Mabel Knipe
From 1931 through her retirement in 1974, Mabel taught at Fairhaven High School, where she directed 21 school plays, initiated the school newspaper, and became English department head.
Elizabeth Payson Prentiss
Faith in suffering was the life theme of author Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (1818-1878). Elizabeth lived in New Bedford for over five years as a compassionate pastor’s wife who gave comfort to those in need.
Tryne Costa
New Bedford social worker Tryne G. Costa (1922-2018) lived by a poem that she learned as a young girl, “Let me live in my house by the side of the road / And be a friend to man.”
Lillian Ross
How can a teacher ensure that her students learn skills to build a more peaceful world? For New Bedford educator Lillian Ross (1904?-2003), the answer was to develop active global citizens through educational and cross-cultural exchanges of the American Field Service (AFS).
Clementina “Tina” Ponte
Union leader. Political activist. University trustee. In these roles, Clementina “Tina” Rodrigues Ponte (1922-2013) worked to make the South Coast a better place.
Dora Bastarache
A stitcher in various New Bedford shops, Dora Bastarache (1915-1988) was a true rank-and-file leader in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in southeastern Massachusetts, where she served as president of that union’s Local 361.
Gladys Heuberger Sherman Ellis
Mattapoisett basket maker Gladys Heuberger Sherman Ellis (1916-2011) designed and created the Mattapoisett Basket, a unique regional form of the Nantucket Basket. An accomplished scrimshaw artist and Nantucket basket maker, she also taught this artistry to many others.
Carrie Lee
Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts accepted New Bedford High School graduate Carrie Evelina S. Lee (1895-1979) for admission in 1913. Upon arrival, rejection from her assigned dormitory became the impetus for a cornerstone in the founding of what would become Smith College’s Black Student Alliance.
Margaret Xifaras
Hailed as “the first woman of South Coast politics,” Margaret “MarDee” Xifaras (1945-2019), New Bedford lawyer and stalwart Democrat, was a driving force behind creation of the state’s first public law school, the University of Massachusetts School of Law in Dartmouth.
Ada Woolley Sullivan
A resourceful real estate investor and astute textile mill treasurer, Ada Woolley Sullivan (1888-1968) became New Bedford’s first woman textile mill treasurer and took full charge of the Sullivan Silk Mills in 1934.