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Kathleen won the 800 meters at the Pan American Games in 1975 and was a member of the U.S. Olympic track team in 1976. She is president of the Modesto Police Fitness Center.
Doris Wanty
Living Pioneer 2010
In 1943, an issue of LIFE magazine describing the training of women to become pilots for the Air Force inspired Doris to join the war effort and learn to fly. She completed flight ground school at Modesto Junior College and finished basic training in the city of Independence. Doris was 21 years old when she was accepted as a WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilot) and was one of the first female pilots to fly military planes. Out of 25,000 women, only 1830 were accepted into the program and just 1074 graduated. The purpose of the WASPs was to free up men to fly combat missions. Women would stay in the States and ferry new planes, function as test pilots and tow targets for gunnery practice. After graduation, Doris was assigned to the airfield at Waco Texas, where she tested the timing of engines for new and repaired planes. After the war ended, she went to work as an air traffic controller. Doris was a 4-H leader for 12 years, is an inactive member of Omega Nu and a member of the McHenry Museum Guild.
Barbara Miller
Outstanding Woman 2010
Barbara has achieved much in the world of running. She has been a role model for many women and has encouraged them to set their goals high. In 2000, at age 60, she ran the Boston Marathon, and her record still holds for her age group. In that same year, the SOS club named her Modesto Athlete of the Year. She was inducted into the USATF Masters Hall of Fame in 2007. She has been featured in Running Times magazine several times. She and her husband help to clean up the East La Loma Park monthly, where she helps sponsor many runs throughout the year. With the Shadow Chase Running Club, she helped put three water fountains along the Virginia Corridor, East La Loma Park and the Monte Rosa Park entrance. Barbara has helped to organize many local road races. She will sponsor the Bette Belle Smith Memorial Run against Hunger in December.
Rochelle Rosen
Outstanding Woman 2010
Rochelle has taught elementary age severely handicapped students at Garrison School for more than three decades. She has been an uncompromising advocate for the inclusion of these students into the routine of daily school life. She has developed a slate of presentations to share with her colleagues on various issues dealing with handicapped children. She is also an on-site mentor teacher for intern teachers at Garrison. Rochelle is very active in Congregation Beth Shalom, holding several offices, and has been a United Synagogue youth adviser for Kadima, a Hebrew School teacher and a religious school principal. Rochelle was a Camp Fire leader for 11 years, as well as a Camp Fire trainer of leaders. She volunteers for a variety of political campaigns and was a Modesto Teachers Association representative for her school site. She is involved in Delta Kappa Gamma, Epsilon Nu Chapter, a society of women educators. In 1990, she received the Council for Exceptional Children Teacher of the Year Award.
Brenda Morris
Outstanding Woman 2010
Brenda has been involved with providing services for the homeless population in Modesto since moving here from Massachusetts in 1997. She learned of Family Promise, a national grass-roots organization created to provide a framework for churches to work together to help homeless families become self-sufficient. She helped to facilitate a series of informational meetings, ultimately resulting in the commitment of 11 local churches to collectively form a local Family Promise network. Family Promise serves families with children, assisting with employment and funding to establish a home, with the goal of helping these families become self-sustaining. All of Brenda's work with Family Promise has been volunteer. She is a board member and a past board president. She also is one of her home church's volunteer workers when it hosts families for the program.
