Author: jcw64

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Martha Walters Averett, 1906-1982

Martha Walters of New York probably never could have predicted what a trip to Akron in 1941 would bring – a marriage, a breaking of a color barrier in the city’s hospitals and a lifetime of contributions to her adopted hometown.

Walters had been born in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Washington, D.C., just a few blocks from the White House. She went to college there, Howard University; after graduation, she headed for New York and the Lakeland School for Nursing. There were hard times in New York during the Great Depression; but Walters, by then a registered nurse, found work with the New York Health Department. And there she might have stayed, if it had not been for that trip to Akron.

She met A.L. Averett, married and settled down in wartime Akron. Finding work was no problem; she worked at a doctor’s office. Then, in 1946, she decided to apply as a nurse at Akron City Hospital. No Black nurse had ever worked in any of the city’s hospitals before. Nonetheless, Akron City Hospital hired her and one more color barrier in medicine was broken.

Estelle Rogers, her daughter, told the Beacon Journal that there was segregation in the hospital, “whether it was by floors, wings or sections on a floor.” Averett cared for white patients, some of whom didn’t appreciate it. Nonetheless, Averett worked hard and impressed her supervisors. She was eventually promoted to supervising nurse.

Just as things were looking up professionally, Averett suffered a heart attack and had to retire. But that just opened a new phase to her life. She shifted her attention to the Akron Community Service Center and Urban League; she became the first president of the Northside Citizens Council. But, again, poor health struck her; in 1959 a debilitating stroke left her bedridden.

This, in turn, began yet another career. She began counseling troubled teens in 1961. She treasured the time she spent with these youngsters. “The stories differ: illegitimate young men with high intelligence and low grades; desperate daughters sometimes seeking shameful solutions to their troubles; fear; tension; hidden disease; despair,” she told the Beacon Journal. “These are my children and I thank their parents for sharing them with me.”

Her mixture of questions “sugar-coated with warmth and compassion” brought positive results with the teens, the Beacon Journal reported. Fifteen of her first 17 teens were in college in 1966.

Honors and awards followed. In 1967, Zeta Phi Beta sorority named her Woman of the Year; in 1970 she received the Akron Touchdown Club service award; in 1974 she won the Governor’s Community Action Award.

Martha Averett died Aug. 13, 1982 in Akron. She was 76 years old. Urban League Director Vernon Odom remembered her as “one of Akron’s great ladies.”

Photo courtesy of the Beacon Journal.

–Kathleen L. Endres

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Daisy L. Alford-Smith

Daisy L. Alford-Smith, champion for the underprivileged, uses her background in health care and public policy-making to help the citizens of Summit County.

Although little is known about her early life, Alford-Smith holds the following degrees: a Nursing Diploma from Montefiore Hospital School of Nursing in Pittsburgh; a B.S. in Nursing from the University of New York; an M.S. in Technical Education from The University of Akron, and a Ph. D. in Urban Education from Cleveland State University.

In addition to teaching at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Alford-Smith has lectured extensively around the world, including Zimbabwe, Africa, and Bangkok, Thailand.

Alford-Smith has spoken before many groups about issues regarding health care and minorities. Some of these groups include the International Nursing Conference in Korea and the Democratic National Convention’s Black Caucus Delegation here in the United States.

The mother of three children of her own and a blended family of two more, Alford-Smith has dealt with health care issues personally in her own family. Her daughter, Kym Sellers, a well-known radio personality, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Alford-Smith and her daughter work to raise awareness and financial support for African-Americans who suffer from the disease.

Akron, Ohio, is where Alford-Smith currently serves as the director of the Summit County Department of Job & Family Services, although she is involved in many programs that deal with health care. She has worked with the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Health and Education Institute, the Center for Urban & Minority Health at Case Western Reserve University. Besides being the director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health and the deputy director of the Ohio Department of Human Services, Alford-Smith has also been the branch manager and administrator for Staff Builders Health Care Services in Akron, a company that delivers health care products and services in a tri-county area.

Because faith is an important part of her life, Alford-Smith works in support of faith-based health care and Charitable Choice programs in Ohio. Her testimony in Washington, D.C., has given credibility to one of the first pilot programs for faith-based health care in the country.

Alford-Smith is a member of the following professional organizations: the Cleveland Council of Black Nurses, the Akron Black Nurses Association, the National Forum of Black Public Administrators, the Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Black Women’s Political Action Committee, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, LINKS, Inc., County Commissioners Association of Ohio and the United States Conference of Local Health Officers. She is currently the first vice president of the National Black Nurses Association and is a past graduate of Leadership Cleveland.

Past board memberships and committee seats include the American Red Cross-North Central Ohio, the Ohio United Way, United Negro College Fund, Womenspace, Buckeye Health Center and the Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program.

Because of her tireless efforts to improve health care, Alford-Smith has received numerous awards such as Joan L. Andrews Professional Service Award, Crain’s Cleveland Business Leaders of Today Award and Woman of Influence Award, the 24th Annual YWCA Greater Cleveland Woman of Achievement Award, the Plain Dealer’s Outstanding Accomplishments in Welfare Reform Award, and the Distinguished Achievement Award from Arlington Church of God, Akron, to name just a few.

In photo, Alford-Smith poses with daughter Kym Sellers. Photo courtesy of the Kym Sellers Foundation.

–Penny Fox

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Mary Orr Barber, 1876-1946

Mary Orr Barber, second wife of Ohio Columbus Barber, the match king of Akron, made her own contributions to the city and the surrounding area by her involvement in business, civic organizations and politics.

Little is known of Mary Orr’s early education. In 1903, O.C. Barber, owner of the Diamond Match Co., hired 26-year-old Mary Orr as his private secretary in charge of the Akron, Ohio, office. On Dec. 2, 1915, the two were married – much to the surprise of family and friends. He was 74 and she was 41. Daughter Anna Barber Bevan is said not to have appreciated the marriage – or her step mother’s age, 10 years younger than she was. By all accounts, however, the marriage worked out well; the new bride knew every phase of the Barber business dealings and a prenuptial contract (Orr insisted on it) assured the new bride of future financial security, $25,000 a year for life. In any case, after the wedding, Barber took her place in Akron and Barberton society.

She was a member of the Portage Country Club and the Akron Garden Club. She was especially involved in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), serving as chair of the newly organized committee for young business girls and as a member of the board of directors when the association was planning and building its new headquarters on South High Street in Akron.

But it was really after her husband’s death in 1920 that Mary Orr Barber came into her own in fairly non-traditional ways. She moved to the Applebrook Farm, a large fruit farm/estate in Ghent. She needed to know the newest farming techniques so she went to Cornell University to find out how to grow and sell apples successfully. She also got involved with the Grange. By the late 1930s, Barber was diversifying her farm’s production. Although fruit remained the primary business, she also began manufacturing sausage at the farm.

In 1932, she ran unsuccessfully on an anti-prohibition platform for the state legislature.

Throughout the 1930s, she remained active in civic organizations, serving on the board of Children’s Hospital, and continued her affiliation with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron.

Barber died on her Applebrook farm in December 1946. She had been ill for a year. Barber is buried at Glendale Cemetery in Akron.

Photo courtesy of the Beacon Journal.


–Kathleen L. Endres

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Della G. Ball, 1878-1962

Della G. Ball was part of a generation of Akron-area Catholic women who helped build that religion’s community and welfare organizations in the city.

She was involved in the National Council of Catholic Women from its beginnings in 1923. She attended its first meeting and then eventually went on to serve as its president. She also belonged to the Ladies’ Catholic Benevolent Association, Our Lady of Peace Study Club and the St. Sebastian Sanctuary Society. In addition, she was also the first grand regent of the Akron Catholic Daughters.

Besides being a member of these organizations, Ball pioneered several other Catholic organizations. She was the founder and president of the Maryknoll Guild and she was a charter member of the Legion of Mary of St. Sebastian.

Ball’s community involvement included being a member of the Historical Society, the Women’s City Club and the Loyal Club. She was also the first president of the East Akron Women’s Club.

Ball was married to Harry B., who was a clerk at the Goodyear Company. They resided at 378 East Buchtel Ave., where Ball lived until she became ill in 1961. At that time she moved to 1845 Tanglewood Dr. to live with her niece, Melvina Becker. Ball died in 1962, at the age of 84, in St. Thomas Hospital after being ill for six months.

Photo courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.

–Janelle Baltputnis

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Marie Reid Laub Babcox, died 1962

Mrs. Marie Reid Laub Babcox was one of the more influential leaders of the local Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).

She was a lifetime member of the YWCA and she served as president of the Akron YWCA board of directors from 1933-1936. Babcox’s interests extended beyond just the local level though. She was a member of the hospitality committee at Chautauqua, which was a department of the national YWCA board. Her other involvement with national organizations included the World Service Council and the National Interpretation and Support Committee.

Outside of her YWCA work, Babcox was well-known for her leadership in the Woman’s City Club, the Altrusa College Club, the Akron Council of Church Women and the Flora Stone Mather Alumnae. She also served as third vice president of the Young Women’s Christian Association from 1926-1927 and she participated in the Tuesday Musical Club as a director and a singer. She attended the First Congregational Church.

Described in the Akron Beacon Journal as a “widely known clubwoman and social leader,” Babcox was born in Cleveland but moved to Akron in 1914. She married Edward S. Babcox, who was president of Babcox Publications, a company that puts out a number of specialized business magazines. They had four children: Reid, Tom B., Edward S. Jr. and Anne. The Babcoxs resided at 666 North Portage Path.

Babcox died in 1962 in Winter Park, Fla., of a heart aliment that she suffered from for many years. When she died, she left behind her husband, her children and 18 grandchildren. She was cremated in Winter Park.

–Janelle Baltputnis

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Hallie E. Andrews, 1869-1962

Mrs. Hallie E. Andrews was one of the founding members of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).

In 1901, Andrews was a Sunday school teacher at Grace Reformed Church, as well as president of the Missionary Society there. At that time, she met with several women at Mrs. D.P. Wheeler’s home to start the YWCA in Akron. She was one of the original 18 members of the board of directors. In addition, Andrews held the position of secretary within the organization from 1901-1907, the position of treasurer from 1921-1934, and she served as a lunchroom chairman.

On the YWCA’s 50th anniversary, Andrews was named an honorary lifetime member of the board. She was the first person to ever receive that distinction. She was also honored with the position of honorary president of the Heidelburg Class at Grace United Church of Christ. Andrews was a member of the Akron and Summit County Federation of Women’s Clubs as well.

Andrews was an Akron native and lived there her whole life. She was married to Benjamin F. Andrews, who was the vice president and treasurer of MT Cutter & Co. They resided at 278 West North St. Andrews, who was widowed later in her life, died in 1962 in Maple Crest Nursing Home in Uniontown, Ohio, at the age of 93, after suffering from an illness for 19 months.

Photo courtesy of the Beacon Journal.

–Janelle Baltputnis

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Frances C. Allen, 1849-1946

Frances C. Allen, first woman elected to the Akron Board of Education, is credited with helping her husband develop the oats cooking process used in the development of breakfast cereal.

Born in Barghill, Ohio, on April 14, 1849, Allen attended Hiram College (Ohio) and taught school in New Castle, Pa., before moving to Akron. She also taught at the old Perkins School in Akron.

She married Miner Jesse Allen in Akron in 1876. He was a partner in Cummings and Allen Flour which, through mergers, became part of Quaker Oats. The Allens developed in their family kitchen the oats cooking process used in the development of breakfast cereals.

Frances Allen was also in the missionary activities of her church, High Street Church of Christ. She was one of the founders and first secretary of the missionary society. In addition, she was a member of the Ohio Christian Women’s Missionary Association.

Allen made local history when she and Mrs. O.L. Sadler, a local suffragist, ran successfully for the Akron Board of Education in 1896. In 1894, the Ohio legislature gave women the right to vote in school board elections. At the same time, women became eligible to hold a seat on the school board. Both Allen and Sadler won in 1896. Both women served their full two-year term. Sadler refused to run again; Allen was nominated but failed to win reelection. Twenty years would pass before the next woman would take a seat on Akron’s school board.

After her husband died in 1915, Allen moved to Cleveland. She helped to establish the Cleveland Heights Christian Church and helped to financially underwrite both its building and maintenance. She also provided funds for educational work in India and the Philippines.

Allen died in 1946. She is buried in Akron.

–Kathleen L. Endres

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Adeline Myers Coburn, died 1887

Adeline Myers Coburn began her long involvement in community activism during the Civil War. After the war, she dedicated her life to the cause of temperance.

Born in New York, Adeline Myers married Stephen H. Coburn, a physician, in 1839. The couple moved to Akron in 1848.

Adeline Coburn’s name first surfaces in Akron newspapers in 1861 when she was named one of the directors of the newly organized Soldiers Aid Society in the city. By 1862, she was elected vice president of the organization and in 1863 she was listed as president. The Akron Soldiers Aid Society was affiliated with the Cleveland Sanitary Commission. During the Civil War, the Akron women knitted mittens and socks for the soldiers. The Akron society contributed literally thousands of dollars worth of food and clothing to the war effort. The women packed food and other goods for the Army in a small room above a store on South Howard Street. The food and goods were shipped to the central organization located in Cleveland and then onto the hospitals that cared for the wounded soldiers. In addition, the organization raised much money by holding “dime parties,” socials and dinners. Every month, the Beacon reported the happenings in the Soldiers Aid Society and invariably the name “Mrs. Dr. Coburn” was listed as a donor.

She also led Akron women in opposing imported goods by organizing and served as president of the Akron Auxiliary of the Ladies National Covenant during the Civil War. In 1865, she helped collect clothes for Freedmen.

By 1874 she was heavily involved with the temperance cause. Indeed, her involvement predates the organization of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) itself. In March 1874, Coburn signed the call for a temperance rally at the First Methodist Church. It was the rally that kicked off Akron’s famous Temperance Crusade of 1874, where women went to the saloons of the city and prayed outside for the end of the liquor trade. By the end of the year, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was organized in Cleveland.

In 1874, Coburn was elected treasurer of the Summit County Temperance Convention; in 1877, she was Akron’s delegate to the Ohio WCTU; in 1883, she was president of the Akron WCTU.

Although temperance clearly was the focus of her post-Civil War energies, Coburn also became involved with the Dorcas Society, serving as a work director in 1875, and the Ladies Rural Cemetery Association.

When Coburn died in 1887, she left one daughter Mrs. Jacob A. Kohler.

–Janelle Baltputnis

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Elizabeth Davidson Buchtel, 1821-1891

Buchtel is a well known name throughout the Akron community. There’s Buchtel Hall, Buchtel College, Buchtel Avenue, Buchtel High School. That acclaim is due, in no small part, to the generous service of Elizabeth Davidson Buchtel.

Elizabeth Davidson was born in Union County, Pa., in 1821. She married John Richards Buchtel in 1844. The marriage represented a union of temperaments and a commitment to social improvement.

It is difficult to trace Buchtel’s involvement in antebellum reform groups. By the Civil War, however, she was involved with the Akron Soldiers Aid Society. She never held a position in the association, but in 1864 she volunteered for the small committee that solicited donations of machinery, manufactures and mechanical products for Cleveland’s giant Sanitary Fair. The appointment was an ideal one. Her husband, who raised enlistments and bounty money during the Civil War, was also the agent of the Canton Buckeye Reaper and Mower Works.

After the Civil War, she and her husband dedicated much time and energy to the founding of a new college in the city. The Buchtels, both members of the Universalist Church, lobbied to get the proposed Universalist College for the city and then donated much time and money to the enterprise. In the end, the new college (now The University of Akron) was named after John Buchtel.

After the Civil War, the Buchtel name was synonymous with temperance. In 1874, John Buchtel ran for secretary of state on the Prohibition ticket. That same year, Elizabeth Buchtel signed the call for a temperance meeting at the First Methodist Church. That meeting led to the now famous Temperance Crusade of 1874 where Akron women visited saloons and prayed in the streets in an attempt to close down the liquor traffic in the city.

At the age of 59, Elizabeth Buchtel was paralyzed. She died in Akron in 1891.

Photo courtesy of the Beacon Journal.

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Cornelia Wadsworth Beebe, 1819-1884

Akron never had its own Sanitary Fair but the city still had a role to play in Cleveland’s tremendously successful fair in 1864. A small band of Akron women, including Cornelia Wadsworth Beebe, helped make that success possible.

Born in Edinburg (Portage County, Ohio), Cornelia E. Wadsworth married Joseph Alvin Beebe from Connecticut. Her husband opened the Akron Book Store in 1838 but made his money with the Allen Mill and the Summit Beacon newspaper.

Besides her involvement with the Sanitary Fair, Beebe often donated food and supplies to the Akron’s Soldiers Aid Society for use in the hospitals that cared for the sick and wounded soldiers during the Civil War. However, Beebe never held a position with the aid society.

Her legacy as a woman of service lived on as her daughter Helen became secretary and treasurer of the city’s Soldiers Aid Society.