Category: Iowa Women's Hall of Fame

Mary Coggeshall
Mary Jane Coggeshall


Mary Jane Coggeshall (January 17, 1836 - December 22, 1911) of Des Moines, Iowa, was dubbed "the mother of woman suffrage in Iowa" by leading suffragist and fellow Iowan Carrie Chapman Catt. Coggeshall was born in Indiana and moved to Des Moines in 1865 with her husband and children. In 1870, she was a charter member of both the Polk County Woman Suffrage Society and the Iowa Women Suffrage Association. She served as the IWSA president in 1890, 1891 and 1903-1905, and then as honorary president from 1905-1911. She also […]
Nancy Dunkel
Nancy A Dunkel


Nancy A. Dunkel was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 57 from 2013 to 2017. Dunkel was the first woman to chair the Iowa Bankers Association. Dunkel, of Dyersville, Iowa, is a respected leader in the banking industry and an inspirational role model for women in business. She has held many positions in bank leadership roles, including majority shareholder and the president of a bank holding company. She has been a dedicated advocate of the banking industry and a mentor for other women to be successful […]
Linda Kerber
Linda K Kerber


Preeminent among historians of her generation, Dr. Linda K. Kerber has devoted her life and career to the empowerment of women through a better understanding of women's history. The first professor of women's history at the University of Iowa in 1971, she became a catalyst for transforming the way scholars and students look at the contributions of women to society. As a humanist scholar, Kerber is an authority on American history and women's studies, achieving international distinction for her contributions to our understanding of gender, citizenship, and the legal and […]
Mary Kramer
Mary E Kramer


Mary E. Kramer served as U.S. ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean from 2004 to 2006. Prior to serving as ambassador, Kramer served in the Iowa state Senate from 1990 to 2003. She was elected president of the Senate in 1997, becoming the first independently elected woman to fill the post. Kramer was born June 14, 1935, in Burlington, Iowa, and grew up in Iowa City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in piano performance and a Master of Arts in lifelong learning, both from the University of Iowa. […]
Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus
Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus


Dr. Adeline Lavonne McCormick-Ohnemus, an advocate for healthy lifestyle choices and preventative medicine, was a role model and motivator for the rural women she cared for over the 45 years she lived and practiced medicine in Milo, Iowa. McCormick-Ohnemus was born on November 21, 1921, in Lucas County, Iowa. She put herself through junior college and became a teacher. She then decided to go to Drake University in pre-med and was the only woman in her class at Still College of Osteopathy (now Des Moines University) in the 1940s. Through […]
Jacqueline McGhee
Jacqueline E McGhee


Jacqueline Easley McGhee, a native of Des Moines, is a model of leadership and service. Whether serving in the capacity of corporate executive, civic leader, or elected representative, McGhee is committed to making Iowa a better place for all, particularly for women and minorities. McGhee was elected to the Des Moines School Board in 1990 and was the first African-American female to hold such a post. In 1994, she was elected by her fellow board members as president. McGhee has been appointed to serve on the national diversity committee of […]
Charlotte Nelson
Charlotte B Nelson


Charlotte Bowers Nelson has elevated the status of women and girls in Iowa through her leadership and advocacy for justice and equality for everyone. She has served as a YWCA teenage program director, an office manager of the League of Women Voters of Iowa, and state director of the League of Women Voters of the United States' Sex Equity in Vocational Education project. Nelson also coordinated the first women's studies course at Drake University. For 22 years, she served as the governor-appointed executive director of the Iowa Commission on the […]
Sally Pederson
Sally Pederson


Sally Pederson served as Iowa's 45th lieutenant governor from 1999 to 2007.  A native of Vinton, Iowa, Pederson was born January 13, 1951. She graduated from Iowa State University in 1973. Following, she became an executive at Meredith Corporation in Des Moines, Iowa, and served as the senior food editor for Better Homes and Gardens. As lieutenant governor, Pederson advocated for individuals with disabilities and led the Vilsack-Pederson administration's initiatives for health care and human services. She worked to expand access to health care for children, ensure fair prices of […]
Mary Louise Smith
Mary Louise Smith


Mary Louise Smith devoted more than 60 years to improving the political process at the local, state and national level. A native of Eddyville, Iowa, Smith began working in politics in the 1950s in Eagle Grove. Although she twice ran for and won a seat on the Eagle Grove School Board, she decided that the organizational work of politics most appealed to her. In 1964, Smith was elected as Republican national committeewoman for Iowa and served until 1984. She served as the chair of the Republican National Committee from 1974 […]
Lyn Stinson
Lyn Stinson


Lyn Stinson was born in Opelika, Alabama, but has made her adoptive home of Burlington, Iowa, a better place. During her tenure at Community Action of Southeast Iowa, Stinson developed a community food program, which helped families learn to plant gardens to supplement their food budget, and set up a summer meal program for low-income children. She also founded the Women in Waiting program, a support group for women whose loved one is confined to Fort Madison prison. Stinson has been a leader and member of several state and community […]