For their faith, for their strength of character and for their efforts to make a better world, 10 Utah women were honored Friday at the Capitol.
These are the first Utah Women's Achievement Awards, bestowed jointly by the Governor's Commission for Women and Families and the Governor's Office of Ethnic Affairs.Mary Marks, director of the Commission for Women and Families, and Lorena Riffo, director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, welcomed first lady Jacalyn Leavitt and those who were accepting the awards.
Osaka Uno
The Rev. Kent Ikeda of the Japanese Church of Christ spoke about Osaka Uno. If Utah had only celebrated this centennial event last year, he said, Uno would have sat proudly near the podium. She died last August - at the age of 101.
As a young woman, Osaka stopped in Utah on her way from Japan to Columbia University for graduate school. She met Clarence Uno and changed her plans. They married. Just before WWII, they moved their young family to California. They were sent to a relocation camp.
Because of Uno's life experiences and her steadfastness, said the Rev. Ikeda, people revered her. During her last years, she prayed almost constantly.
Martha Huges Cannon
Marda Dillree spoke about Martha Hughes Cannon, the first woman in the United States to be elected a state senator. Dillree heads the committee that will install a statue of Cannon in the State Capitol July 24. Cannon was, first and foremost, a physician, said Dillree.
Encarnacion Florez
John Florez spoke about his mother Encarnacion. Recently when his 2-year-old grandson greeted the morning with open-armed joy, Florez knew his mother's spirit lives on. A true humanitarian, she put her energy into flowers and people, Florez said. She worked tirelessly at Our Lady of Guadalupe mission. She greeted each morning by picking up some earth and smelling it.
Fia Carolina Salanoa Hoopiiaina
Cuma Hoopiiaina spoke about her mother-in-law Fia Carolina Salanoa Hoopiiaina. She was born in Samoa in 1889 and brought to Utah by LDS missionaries when she was 16. She never went home again.
She graduated from the Rexburg Academy, then settled in Iosepa, a town created by Hawaiians in Skull Valley, Tooele County. She married, but her husband died after a few months. Later, she married his brother. The family was poor. She cleaned houses to help support her many children. Hoopiiaina valued education and her children grew up to own businesses and go to college.
Mary Judge
In honoring Mary Judge, Judge Memorial High principal Renee Genereaux reflected on all the women of Utah who brought "healing, beauty and education" to modern generations. By remembering our history, "we become aware of those on whose shoulders we stand," she said.
Mary Judge's husband was a miner who staked a claim in Park City. He became rich, but died young of lung cancer. His widow proved herself to be a businesswoman, investor and philanthropist. She helped build the Cathedral of the Madeleine, a miner's hospital and several office buildings. Her children donated the property where Judge Memorial stands today.
Mary Fielding Smith
Carol Nixon spoke about her third great-grandmother, Mary Fielding Smith. In 1848, Smith made the 1,350-mile trek to Zion, "against all odds," said Nixon.
Smith's husband, Hyrum, had been murdered in Illinois. So she was traveling on her own, with her children. The leader of the trek asked her not to come. He feared she and her oxen weren't equal to the journey. She came anyway - and beat him, by a day, into the valley.
Helen Papanikolas
Helen Papanikolas is a historian. Her sister, Josephine Theodore, could not begin to list everything she's published about Utah's Greek community and about the history of mining. She's won dozens of heritage awards. She is also the coordinator of Greek archives for the Marriott Library.
Mignon Richmond
The Rev. Francis Davis described the life of Mignon Richmond. When she was graduated from Utah State Agricultural College in 1921, she was believed to be the first African-American to do so. She was never hired as a teacher. But she became a laboratory technician, school lunch supervisor, and a lifelong volunteer for the NAACP and YWCA.
May Timbimboo Parry
May Timbimboo Parry was a tribal representative to the White House Conference on Indian Tribal Affairs, is a member of the Utah Indian Cooperative Council, and was also Honorary Utah Mother of the Year in 1986. She lobbied the state to pass the "Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act," and lobbied other agencies to recognize that the "Battle of Bear River" is more aptly termed a "massacre."
Her son, Bruce Parry, listed her accomplishments, saying she taught her children to love God and education. "And she always wanted us to look nice . . . and she is the most generous person I have ever known."
Esther Landa
Whitney Landa told the audience, "while you see Esther Landa as a political stateswoman, I see her simply as Grandma." Landa was the president of the National Council of Jewish Women and Utah delegate to the White House Conference on Families, as well as heading numerous local organizations.
Among other valuable lessons, Esther Landa taught her granddaughter to be tolerant - and to play poker. Whitney Landa told the audience that tolerance is learned by experiencing intolerance, and "I hope from the controversy around us today, Utah learns more about tolerance."