[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 120 (Thursday, September 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1533-E1534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE CARLOW COLLEGE WOMEN OF SPIRIT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. WILLIAM J. COYNE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 5, 1996

  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor some very special 
women--the Carlow College Women of Spirit for the year 1995-96. Carlow 
College is a private Catholic college for women in Pittsburgh. The 
college, founded in 1929, created its Woman of Spirit Award to call 
attention to women in the Pittsburgh area who exemplify the college's 
ideals of competent and compassionate service in both their personal 
and professional lives. The college presents a Woman of Spirit Award 
every month, and it holds a gala event each year to pay tribute to the 
award recipients for the preceding year.
  This year's Woman of Spirit Award recipients are prominent members of 
the area's business community, the art world, the education community, 
and the medical profession. Many of them are active in local charities 
and community organizations. In fact, many Woman of Spirit have 
impressive accomplishments in more than one fields, and all of them 
also have noteworthy personal and spiritual lives. I would like to 
mention each award recipient personally.
  The Carlow College Woman of Spirit for October 1995 was Joyce Bender. 
Ms. Bender is the president and owner of Bender & Associates and Bender 
Consulting Services, Inc. She has been active in the executive search 
industry in Pittsburgh for over 16 years. Ms. Bender is a board 
director for the Data Processing Management Association, and she is a 
past president of the Association for Business Management and the 
Pittsburgh Case Users Group. Ms. Bender has also demonstrated a long-
term commitment to creating employment

[[Page E1534]]

opportunities for women and individuals with physical disabilities. She 
is a member of the Business Advisory Committee for the Institute of 
Advanced Technology, an organization that provides computer systems 
education to individuals who are physically challenged, and she was the 
1995 chairperson for Tech-Link, an organization that introduces middle 
and high school students with physical disabilities to technology. She 
recently opened Bender Consulting Services, Inc., to provide employment 
opportunities in the information industry to physically challenged 
people who are trained in information systems.
  Marcia Martin was honored as the Woman of Spirit for November 1995. 
Ms. Martin is the vice president of marketing and community relations 
for Gateway Health Plan in Pittsburgh. She has held other management 
positions at Gateway, as well as the hospital utilization project, 
Equibank, McDonald's Corp., and the Urban League of Pittsburgh. She 
serves on the executive committee of the Arthritis Foundation. She is a 
cochair of the Nursing Recruitment Coalition fund-raiser. Ms. Martin 
has been actively involved in the Bethesda Center, the Urban League of 
Pittsburgh, the Lemington Home for the Aged, and N.E.E.D.
  Susan Bohn, executive vice president of corporate development and 
communications for PNC Bank Corp. was selected as the Woman of Spirit 
for December 1995. She has held a number of positions of responsibility 
at PNC Bank Corp. and its predecessor organization, PNC Bank. Ms. Bohn 
holds a Ph.D. in language communications from the University of 
Pittsburgh. She has served on the board of the Pittsburgh Public 
Theater and as program leader for the Financial Women International and 
the National Educational Researchers' Association. She has been a 
featured speaker for the Bank Marketing Association, the American 
Marketing Association, and the American Society for Training and 
Development. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at Carlow 
College and as a communications consultant for various Pittsburgh-based 
companies and area school districts.

  The Carlow College Board of Trustees selected Ms. Jo DeBolt as the 
Carlow College of Spirit for January 1996. Ms. DeBolt has been the 
executive director of the Mon Valley Initiative, a regional grassroots 
community development organization, since 1988. The Mon Valley 
Initiative is widely recognized as a model for regional development. 
Ms. DeBolt serves on the boards of many Pittsburgh area organizations, 
including the Lazarus fund for the Pittsburgh Presbytery and the 
Methodist Union of Social Agencies. Ms. DeBolt holds an MBA from the 
University of Pittsburgh. She is the mother of four children.
  Loti Falk Gaffney was selected as the Women of Spirit for February 
1996. She serves on the boards of a number of local cultural 
institutions, including the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, the Pittsburgh 
Symphony Society, and the Chamber Music Society. Mrs. Gaffney is also a 
member of the board of the Shadyside Hospital Foundation. She is a 
founding member of the Academy for Life Long Learning affiliated with 
Carnegie Mellon University. Mrs. Gaffney attended the Sorbonne and New 
York Cooper Union, and she holds honorary doctoral degrees in art from 
Bethany College and Shenandoah Conservatory and University. She has 2 
sons, 8 stepchildren, 4 grandchildren, and 18 stepgrandchildren.
  Patricia Regan Rooney, a mother of nine with a formal background in 
education, has been active in a number of community cultural and 
charitable organizations. Mrs. Rooney holds a master's degree in 
education from the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked as an 
instructor at Robert Morris College, where she has also served on the 
college's board of directors. She has been actively involved in 
volunteer work for the Salvation Army, the Rehabilitation Institute, 
the American Diabetes Association Western Pennsylvania Chapter, the 
board of advisors of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the International Poetry 
Forum, and the National Center for Learning Disabilities. She has nine 
grandchildren. Mrs. Rooney was chosen as the Woman of Spirit for March 
1996.
  Artist and designer Gerry Rosella Boccella was selected as the Carlow 
College Woman of Spirit for April 1996. Ms. Boccella is a graduate of 
Carlow College, and she has been the creator of the thematic artistic 
environment for the college's Women of Spirit gala celebrations since 
the program began. She has designed rooms for Sacred Heart Church and 
Carlow College, and she has created designs for the Diocese of 
Pittsburgh's Sesquicentennial Celebration, the Pittsburgh Opera's 
benefit Maecenas Ball, the Columbus Day Parade, and a number of other 
art events in the region. She is a founding member of the East Liberty 
Arts Council, and she has served on the steering committee for the 
Regent Theater. She is a board member for Citizens for the Arts in 
Pennsylvania.
  Carol Massaro, who was selected as one of two Women of Spirit in May 
1996, has been actively involved in a number of local charitable and 
cultural organizations. She is a member of the Pittsburgh Opera 
Association, the Pittsburgh Symphony Association, the Civic Light 
Opera Guild, and the 25 Club of Magee Women's Hospital. She has 
recently chaired events for the Pittsburgh Opera, the Civic Light 
Opera, Central Catholic High School, and a benefit for multiple 
sclerosis. She is a graduate cum laude from Chatham College with a 
degree in history and a minor in art history. She has four children and 
six grandchildren.

  Carol Anton Murphy, who shared the Woman of Spirit Award for May 1996 
with Carol Massaro, is a graduate of Carlow College. Ms. Murphy has 
worked as a speech therapist for the Allegheny County School System and 
the Diocese of Pittsburgh. She has been active in fundraising for a 
number of schools. She is a former chairperson of St. Philomena's 
Guild, and she served as president of both the Central Catholic High 
School Mothers Guild and the Duquesne University Women's Advisory 
Board. She has served as a member and as president of the Carlow 
College Alumnae Association Board.
  Janice Friedman was selected as the Carlow College Woman of Spirit 
for the month of June. Ms. Friedman is a board member of the Civic 
Light Opera Society and serves on the production and academy 
committees. She serves on the executive committee of the Leukemia 
Society of America; she is a member of the Parental Stress Board; she 
is on the Advisory Council of the International Poetry Forum; she is a 
board member of the National Council of Jewish Women, and has been 
actively involved for over 15 years with their Designer Days. She is 
past national vice president for 6 years of Alpha Epsilon Phi, her 
national sorority, and she received the Devoted Alumni Award this past 
summer.
  July's Woman of Spirit was Lois Wholey. A graduate of Mount Mercy 
College, Ms. Wholey has served as Mount Mercy alumnae president. She 
has been a 40-year member of St. Bernard's Women's Guild, and she is a 
former board member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Association. Lois Wholey 
was a copy writer at Kaufmann's for 28 years under the pen name Frances 
Fish and coauthored the book, International Cuisine by the World's 
Great Chefs. She is the proud mother of 9 children and the grandmother 
of 18 grandchildren.
  Velma Scantlebury, M.D., was selected as the Woman of Spirit for 
August. One of a few female African-American transplant surgeons in the 
world, Dr. Scantlebury is recognized not only for her clinical and 
research contributions to the field of transplantation, but for her 
contribution as a role model to young students, the African-American 
community, and to women pursuing careers in medicine. Dr. Scantlebury 
is a member of several professional and scientific societies, including 
the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the American College of 
Surgeons, which is 1994 named her as a fellow. She also serves on the 
Medical Advisory Board and is vice chairperson of the African-American 
Outreach Committee at the National Kidney Foundation of Western 
Pennsylvania.
  Sister Elizabeth Carroll was the September 1996 Woman of Spirit. 
After completing her doctorate in medieval history from the Catholic 
University of America in Washington, DC., Sister Carroll taught history 
for many years at Carlow College and served as Carlow College's 
President from 1963-66. She also held teaching positions at Catholic 
University and Marquette University. Often connected to her community, 
Sister Carroll served on many advisory boards, most notably the board 
of trustees for Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. An active author and 
scholar, Sister Carroll has published extensively on many subjects.
  Mr. Speaker, all of these women have been blessed with a number of 
precious gifts--energy, enthusiasm, intelligence, compassion, 
competence--and they have made it a point to share these gifts with 
those around them. Carlow College's has chosen well in selecting them 
as its Women of Spirit for this year.

                          ____________________