Inspired By
As part of the 2023 Remarkable Women coverage, we asked each featured woman to tell us about a remarkable woman in their lives.
Meet these women below.
Meredith Land
A remarkable woman in Meredith Land’s life is her 95-year-old grandmother, Adelaide, who lives in rural South Carolina.
“She is the epitome of relentless grit, grace, loyalty, and faithfulness,” Land said. “She’s a lady, a listener, a truth-teller, and she gets the joke.”
Roslyn Dawson Thompson
Thompson names civil rights leader and one of the Big Six Dorothy Height as a remarkable woman in her life.
The two met in 1969 when Thompson was 16 years old when Height was the head of the YWCA’s Office of Racial Justice and leading a national series of Racial Justice Conferences.
“I had the privilege of representing my YWCA (Corpus Christi, Texas) at one of the conferences, and the basis of my understanding of systemic racism in America and so much of my inspiration to work for racial and gender equality were inspired by the magnificent Ms. Height,” Thompson said.
Margo Goodwin
A remarkable woman in Goodwin’s life is her mother, who was a talented artist and mother of seven.
“She was a very talented artist, had shows of her works, and museums bought her pieces,” Goodwin said. “… She was able to feed her creative side while feeding nine people for dinner every night — a daunting task. I think I learned organization from her. We all had jobs: set the table, clear the table, sweeping, do the dishes, ironing. She divided up everything. By the time I got to college, I was fully trained.”
Jennifer Stimpson
Jennifer Stimpson’s remarkable woman is her mom, who grew up with little in a rural community in South Central Texas. She was the first in her family to attend college, and that was her first time to have running water.
“When she graduated with her degree in pharmacy, she became a success because [being] a pharmacist for Black women in the ’60s, ’70s, was just not an open field,” Stimpson said. “That level of resilience she had passed onto me.”
“When you come from nothing and make it into something and become someone even greater than what you even thought was possible, it’s something that’s amazing,” she continued.
Carol Pierce Goglia
From the present, Carol Pierce Goglia tags Linda Kao, the assistant dean of global programs at the SMU Cox School of Business, an amazing business leader and survivor of throat cancer. “She is resilient and emotive,” Goglia said.
Ruth Torres, the assistant principal at Caillet, is another. “She brought Catch Up & Read to the school. Ruth drives over an hour to work every day. She had the students at Caillet research and write about the women celebrated in the If Then She Can exhibit and brought two of the STEM educators to speak to them.”
Lisa Simmons
Lisa K. Simmons names her late sister, Serena Simmons Connelly, who worked with her at the foundation, as a constant inspiration for her.
“Though I was the ‘big’ sister, I admired and learned from her wisdom, empathy, and generosity,” Lisa said.
Another one of her heroes is Gabby Gifford, the former U.S. Representative who was shot and seriously wounded in a public shooting attack in 2011.
“She has shown amazing strength and perseverance since then and continues to advocate for gun safety,” Lisa said.
Patti Schaub
Patti Schaub said JoAnn Ryan, founder of Connecting Point of Park Cities, inspires her because she has handled all things that have come her way with grace. Patti explained that she knew from birth that Stan had Down syndrome, but this was not the case with Ryan.
“She entered the special ed world later than the rest of us,” Patti said. “Her son had a skiing accident when he was a 10th grader at Highland Park High School, and he suffered a traumatic brain injury.”
Patti said that Ryan immersed herself in the world of special education and is the one who came up with the idea of Connecting Point.
“This was her dream,” Patti said. “She is a great role model for me. She never shies away from a challenge.”
Christa Brown-Sanford
An inspiration to Brown-Sanford is Karen Shuford, a former Junior League of Dallas president.
“Karen was one of the people paving the way many years ago to open the league for membership to all women,” Brown-Sanford said. “During my presidential year, she served as an advisor to the board. Her encouragement, listening ear, candor, and steadfastness helped tremendously.”
Paula Miltenberger
Miltenberger describes her mom as a remarkable woman in her life who has assured her she can pursue her dreams.
“It doesn’t matter what the endeavor is, she’s always reminded me women can do anything,” Miltenberger said. “I’ve loved that message my whole life, and I think as women we can’t hear that enough.”
Cecilia Boone
A remarkable woman in Cecilia Boone’s life was Ginny Whitehill, who “just recruited people’s interest and time and talent constantly.
“She was absolutely tireless,” Cecilia said. “I never ran into her anywhere where she couldn’t pull two or three pamphlets out of her purse and say, ‘Oh, I heard about this organization, and I think you’d be interested.’ She wanted everybody committed to primarily Dallas causes. She really pushed the female-centered organizations.”
Nancy Kasten
Kasten’s remarkable woman is Terry Goltz Greenberg, the founder and CEO of the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy in Teens. The organization now works under Healthy Futures of Texas as one of the three leading teen pregnancy prevention organizations in Texas, where Greenberg serves as the interim chief development officer.
“She is incredible, and she has not gotten any of the recognition that I’ve got,” Kasten said. “She has been under highlighted in the community, in my opinion. … She’s like my sister.”
Gail Thomas
Fellow Dallas Institute founder Louise Cowan was a literature lecturer, serving as the dean of the Institute of Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas and as a mentor to Thomas. Louise and her husband, Donald, now have an archive in their name at the University of Dallas.
“I remember Dr. Louise Cowan sitting there in front of me [during one of my first public talks], and she was just mouthing, ‘Go ahead. Go ahead, go right along. You can do this. You go right on.’ It was such a moment of how powerful someone’s presence can be at a moment when you need it. … And to have your revered teacher right there — go for it.”
Allie Beth Allman
Allie Beth’s mentor is Alicia Landry, who she says encouraged her both professionally and personally. She met the Dallas Cowboys coach’s wife at a Dallas Tri Delta meeting and became good friends before helping the couple sell their home.
“As a friend I helped them and brought them two contracts. Tom asked me which one I liked, and I told him,” Allie Beth said. “He just picked up the contract and signed it. I just acted like I knew what I was doing. Alicia was so impressed that she encouraged me to go into real estate, to get my license. It was her encouragement that led me to go into residential real estate. I was proud to have such a remarkable mentor.”
Linda Kao
Linda Kao says there aren’t enough words to describe her mom‘s greatness. She taught Linda and her siblings live lessons, values, work ethic, and a moral compass of honesty, integrity, and respect.
“She never let us forget our Chinese roots, Chinese culture and tradition, and the family value,” Linda said. “She was a dedicated civic leader, a tireless community volunteer, an engaging mother, a gracious hostess, and [a] supportive wife. She gave it all up when we came to the U.S. she put o nan apron and helped my dad run the restaurant, [and] she even taught Chinese cooking class.”
