WOMEN: Just last month, McKean County Judge Michele Alfieri-Causer was sworn in, making history as the first female on the bench for the Court of Common Pleas.

She ivas the first female in the District Attorney’s office, too.

March is Women’s History Month, a time to honor women who lead the way for others.

Lilly Ledbetter spoke at Pitt-Bradford a few years back. She was one of the first women hired as a manager at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in 1979.

After many years on the job, she found out she was earning substantially less than her male colleagues and filed suit.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was the result, resetting the statute of limitations for presenting an equal pay lawsuit with each paycheck issued.

Maya Angelou spoke at St. Bonaventure. She was a poet and a memoirist who addressed her experiences with racism and abuse in her autobiography, ‘I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.’

She was a prominent voice in the Civil Rights Movement alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She was the first African American woman to recite poetry at a presidential inauguration.

Of course, we celebrate, too, Bradford native and one of the most celebrated opera stars of all time, Marilyn Horne. Opera News said she may be ‘the most influential singer in American history.’

Coudersport native Rachel Beebe wrote the famous Judy Bolton girl detective series under the pen name Margaret Sutton between 1932 and 1967. She was an activist in social causes and participated in the 1963 ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.’

There are too many trailblazing women to list, but know we see you, we support you and we celebrate you.