In recognition of March as Women’s History Month, the Bethany Beach Cultural & Historical Affairs Committee decided to honor several prominent women in the Town’s history by coming up with a sort of “Mt. Rushmore,” if you will.
The seven women selected to be celebrated were Marjorie Townsend Bramhall Slaughter, the Town’s first female lifeguard; Martha Jean Addy, a whirlwind who helped create the Women’s Civic Club of Bethany Beach, amongst other civic organizations; Carolyn Hughes, a journalist and writer who helped preserve the history of the town; Rosemary Hardiman, who recently stepped down as mayor and has served on numerous committees; Margaret Young, who poured her heart and soul into celebrating the rich history of the town and served on the council; Jane Fowler, who served on the town council for 15 years and worked on many committees; and Carol Olmstead, who served as a council member, vice-mayor and mayor, along with sitting on several committees herself.
This is a great list.
For starters, it caused us to learn more about Bramhall Slaughter, who passed away in 2002. The daughter of Delaware Supreme Court Justice Howard Wellington Bramhall and Margaret Purnell Bramhall, she was an investigator who specialized in minority and women’s business contracts for the federal and state programs administered through the Delaware Department of Transportation. She also had two sons — both of whom became Bethany Beach lifeguards themselves.
As for the others... Well, we were aware of their stories. And we couldn’t co-sign their inclusion in this prestigious list vociferously enough. There’s a saying around Major League Baseball that the litmus test for inclusion in the Hall of Fame is whether you can tell the story of professional baseball without including that individual’s contributions.
And the same goes for this list — each of whom made their mark.
