My Story - Archives

May 16, 2011

Happy Easter at the Stephen's Center

On Good Friday, April 22nd, several members of NARBW's Omaha chapter met at the Stephen's Center. They colored Easter Eggs with the few kids that were there and assembled dozens of Easter baskets for the children and twenty baskets for the women living there. Every child's basket had a stuffed animal, a toy, a bottle of bubble blowing juice, a book and of course, plastic Easter eggs filled with candy. The ladies baskets had makeup, makeup bags, hair & grooming essentials, combs, brushes, lotion, shampoo, etc.

It was delightful to fill the baskets and to see the reactions of the staff and the residents to the wonderful baskets. The leftover items were donated to fill their shelves for the ladies and the reward closet for the children.

To top it off the Omaha chapter presented the Stephens Center with a check for $525 to continue their work.

Thank you to Colleen Brabec, Cynthia Chandler, Carol Franco, Andrea Gansen, Mary Ann Leaton, Mary Lovette, Jay Nelsen, Winnie Sage, Amy Schapp, Sally Sofio and the others who donated items for the baskets.

February 6, 2011

Brenda W. Barksdale, Roanoke, VA

Since 2006 Brenda Barksdale has been gathering information for a book that would document the American railroad experience from a woman's perspective.  She has a sizeable amount of information but there are still many gaps to fill.  Brenda wants to tell this story primarily using photographs with historical captions and some first-hand stories from women who experienced the challenges of working in this predominantly-male, male-dominated industry.  While continuing to research, she is now trying to find a publishing venue that also has a distribution opportunity in place for interested readers.

In 2008 this Association endorsed Brenda's project saying “Railroad women's history is a small part of railroad history and this is why it has significance.  The time is now to gather the information on the women who worked for the railroads and make sure it is documented.”    This project has also been endorsed by The Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society and the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Inc., the museum that now houses the archives of this Association. At the Annual Convention in Roanoke in May, a number of the attendees expressed interest in this project. 

As far as Brenda knows, there is not a single book available on this topic in general.  She is asking each of us to help compile one by sharing any pictures we have and some of our experiences in the form of short narratives.  Articles about railroad women from your railroad's and other publications would be welcome contributions as well. Unless you want items returned to you, any information you provide will be given to the archives of this Association whether or not it is included in the book.

Brenda wants to take this opportunity to again thank the members of the Roanoke Chapter who spent many, many hours helping her sort through thousands of documents at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and, to thank you in advance for sending your pictures and stories to:    

Brenda W. Barksdale
1623 Wilbur Rd., SW
Roanoke, VA 24015-3625

May 12, 2010

Patricia Prillaman, Roanoke, VA

Roanoke's President, Pat Prillaman, is an avid volunteer…Whether it's volunteering for the Salem Community Clothes Closet or volunteering for the Salem Ecumenical Ministries—Pat Prillaman, President of the Roanoke chapter, is a very busy lady…

The Salem Community Clothes Closet provides good, clean, used clothing and shoes for anyone who needs them.  This free service is especially important in these difficult economic times.

The clothes closet is in located in Salem and the space and utilities are donated.  The closet is open Monday—Friday from 10am to 2pm and again on the first and third Tuesdays in the evenings.  In addition to clothes donations, they take monetary donations which are used for liability insurance, shoe vouchers for referred clients and other operational needs.  On a continuing basis they need donations of baby and children's large size clothing, jeans of all sizes, shoes and maternity wear.

Volunteers such as Pat, work two-hours shifts regularly—their motto is “Money might be short, but most of us can give a couple of hours a month.”

Volunteers in photo are: seated, Joan Dorsey.  Standing (from left): Jo Ann Leonard, Kitty Tate, counselors Jeanine Blackburn, Tonya Edwards, and standing (first on the right) is Secretary Pat Prillaman.

Roanoke Social Services and Total Action against Poverty representatives came to the Tuesday, January 12th meeting of the Salem Ecumenical Ministries to speak about the huge, growing, and often secret issue, domestic violence that occurs in nearly any and every community and socioeconomic class.

They learned that domestic violence doesn't have to be physical – it also includes emotional and psychological abuse including threats, intimidations, and verbal assault; financial abuse by controlling a victim's economic resources; identity abuse; sexual abuse, even spiritual abuse.

Victims and their families are often so familiar with the patterns of abuse that they often believe that abuse is a normal way of life.  It's often hard to detect unless one knows to recognize the signs:

• The abuser isolates and controls what the victim does and where he or she goes.
• The abuser uses their children to make the other partner feel guilty, to send messages, and uses visitation as a way to harass him or her.
• The abuser tries to keep the partner from getting a job, makes him or her ask for money, takes away money, gives an allowance or makes him or her account for every penny.

The abuser puts the victim down by calling her/him names, playing mind games, or making the victim feel like he or she is crazy.