Powerful in pink

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America, Family Business is dedicating this issue to strong female leaders. I count my grandmother among them. In fact, Grandma Selma, born in Missouri in 1886, was a suffragette. She recalled voting in 1920 — while 8½ months pregnant with my father — in the first presidential election open to women.

Grandma was active in politics, charitable organizations and cultural institutions. She was the first woman president of the Kansas City Museum. In her 80s, she took courses to finish her college degree. Later, she chained herself to Union Station, the landmark train station, to prevent the Beaux Arts building from being torn down (it wasn’t). 

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