Lillie Pierce Voss, formerly of Hypoluxo, was the first non-Native American child born between Jupiter and Miami. As a child she learned to interact with the local Seminole Indians, and she learned to shoot, hunt, fish, and sail a boat as well as any boy. She was known as the Sweetheart of the Barefoot Mailmen, helping her mother cook breakfast for the mailmen and rowing them across the lagoon to the ocean beach where they would start their historic treks. Her husband was a boat captain and steam engineer who ran steamboats up and down the South Florida coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Together they piloted yachts between Palm Beach and New England for wealthy seasonal Palm Beach residents

Aleene Pridgen Kidd MacKenzie of Miami paved the way for women, young and old, to have a different life than their mothers before them. After moving to Ocala in 1950, Aleene served as President of the Jr. and Sr. Women’s Clubs, a columnist for the Ocala Star Banner, and feature writer for All Florida magazine. Moving to Tallahassee in 1961, Aleene was appointed Assistant Director of Development by Florida State University president Gordon Blackwell. Her task was to establish the FSU Foundation, which today is a $440 million asset to the University.

Clara C. Frye, formerly of Tampa, was trained in nursing care in Alabama and moved to Tampa in 1901. She had heard many stories about the high volume of black patients who died because they were denied medical treatment in “whites only” facilities. She committed her life to providing medical care to Tampa’s black citizens.

Dottie Berger MacKinnon, formerly of Tampa, was a tireless advocate for women and has left her footprint throughout the Bay area. She was one of the founders of Joshua House, a safe haven for abused, abandoned, and neglected children, in Tampa and she passionately supported the children served there since 1992.

Louise Jones Gopher of the Brighton Indian Reservation in Okeechobee was the first female member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida to earn a college degree, graduating from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in business. As a former director of education for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, she has been a champion of education for all its members.

Sheriff Susan Benton of Sebring is the first female sheriff elected in a general election in the history of the state of Florida and is currently serving her third term. Sheriff Benton is a fifth-generation Floridian who has served in law enforcement for over 35 years. She has risen through the ranks by gaining the respect and admiration of her colleagues and superiors while continually seeking her education, attaining a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Certification as a Florida Public Manager.

Mary Lee Nunnally Farrior of Tampa has a commitment to improving the lives of Florida’s children that spans 55 years. Upon moving to Tampa in 1958, she began reading to underprivileged children. She continued to volunteer through the Junior League of Tampa, The Children’s Home and The Spring of Tampa Bay while raising her own four boys, and supported education through her commitment to the University of Florida.

Charlotte E. Maguire, M.D. earned her medical degree from the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 1944, when women were not just an anomaly in medicine – they were unwelcome. Medical schools routinely rejected women applicants for no other reason than gender.  Dr. Maguire was one of the first women to enter the University of Arkansas Medical School.

Evelyn C. Keiser of Fort Lauderdale co-founded the Keiser School in 1977 with Dr. Arthur Keiser. She fondly recalls the first day the school opened. Her first and only student at that time arrived late and feared that she had disrupted the class. Ms. Keiser nervously told her, “it’s OK dear, you are the class.” They never dreamed that 38 years later their one student and one program start-up endeavor would grow into Florida’s second-largest independent, regionally accredited university.

Helen Aguirre Ferré of Miami Shores is an award-winning bilingual journalist and communications consultant. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Barry University and an M.A. in Inter-American Studies from the University of Miami.  For more than twelve years, Helen has been the face of public affairs programming at WPBT2 (PBS affiliate), hosting the weekly series ISSUES and launching ISSUES REPORTS, an investigative arm of journalism reaching audiences from Florida’s Treasure Coast to the Florida Keys.