Browse Interviews

Monika Veliz (b. 1977) was born in Italy and grew up in Euclid, Ohio, before attending Virginia Marti College of Design. Veliz discusses coming out as a transgender woman in the 1990s after attending meetings at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. She discusses becoming active in Cleveland's Black underground LGBTQ+ Ballroom scene after joining the House of Chayde in the late 1990s. She discusses her career as a drag entertainer in Cleveland and describes the various gay bars and…

Devinity (b. 1979) grew up in Sandersville, Georgia, before moving to Cleveland in 1992. Devinity discusses coming out as a transgender woman in the 1990s, her career as a female illusionist/entertainer, and discrimination within the LGBTQ+ community. Devinity discusses working as former employee of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, including her involvement in the Center's Trans Wellness Program, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Transgender Day of Visibility, and Pride events. She…

Brynna Fish (b. 1957) grew up in Youngstown and studied social work at Yeshiva University before moving to Cleveland Heights in 1979. In this interview, she discusses her involvement at the intersection of Cleveland's Jewish and lesbian communities, as well as her work with coordinating the annual Womyn's Variety Show and music festivals with Oven Productions and her founding of Chevrei Tikvah, a gay and lesbian synagogue, in 1983. She reflects on various gay and lesbian bars in Cleveland, and…

Debra Hirshberg (b. 1954) grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and moved to Cleveland in 1972 to attend Case Western Reserve University. She discusses coming out as a lesbian in the 1970s and becoming an active member of the East Side lesbian feminist community in Cleveland Heights in the mid-1970s. Hirshberg describes her involvement in Cleveland Heights' vibrant lesbian feminist communities in the 1970s and 1980s, including her role as a founding member of lesbian feminist collectives Hag House…

Sally Tatnall (b. 1937) grew up in Buffalo, New York, and moved to East Cleveland in the 1960s. She discusses developing her political consciousness through her involvement in civil rights activism in Cleveland. She discusses moving to Cleveland Heights, becoming an active feminist, and coming out as a radical lesbian feminist in the 1970s. Tatnall discusses becoming active in Cleveland Heights' East Side lesbian feminist communities and her role as as a founding member of the lesbian collective…

Sally Tatnall (b.1937), a radical feminist and community activist, speaks about her childhood in Buffalo, New York, and what it was like coming of age in the 1940s and 1950s. She describes her marriage to her husband, her civil rights activism and feminist activism with him, and her eventual divorce and introduction to lesbianism. Sally describes life in the lesbian-feminist collective in her Cleveland Heights home, Hag House or Berkshire House, and describes the work of radical feminist…

Diana Cyganovich, the current Executive Director of Cogswell Hall and resident of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, provides a well-rounded portrait of one of Cleveland's west side communities. After moving to Cleveland in the late-1970s, Cyganovich expresses the challenges and improvements she has observed take place in the area over the past thirty plus years.

Geoffrey Mearns, the Dean of Cleveland Marshall College of Law and Louise Mooney, the communications coordinator stitch together the past, present, and future of Cleveland's public school of law. Mearns, explains what is on the horizon for the law school in terms of community engagement. Mooney provides the history of the law school and how that history has affected the schools present. The Marshall College of Law excels in providing a diverse, well-rounded, and accessible law education for…

Sharon McGraw details the history of the League of Women Voters, both nationally and locally. She describes her role in the organization and discusses the struggle for women's suffrage.

Murray Davidson came to Cleveland in 1967 to work for the University Circle Development Foundation. His main professional purpose was to revitalize the University Circle area. He developed intimate professional relationships with many people of the community from all walks of life. He highlights the importance of the University Circle Development Foundation to the community and the new focus of the rebranded University Circle Incorporated. Davidson provides a multitude of interesting stories…

Carolyn Peskin grew up in Cleveland Heights and was a dedicated student. She holds numerous graduate degrees ranging from chemistry to music therapy. She describes the integration of Shaker Heights. She briefly discusses how the role women played in society changed and developed. After having a short career as a teacher, Peskin devoted much of her adult life to the care of her children and traveling with her environmentalist husband. She touches on some of the environmental issues the Great…

Dr. Mary Kay Howard describes growing up in Cleveland with a major disability. She begins by talking about the neighborhood she grew up in, and what she did as a child. She describes how she was moved around in the school system to accommodate being blind. A disability that did not seem to hinder her because she eventually received her doctorate in history from the University of Pennsylvania. She also talks about the problems that faced her for being a woman trying to get a Ph. D, which at times…

Mariane Dyson worked on Mission Control at NASA during shuttle missions. She discusses the details of her job and her experiences working as a woman at NASA in a male dominated field.

Dawn Mulson Full became a pilot with the Civilian Pilot Training program during World War II. Dawn was friends with influential female pilots Caro Bayley Bosca and Florence Boswell. She became an air traffic controller after going through training. She worked as an air traffic controller throughout the war and quit after she was married in 1947. Dawn only flew for a short time and participated in only one air race. Dawn is still a member of the 99s and wears a bracelet that her father created…

Mary Shilmiller worked as a Rosie the Riveter at Firestone in Akron during summers. She spent 50 years as a teacher, with most of her career spent teaching special education in Euclid. Her brother was a pilot.

Edna Paul was a pioneer aviatrix during the golden age of flight, first flying as a teenager in the late 1920s. Paul continued as a pilot into the 1940s. Originally from St. Louis, she frequented nearby airfields and attended the Cleveland National Air Races. Paul discusses the circumstances surrounding her time as a pilot, focusing on her teenage years, a record-setting altitude flight, an anniversary flight made after her 100th birthday, and the sentiment of her family and friends concerning…

Cris Takacs interviews Pat Hange and Mary Feik, two pilots and aircraft mechanics, about their lives as women aviators.

Cris Takacs is the collections manager at the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Takacs shares the history of the museum and the materials in the museum's collection including a pamphlet from a passenger on the Hindenburg and a mannequin that was owned by a seamstress from NASA who sewed monkey suits.

Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut, talks about how she became interested in flight and her experiences when she worked on space shuttle missions at NASA.

Thelma Miller was part of the last class of women trained in the WASP program in Sweetwater, TX. After WASP training, she became a flight instructor and moved back to Ohio. She stopped flying in her 60s. She attended a ceremony in Washington DC for WASPs.

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Gayle Gorman Freeman is the president of Manairco, a family company that produces airstrip lighting. She is the daughter of two pilots and has received several pilot certifications, including helicopter and glider licenses. She has been involved in numerous aviation groups, including the 99s, the Whirly Girls, and the Young Eagles program.

Joan Mace was born in 1924. She worked at Curtiss-Wright and joined the Flying Club to get enough hours to interview for WASP program, but World War II ended before she could do so. She became a flight instructor at Ohio University and eventually became chair of the aviation department. She worked for Ohio University for 30 years and taught more than 1,000 students. She also participated in several air race events. Upon retirement, she moved to Florida and flew for the U.S. Coast Guard…

Ruth Reep is a lifelong Ohio resident. She learned to fly during the 1950s. Her first experience in a plane was the result of winning a magazine contest that offered a plane ride as the prize. Reep was a member of the Civil Air Patrol. She and her husband frequented the Cleveland Air Races, and she owns a piece of Bill Odum's downed plane. Reep recounts maintaining her own plane and spending time with other pilots. She now lives in West Salem, Ohio, with her daughter.

Pat Stanzel is a lifelong Cleveland resident. She was a "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II. She discusses her time working as the only female in various research labs after the war. After she married she went on to teach and was a teacher at a number of schools in Cleveland. During the busing program designed to desegregate the Cleveland schools, the teaching staff was desegregated first and she was transferred to a school on the east side where she was the only white teacher. She discusses…

Nadine Nagle discusses her experiences as a pilot in the WASP program, although it was disbanded while she was still in training at the end of WWII. She gives details of her training and her experience in the program. She also describes here experiences with the Red Cross.

Connie Luhta is the president of the International Women's Air & Space Museum. She was an air race pilot during the 1960s and 1970s, including the Powder Puff Derby and Angel Derby. She currently manages the Concord Airport in Concord Township, an airport she and her late husband owned.

Daughter of Margaret Louise White, Tonya McCarter, talks about what her mother was like on a personal level. Although she cannot recall much about her mother's life as a pilot, she does elaborate on her mother's progressive attitude and resistance to conformity.

Mary Ann Davis discusses the life of her sister, pilot Margaret Louise White.

Barbara Koch Lindamood was a flight attendant for Eastern for one year in the 1960s. She donated her uniform, notes, and other related materials to the International Women's Air and Space Museum. In this interview she talks about the materials she is donating and about her time in flight school and as a stewardess.

Timothy White describes his mother, Margaret Louise White, the second female pilot to be issued a commercial license in the state of Ohio. White also shares and describes artifacts from his mother's flying days.