Jennifer Gillson

is honored with a Brick from Sharon Bridgman

The Legacy of Jennifer M. Gillson Or The Liberation of Women Through The Years

Jennifer's legacy of freedom began when her great-great-grandmother left her homeland of Bohemia to travel to America and to begin a new life. Her married name was Frances Sibl and she had nine children. Her sixth child was named Helen Sibl and she was Jennifer's great-grandmother.

Helen was born in 1897. At the age of 18, she left home and became a nurse which, at that time, was pretty gutsy. There were women working as teachers and nurses but they were few and far between as a woman's role was still to marry early and have a family -- period. Helen did marry at the age of 25 years old -- very unconventional.

Helen had one child, a daughter Alyce, born in 1923; she was Jennifer's grandmother. Alyce attended Fort Smith Junior College -- you know, that place where you go to find a husband? She married, was widowed, and had a daughter, Sharon. Because of World War II, she joined the ranks of "The Single Parent Household," but as a working mom she had her secretarial and bookkeeping skills that she learned during her one year at college.

Sharon, Jennifer's mom, attended three years of college as an interior design major. They had just acknowledged women in this field. See the evolution we women have made? From an emigrant to nurse to one year of college to three years of college and then to Jennifer -- a 1998 WSU graduate.

Jennifer is a 26 year old single woman who doesn't feel the need to be supported by a husband, but feels that companionship is needed in her life without the stigma of "you need a man to support you." She is willing and capable of waiting for the RIGHT person to come into her life instead of settling for just anyone.

I am very proud of her evolution of strength. I can also see in her the strength to liberate herself from the ties of society. This is why I feel she deserves to be placed in the Plaza of Heroines.

July 21, 1999