The History of Phoenix BPW-Arizona

BPW Beginnings

Excerpts from Women Who Made a Difference Volume III

published by AZBPW Foundation

On September 27, 1915, a Phoenix Business Girls Club was organized as part of Phoenix YWCA. Pat Davidson was president. Twice -monthly meetings alternated between lunch and dinner. The first headquarters were in the old Central school where a restroom and kitchen were furnished with the assistance of Phoenix Women’s Club, civic leagues and businessmen.

In 1918, the Phoenix Business Girls Club joined the Arizona Federation of Women’s Clubs for one year. President of the Phoenix Business Girls Club Leila Seaman attended the first organizational meeting of BPW/USA in St Louis, in July 1919. When she returned, the club reorganized with the name Phoenix Business and Professional Women’s Club (Phoenix BPW).

On February 12, 1921, Phoenix BPW hosted the organizational meeting of the Arizona Federation and became one of six charter clubs of BPW/AZ. In 1921, Phoenix BPW officially incorporated and maintained continuous affiliation with BPW/AZ and BPW/USA.

Phoenix BPW Past Presidents

Phoenix Girls Club

1915-1917 Pat Davidson

1917-1918 Cris Satterwhite

1918-1919 Winnie Wise

Phoenix BPW

1919-1921 Leila Seaman

1921-1922 May Belle Craig

1922-1924 Alice Hines

1924-1925 Alice Birdsall

1925-1926 Jean Thompson

1926-1928 Margaret Hartline

1928-1929 Harriet Jean Oliver

1929-1930 Ellen Copper

1930-1931 Lillian Hall

1931-1933 Maude Tansey

1933-1934 Dorothy Birdsall

1934-1936 Marie Taylor

1936-1937 Isabel O’Hara Yeager

1937-1938 Jesse Lloyd Johnson

1938-1940 Mary Gillen

1940-1941 Ruth Kaseman

1941-1943 Esta Imler

1943-1944 Hazel Struthers

1944-1945 Dollie Sim Austin

1945-1946 Evelyn Weaver

1946-1948 Christina Small

1948-1951 Gertrude Converse

1951-1952

1952-1953 Judge Lorna Lockwood

1953-1954 Marie Hogsett

1954-1955 Isabel O’Hara Yeager

1955-1956

1956-1957

1957-1958 Marion Day

1958-1960 Rena Rabinowitz

1960-1961 Freda Schmidt

1961-1962 Dr Lillian Johnston

1962-1963 Ellen Pat Negri

1963-1964 Margaret Hartmann

1964-1965 Mildred Scott

1965-1966 Daisy Howard

1966-1967 Geraldine Vanda Buken/Beulah Mann

1967-1968 Caroline Kirkpatrick

1968-1969 Evelyn Hill

1969-1970 Helen Steinman

1970-1971 Gladys Bagley Schaefer

1971-1972 Myrna Carr

1972-1973 Wauneta Hackelman

1973-1974 Ethel Arrowsmith

1974-1975 Betty Hemphill

1975-1978 Lena Meyers

1978-1979 Martha Peters

1979-1980 Alfrieda Rippe

1980-1982 Nancy McLeod

1982-1983 Genevia Brown

1983-1984 Rosemary Grosvenor

1984-1985 Lena Meyers

1985-1987 Alfrieda Rippe

1987-1988 Genevia Brown

1988-1989 Irene Doto

1989-1990 Helen Blankenship

1990-1991 Irene Doto

1991-1993 Jacquelynn Mason

1993-1995 Helen Blankenship Campbell

1995-1997 Amy Hamilton

1997-1999 Carol Monroe

1999 -2003 Amy Hamilton

2003-2006 Anita Auguste

2006-2008 Katherine Peterson

2008-2009 KP and Katherine Stevenson

2009-2019 Katherine Peterson

Some information courtesy of AZFoundation

Women who made a difference Volumes I II &III