Women - Hunterdon County, New Jersey

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MELDA CHAMBRE SNYDER Born in Rochester, NY in 1907, Melda Chambre Snyder's family later moved to Morris County. After graduating from Newark State College she went on to receive a master's degree and completed all work, except for writing her dissertation, towards her doctorate. Melda worked in the Hunterdon County schools as a supervisor employed by the state for service in rural schools to teachers, who often had little more than a high school education. These supervisors were called "helping teachers," and did much towards fostering 4-H and extension activities. When the Hunterdon Board of Agriculture hired its first Home Demonstration Agent in 1938, they appointed Miss Melda Chambre, of Flemington, to the Women's Advisory Committee to oversee the agent's work. It was through this work that she met Board of Agriculture member Clifford E. Snyder, whom she later married. Clifford taught her farm management, and Melda worked with him running Cliffields, their 500-acre grain and dairy farm in Franklin Township. When her husband died in 1967, she was faced with tremendous debt due to the estate tax. Enlisting the aid of the County Board of Agriculture and the State Farm Bureau, she started a movement that eventually led to farmers' widows and families no longer forced to sell their land to pay estate taxes. She ran the farm and became active in farm organizations. With her election as president of the Hunterdon County Board of Agriculture, she became the first woman to serve in that office, and Hunterdon County became the first county to elect a woman to that position. Mrs. Snyder also served as a director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau, president of the Board of Managers of Cook College of Rutgers University, vice-president of the State Board of Agriculture, and president of the American Association of University Women. She served on the Hunterdon County Planning Board, helped organize the Hunterdon County Visiting Homemaker Service, and was on its state board. Melda received distinguished service awards from local and state agricultural and educational organizations, and in 1978 received the Golden Award from the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband had no children, so when she died in 1987 the bulk of the farm was left to Rutgers University as a research farm, as it is today. Proceeds from the sale of the house and assets were used to set up the Clifford E. and Melda C. Snyder Scholarship Fund, to go to a graduating high school senior who will major in agriculture or a related field. Thus Melda remembered her two fields of interest, agriculture and education. When interviewed by Working Woman Magazine, she was asked why, with the career opportunities available from her college degrees and background as a coordinator of school systems, she was seen driving a farm wagon, going to Pennsylvania for a machine part, and spending her evenings with the county or state Board of Agriculture. Her answer was that of a woman satisfied with her life. "I couldn't be happier living any other way." 61
STEPHANIE B. STEVENS Stephanie B. Stevens is an outstanding member of the Hunterdon County community. An untiring volunteer dedicated to historic preservation, she is known throughout the state as a speaker and an oldhouse expert, and as a researcher who was instrumental in attaining historic site status for many local sites as well as inclusion of Readington's historic districts on the state and national Registers of Historic Places. She was officially designated historian for Readington Township in 1980 and, as chairman of the Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission to which she was appointed in 1979, has served as Hunterdon County Historian since 1986. Mrs. Stevens received a B.S. in Elementary Education from Glassboro State College, took graduate courses in Special Education at Trenton State College, and taught one of the first classes for the handicapped in Flemington. She worked in the classroom for ten years, administered Title I programs, and later did private tutoring as time allowed with her family of five active children. Her concern for those with special needs led to a continuing involvement as a board member and treasurer with the ARC of Hunterdon. She was a founding member of the Readington Train Station Library as well as the Hunterdon-Somerset Jetport Association. Mrs. Stevens initiated the campaign and directed the restoration of the 1800's Eversole-Hall House, which was to become the Readington Township Historical Museum. She serves there as director, plans and supervises year-round programs and exhibitions, and conducts summer living-history day camp sessions for fourth through sixth grade students, as well as programs for eighth grade history classes. Her penchant for delving into old records garnered enough information to win state and county grants, the financial support of local companies, and the "sweat equity" contributed by a group of volunteers to restore what remained of the 1828 stone one-room Cold Brook School in Readington Township. It is now a local museum offering history programs for Readington Township fourth grade students. In 1964 her interest in politics led to her election to the Hunterdon County Republican Executive Committee. She was treasurer of the county Republican Committee for 20 years. She was mayor of Readington Township in 1996. She is a founding member of the Hunterdon County Museum Association and life member of the Hunterdon County Historical Society. In 1995 she was named by Gov. Whitman to the Task Force on New Jersey History, and in 1998 named to the New Jersey Historic Trust. Mrs. Stevens was responsible for the Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission's hosting of a workshop for Preservation New Jersey entitled The Right Stuff: Techniques and Materials for Old House Interiors. 62
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Notable WOMEN Throughout the Histor
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INTRODUCTION The year 1995 was cele
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HARRIET STRATEMEYER ADAMS Harriet w
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ROSE Z. ANGELL If the Hunterdon Med
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The sixties and seventies saw Eliza
Page 11 and 12: VALERIE L. BROWN Ms. Brown, a relat
Page 13 and 14: SARAH CLARK CASE In 1799 Sarah Clar
Page 15 and 16: HELEN CONKLING Mrs. Conkling was bo
Page 17 and 18: LOUISE DAHL-WOLFE She flew all over
Page 19 and 20: ROSEMARIE DOREMUS For more than twe
Page 21 and 22: WANDA GAG (HUMPHREYS) Wanda Gag, th
Page 23 and 24: NESSA GRAINGER A native of Philadel
Page 25 and 26: ELIZABETH GRANDIN A descendent of o
Page 27 and 28: EONE HARGER A pioneer in providing
Page 29 and 30: JENNIE M. HAVER Jennie Haver (June
Page 31 and 32: ANNE COWLES HERR Born in 1893, Anne
Page 33 and 34: EDYTHE M. HERSON Edythe Herson was
Page 35 and 36: LAZELLE KNOCKE Lazelle Knocke, know
Page 37 and 38: ANNE KURSINSKI Anne Kursinski, a pr
Page 39 and 40: ANNE MARIE LAUCK (nee Letko) A form
Page 41 and 42: HERMIA M. LECHNER Often referred to
Page 43 and 44: LOUISE BONNEY LEICESTER Louise Bonn
Page 45 and 46: DOROTHY MacNAMARA The name of Dorot
Page 47 and 48: VERNITA KAYSER MARR Vernita Kayser
Page 49 and 50: BARBARA McCONNELL Recognized as one
Page 51 and 52: CAROLYN B. NEWMAN “Excellence in
Page 53 and 54: ORLIE A. H. PELL Dr. Orlie Pell's c
Page 55 and 56: During those years of community act
Page 57 and 58: INEZ CALLAWAY ROBB A nationally kno
Page 59 and 60: NANCY ROTH "The Hunterdon Hills are
Page 61: MICHELE SMITH The year 1996 was the
Page 65 and 66: ANN STEVENSON Ann Stevenson, a resi
Page 67 and 68: TOSHIKO TAKAEZU Toshiko Takaezu is
Page 69 and 70: MABLE TOMPKINS Once described as a
Page 71 and 72: SALLY T. VOGEL Sally Vogel was educ
Page 73 and 74: JOSET WALKER During the 1940's and
Page 75 and 76: BARBARA HARRISON WESCOTT A noted co
Page 77 and 78: Dr. White has worked on ways to use
Page 79 and 80: Long a civil rights activist, Gover
Page 81 and 82: FLEMINGTON WOMAN'S CLUB One of the
Page 83 and 84: From the time Rose Angell conceived
Page 85 and 86: INDEX Adams, Harriet Stratmeyer . .
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Women - Hunterdon County, New Jersey

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