Six outstanding Maine women received the Deborah Morton Award this week in a convocation at the Westbrook College campus of the University of New England. They join a corps of 135 women who had received the award in the past 40 years.

Significantly, four of the six live and work in eastern Maine, a recognition of the contributions that the women of our region are making in business, industry, government, science, social service and the arts.

Deborah Morton, of Round Pond, was valedictorian of the 1879 class of the Westbrook Seminary, forerunner of Westbrook College. As a teacher, dean, linguist, historian and Portland civic leader, she inspired a generation of younger women.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients, who continue the tradition of leading in their fields and raising the aspirations of other Maine women:

Joyce Kelley Butler of Kennebunk, historian and writer.

Jean M. Deighan of Bangor, after careers in law, banking, asset management and community service, operates her own investment advisory firm.

Linda Greenlaw of Isle Au Haut, while continuing her 20-year career as a commercial fisherman, wrote the best-selling book, “The Hungry Ocean.”

Merle Royte Nelson of Falmouth, teacher, five-term member of the Maine House

of Representatives and leader in social

service organizations and projects for working women, children, teen-agers and immigrants.

Beverly J. Paigen of Bar Harbor, a senior staff scientist at The Jackson Laboratory, a specialist in the genetics of heart disease and high blood pressure, and a lifetime campaigner against environmental hazards including dioxin pollution at the Love Canal in Niagara Falls and in Maine.

Tabitha King of Bangor, author and philanthropist, known especially in addition to her writing for chairing the successful 1996 campaign for renovation of the Bangor

Public Library.