This book is made up of modified scripts used for podcasts about women buried at Laurel Hill East Cemetery in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West just outside the city in Bala Cynwyd. You will learn about Founding Mother Esther DeBerdt Read whose status in the colonies at the time of her death was second only to Martha Washington. Anna Jarvis founded Mother's Day and Martha Kimball founded Memorial Day - they are both at Laurel Hill West. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was the first Black woman in America to earn a PhD in economics and then attended law school. The city of Philadelphia is in the process of erecting a statue for her. Mary Ann Lee was America's first prima ballerina. Rachel Lloyd was the first American woman to earn a PhD in chemistry. Glenna Collett Vare was the first woman to drive a golf ball 300 yards. Nellie Nielson was the first woman president of the American Historical Society. Helen Thompson Woolley turned the entire field of gender studies on its head with her work, and Katherine McBride's graduate thesis on "aphasia" remains a classic. Cecilia Beaux painted society's elite, while Christine Wetherill Stevenson founded The Hollywood Bowl. Aimee Ernesta Drinker Bullitt Beaux Barlow was her niece whom she painted several times; Ernesta turned down more than 50 marriage proposals before she turned 21 and during World War II had a radio show as "Commando Mary." Frances Anne Wister saved Old City; her sister Mary Channing Wister has a grade school named for her; a third sister Ella Wister Haines made a career out of public relations with the electric company. Princess Olga Demidoff Stoever descended from Russian royalty but worked as a madame in a fancy New York City brothel and got into trouble when she threw a wine bottle. Annie Inglis was the inspiration for a home for incurables, while Anna Magee used her fortune to establish a rehabilitation hospital. Catherine Drinker Bowen wrote best-selling biographies and histories, including four which made Book of the Month Club, while Elizabeth Head Fetter wrote brilliantly about medicine for lay people, and Gladys Hall wrote gossip for the movie magazines. Dr. Irene Koprowska co-discovered the Pap smear, while Dr. Anna Lukens experienced the "She Doctor Crisis of 1869." C. Delores Tucker fought battles against misogynistic lyrics of rap music. Anne Francine starred opposite Angela Lansbury on Broadway and Barbara Eden on television. Anna Meister started her own religion. Henrietta Garrett quietly let her fortune build to more than $15 million but never bothered to write a will. Hannah Clothier Hull served a life for peace as a prominent Quaker pacifist. Edie Huggins was your friend on television. Mary Engle Pennington was "The Ice Lady." Sara Yorke Stevenson started the Penn Museum. Mae Bibighaus died of a heroin overdose at age 19 in 1900; Maude Rettew and the Merritt sisters went down with the ship Sarah Craig during a sudden squall during a pleasure cruise; Gertie Gorman Webb died of natural causes, but her family was positive that her husband had poisoned her for her fortune. And Marion Stokes recorded everything on the television for more than 30 years. These are some of the women you will meet in this educational and entertaining book about 52 women who shaped the world we live in today and who are buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery.
