but there were very few resources where children
could connect and heal together. That void was filled with the
by Lois Bolin, Ph.D., Old Naples Historian
establishment of Valerie’s House, whose mission is to help children
labor of love and legacy during and families work through the loss of a loved one together and go
Women’s History Month on to live fulfilling lives.
A Every year during March, ValeriesHouse.org
thousands of events are held throughout the Rosemary Zore is the founder of the Robert L. Zore Foundation
country to acknowledge and recognize the and The Fallen Officers. They support the families and departments
accomplishments of women. It began in 1980 of police officers that have been killed in the line of duty across
as a weeklong celebration and by 1987 was the United States. Her inspiration came from a real-life experience
expanded by a Congressional resolution to an when she was seven years old. Her father, Robert L. Zore, was
entire month, making March our National killed in the line of duty on Christmas Day 1983. Today she pays
Women’s History Month. tribute to her father through the foundation whose mission is to
This Resolution was accomplished due to the groundwork honor the sacrifice of fallen officers, to remember their families and
established from a long line of duty bound women like Abigail to unite the community with law enforcement.
Adams. On March 31, 1776, Mrs. Adams wrote to her husband, The FallenOfficers.com
and warned, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the Lori Stillwagon Roman is the founder of The Ann Children's Fund,
Ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not which assists adoptive families of children with special medical
hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or needs. This labor of love and legacy came from her mom, Ann
Representation.” Stillwagon whose motto was: "do your best to make the world a
With much love and admiration wrapped in a shroud of fear, better place." She learned from her mom’s caring and compassion
her husband, John Adams, wrote, “We have only the name of masters, through a variety of activities such as leading a Girl Scout troop
and rather than give up this, which would completely subject us to the for girls with Down Syndrome and kitchen table translation of
despotism of the petticoat.” children’s books into braille for the visually impaired.
Adams, who served as Secretary of State, Ambassador, Vice AnnFund.org
President, and President during his lifetime, noted that his A Woman’s Work
counterpart had many virtues as a wife and mother. Today history The diary, A Midwife’s Tale: The life of Martha Ballard (1785-
shows that she left her influences on the development of the new 1812), was overlooked for many years, yet holds great insights
country born within her lifetime. Mr. Adams wrote that she was today on life during post-Revolutionary times and reminds me of
a friend, whom he consulted in every aspect of public affairs; and many notable women in our community both past and present.
she never failed to “partake of that happy harmony, which prevailed “A womans work is never Done as the Song says and happy
in her character; in which intuitive judgment was blended with shee whose strength holds out to the End of the rais [race].”
consummate prudence…” How true these words were then and today.
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