Akron Life February 2023

photo by Alexandra Sobczak

Members’ dedication to their causes, especially legacy mem bers, is what has kept the club going as others have closed. “It’s the loyalty of members that has by and large saved it,” Lieberth says. It’s the last social dining club for women in Akron, and one of few nationwide. With the future at stake, members are continuing to fight for the club’s existence. They’re cel ebrating the achievement of making it to 100 years with a Feb. 8 tea party and yearlong events. Above all, it’s about camaraderie and support. Members are often driving each other to doctors or checking in on each other if they miss events, and many have made lifelong friends. PB: I moved … and there was women’s clubs, but they weren’t the same. You didn’t have that closeness. … I missed that. I came back, and I had some of my friends that I had for 50 years. Jenny Thomas … I talk to her every couple of days. We go every place together. … Jenny spent every holiday and everything with us. … That’s the kind of friendships you develop here. Julie Randall ( joined in the 1960s) : My mother … and most of her friends never worked outside of the home. So this became her friendship-building place. She learned how to play bridge. She and my dad would play bridge many nights of the week. … They made some of their best life friends here. PB: B.J. Hittle, who was so active for so many years, … when she was dying, her helper would get her dressed up, and they would bring her to the club. … It’s sort of a safe haven. CB: We call it the family of friendship. We’re all survivors in this house and this community. And that’s our goal, to keep our Akron Woman’s City Club going — to survive in this beautiful community.

Inspiring Innovator : JudithResnik , 1949-1986

was an Akron Woman’s City Club member, encouraged students to pursue anything they wanted — despite gender or society’s expectations. Although there were few female engineers in the ’70s, Resnik earned a doctorate in electrical engineering, and that led to her becoming an astronaut. “She was often the only female in male-dominated classes, programs, organizations,” says Her Legacy: Resnik was honored posthumously with a Congressional Space Medal of Honor and is enshrined in the International Women’s Air & Space Museum in Cleveland. Her pioneering spirit lives on. “She broke the mold in terms of what women can accomplish,” Heppner says. Leianne Neff Heppner. “She personified the inventive and innovative spirit of our community.”

Why She’s Notable: As the second American woman and first Jewish woman in space, Judith Resnik literally reached for the stars — and saw them up close. She was one of six women in the first female class of astronauts in 1978. Resnik went on the maiden flight of the Discovery shuttle orbiter in 1984 and was part of the “Icebusters” team that deployed satellites and removed ice particles from the orbiter. A photograph of her on that mission with a sign that read “Hi Dad” captured hearts. Her second mission was on the Challenger shuttle in 1986, and to the shock of the nation, she died at only 36 when it exploded upon liftoff.

Her Local Impact: Through local speaking

engagements like the Akron Roundtable, the Firestone High School grad, whose mom

Judith Resnik, NASA, WIkimedia Commons

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