By Katie Ziegler

Founded in 1920, the Junior League of Cincinnati has incubated or accelerated over 120 projects in its history. In recognition of Women’s History Month in March, the Junior League of Cincinnati is proud to celebrate the countless women who have given their time, talent and treasure to make an impact across the Greater Cincinnati community.

During this time of celebration of women, we want to take the opportunity to recognize some of our members who helped establish Junior League of Cincinnati projects and led the charge in making a difference. In partnership with the JLC Sustainer Council, we have created a list of just a few of the many contributions some of our Sustainer women have made in the Junior League of Cincinnati.  

Ellie Berghausen

Ellie was instrumental in the establishment of Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children. She provided financial knowledge and expertise to help guide and establish Fernside during its inception. She also served as the Treasurer of the Board for many years. Fernside, established in 1986 as the nation’s second oldest children’s grief center, remains today a national leader in providing grief support services and outreach and education to the community and families. 

Alison Bushman

Alison served as President & CEO of Bake Me Home, a non-profit organization she founded in 2008 with her twin daughters, Amy & Emma. During their 13 years of operation, the organization supported more than 30 different non-profit organizations, utilized 4,000+ volunteers, raised more than $860,000, served 10,432 families in crisis, sent 13,617 cookies to troops overseas and shared 30,076 cookies with local veterans. In 2022 they chose to dissolve the organization due to the economic impact of the pandemic and resulting labor shortage. Upon dissolution, they donated nearly $120,000 of cash and physical assets to support 17 other local non-profit organizations. 

Angie Carl

Angie has enjoyed placements in several capacities with the League, but her first love and primary League experience has been in Training and Development. In 1988, together with her project committee, Angie developed an educational program for parents designed to provide knowledge and strategies that would help them talk with their teenage children about sexuality and other uncomfortable topics. This League project was in response to a growing rate of teen pregnancy in greater Cincinnati. Also in 1988, Angie joined the Columbia Center Capital Campaign committee and led campaign donor recognition activities, raising $1.5 million to buy and renovate the Columbia Center! In 1992, then-President, Jeanne Morrison, asked Angie to chair an ad hoc committee to redesign JLC’s training program and, together with a team of several Past Presidents and others, Angie researched how Leagues around the country were handling training and developed a five-year plan for the JLC. In 2012 Angie served as Sustaining Advisor to the New Member Committee, ultimately helping to build the New Member bus tour to be what it is today. Angie’s numerous nonprofit experiences in our community include serving as one of the original “BoardWalk” trainers for United Way, serving on the Board of the Cincinnati Nature Center, and serving as the founding Director of the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council, a division of Green Umbrella. 

Nancy Coith and Carol Haile

Carol Haile and Nancy Coith helped lead the charge in creating the Docent Program at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The Docent Corps began in 1960 with twenty-eight docents as a joint effort between the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Junior League of Cincinnati and in cooperation with Cincinnati Public Schools. Docents are volunteer educators trained to facilitate tours and programs for Cincinnati Art Museum visitors. They share their knowledge of the Art Museum and its collection with a broad range of audiences, both in the Art Museum and in the community, to encourage a life-long love of the visual arts. Since 1975, the Docent Corps has been under the guidance of the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Education Division. The opening of the museum’s gift shop in March 1969 was a Junior League volunteer-led endeavor, also championed by Carol and Nancy. 

Adele Craft 

Adele Craft is the Executive Director of the East End Adult Education Center. They have served the East End since 1974 and have served over 8,500 students. The East End Adult Education Center provides free quality education programs for residents of the Greater Cincinnati area, aimed to increase students’ basic literacy, academic, computer, and job skills. They offer GED instruction and testing, college preparation courses, tutoring, and job counseling. 

Amelia Crutcher

Amelia currently serves as a Board member for RefugeeConnect. The Junior League of Cincinnati founded RefugeeConnect in 2013. Today, RefugeeConnect is a 501(c)(3) organization that works with more than 80 Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky community partners as a resource and connector to ensure refugees in the Cincinnati community have access to the programs available to them, and that they feel welcome in their adopted city. Amelia is passionate about community and was also highly involved in the creation of past-project and now non-profit organization ProKids. She was a member of the second class of CASA (court appointed special advocate) volunteers to go through the program and has also served on their board. 

Nancy Kohnen

Nancy served as a Junior League of Cincinnati President from 1977-1979 and helped guide the opening of the Cincinnati Fire Museum in 1979. She has remained a great advocate for The Cincinnati Fire Museum, where she proudly served as Executive Director for more than 10 years. During her tenure she raised the level of the museum’s visibility and increased its funding. The Cincinnati Fire Museum reaches thousands of people each year with their fire and burn prevention programming. Support from the Junior League of Cincinnati helped the museum restore Engine House #45, which houses their collection of historic firefighting artifacts. 

Marjorie Haitt Motch

Marjorie Motch left an indelible mark on the city she so loved and served throughout her entire life. The following list includes just some of Marjorie’s remarkable accomplishments: National President, Association of Junior Leagues International – 1960-1962, National Board President, Girl Scouts of America of the USA – 1972-1975, Chairperson and Founder of the Junior League of Cincinnati’s “Children’s Theater” – 1948-1950 (now The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati), Trustee Emeritus of the University of Cincinnati Foundation, since 1993. Chairperson and Founder of the Junior League of Cincinnati’s Nursery School for the Hearing, Speech & Deaf Center, 1955-1957, President, Board of Directors, United Way of America – 1966-1967, President and Founder, Urban League Guild – 1953-1954. She was honored with the keys to nine cities, recognized by the Royal Family of Denmark, received the highest honor awarded to an adult by the Girl Scouts, was recognized as a “Great Living Cincinnatian” in 1998 by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and a Cincinnati Enquirer “Woman of the Year” in 1994. In 2000, she was presented with the Association of Junior Leagues International Mary Herriman award, their highest honor. 

Peg Pauly

Peg served as an active volunteer with the Junior League of Cincinnati. Peg was the first woman appointed to the Cincinnati Board of Health in 1972. In 1975, she was among the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Women of the Year. Peg was instrumental in the success of the Voluntary Action Center project during the 1975-76 League year. She later became the manager of the Voluntary Action Center at the United Way and Community Chest of the Greater Cincinnati Area. There, she enlisted corporate executives and their employees to participate in various volunteer efforts. In this role, she established the Easy Riders program, driving low-income and elderly community members to doctors’ appointments.

Susan Shelton

Susan is the Executive Director of MindPeace, a non-profit organization working to increase access to mental healthcare for children in Greater Cincinnati. MindPeace was founded by Susan in 2002 and the JLC helped launch it as its own non-profit in 2007. Under Susan’s leadership, MindPeace has earned numerous awards and national recognition. The Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) gave the first ever Award for Collaboration and Ohio’s Best Small Non-Profit to the JLC for MindPeace. Susan also served as President of the Junior League of Cincinnati during the 2014-2015 League year and is now serving as a trustee on the Endowment Fund. 

Kathy Wade

J.J. Wales

For 25 years, J.J. Wales served as the Executive Director of Neediest Kids of All, a non-profit that provides basic necessities for the Tri-State’s children in need. Over 15,000 children are served annually in 700 schools and Head Start sites. After joining the Junior League of Cincinnati in 1977, J.J. served in leadership roles on the Admission Committee, Columbia Center Capital Campaign, twice as Sustaining Advisor to the President and as President-Elect and President during the 1989-90 League year. Outside of the JLC, J.J. has been involved with many community organizations. She has served as a Knox Preschool Board member and Chairman, PTO President at Woodford Primary School, March of Dimes Board member, United Way of Greater Cincinnati Board and campaign cabinet member, Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation Board member and Chair, and Every Child Succeeds Board member and Chair.

AND, hats off to the many JLC members who have served on boards of non-profit organizations around our city. Their efforts have played an important role in leading these agencies who they serve. In the words of President Jimmy Carter in his speech designating National Women’s History Week in 1980, “From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.” Women’s History Month celebrates the contributions women have made and recognizes the specific achievements they have made over the course of history. We are proud to acknowledge the many trailblazers who have contributed to the success of the Junior League of Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati region over the last 104 years that we have been a community organization and are excited to continue to recognize our future leaders. 

To learn more about the history of Women’s History Month, please visit the Library of Congress.