Hartman Awards honor 3 women’s wisdom, courage

Facing discrimination isn’t easy.

But conquering it is even harder.

To do both, it takes courage, wisdom and self-determination, not to mention an abundance of time and patience.

Every year since 1986, the Maryann Hartman Awards have recognized the achievements of three women who — through their courage, wisdom and self-determination — have worked to conquer discrimination and raise the consciousness of women around the state.

About 200 people crowded into the Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine on Wednesday night to celebrate this year’s recipients of the awards: Madeleine Giguere of Lewiston, Dale McCormick of Hallowell and Constance Hunting of Orono.

Author Rhea Cote Robbins presented the first award to Giguere, an educator known for her demographic studies of Franco-Americans in New England.

“She believed in the power of numbers,” said Robbins, who nominated Giguere for the award. Without Giguere pushing to include the question “What is your ancestry?” on the U.S. Census, Robbins said, Franco-Americans today would only be seen as a very small group, even though French is the second-largest language group in America.

Giguere, who has been working for women’s and Franco-Americans’ rights since 1971, is also known as “la marraine,” which is French for godmother and caretaker, said Robbins.

Hunting, a professor of English at UMaine, was nominated by Nancy MacKnight, associate professor of English, who wasn’t able to attend the ceremony. Her speech, read by Jennifer Pixley, painted a portrait of a multifaceted woman whose “essence is her poetry.”

Hunting, poet and editor, founded Puckerbrush Press and The Puckerbrush Review, a publication that “has given experience to many more writers,” read Pixley. “Her concern for work and its creater demonstrates her generosity.”

Hunting’s poem “Italy” was set to music by Beth Wiemann, assistant professor of music at UMaine, specifically for the ceremony. Hunting offered this advice: “There are three points I would like to make. If you want to learn, teach. If you want something new to read every day and like to collect stamps, start a press. And if you’d like to write poetry well, welcome to the real world.”

“Each year I come to the award’s ceremony to remember Maryann and to delight in the three award recipients,” said Saxl, who nominated McCormick, the first woman to be elected state treasurer, for her contribution to the education of women throughout Maine and her “inherent courage.”

“Over the past two decades, [McCormick] has been fighting for jobs and equality for women,” said Saxl.

McCormick, who was “the first woman in the country to complete a carpentry apprenticeship,” has written two books about carpentry, founded Women Unlimited, a technical training institute for women, and the Maine Gay/Lesbian Political Alliance.

“For Dale, each step along the way is groundbreaking,” said Saxl.

Maryann Hartman joined the UMaine faculty as an assistant professor and director of forensics in 1970, according to English professor Burton Hatlen. A pioneer in the field of oral interpretation, she had a national reputation for her scholarly work on the differences in men’s and women’s discourse patterns. She died of cancer in 1980, just as “the winds of change began to blow through this institution,” said Hatlen.

UMaine President Peter Hoff welcomed the group to the ceremony. He spoke about his mother (“an environmentalist who fought for the preservation of wetlands”) and grandmothers (one founded a musical school in New York; the other was the “first woman in Atlanta to drive an auto” and led the suffrage movement) and the impact families have on the lives of everyone.

One of the main purposes of the award is to “inspire young women by example,” said Ann Schonberger, director of the University of Maine’s Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies program, sponsor of the award. “It’s really important to provide role models for young women. Even though these women faced discrimination, they have still been able to achieve.”