She was known as Coco Chanel but she was born, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, Aug. 19th 1883 - Jan. 10th 1971. She became an award-winning French fashion designer who founded her own company, the world renown "Chanel". Her life was like a real soap opera and makes for great reading. I admired her courage and what she accomplished for her time.  -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel

I chose the controversial figure Ayaan Hirsi Ali, because she is controversial and I believe in making people 'think' about a topic. Ayaan was born in Somalia in 1969 and has since lived in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Netherlands with controversy over her citizenship and political standing, and the United States. She is an award winning writer, activist, politician, and what really got her into trouble... a critic of Islam, that has lead to death threats. She is worthy of further study in my opinion, simply because her critics could not shut her up or scare her into submission.

Lammi #003

Helen Thomas, 1920 - present... a reporter, columnist, and correspondent. I remember her most, up front and asking questions of the presidents... all of them since Eisenhower!  Wiki reports, "She was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club. She has written five books..."

[ Update : Ms. Thomas was forced to retired on June 7, 2010 after fall-out from her very offensive commentary concerning Israel leaving Palestine and they going back to Poland and Germany. ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Thomas

Barbra Joan Streisand, 1942 - present, multi-media entertainer.
     "I am also very proud to be a liberal. Why is that so terrible these days? The liberals were liberators-- they fought slavery, fought for women to have the right to vote, fought against Hitler, Stalin, fought to end segregation, fought to end apartheid. Liberals put an end to child labor and they gave us the five day work week! What's to be ashamed of?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbra_Streisand

Helen Keller, 1880 - 1968, an activist for the disabled, women's suffrage, worker's rights and socialism; lecturer and authoress.
     "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare

Mary Allin Travers, 1936 - 2009, beloved folk singer and songwriter.

The wars are long, the peace is frail,
the madmen come again.
There is no freedom in a land
where fear and hate prevail.
                                                              --Peter, Paul, & Mary

Ann Landers; real name, Esther Pauline "Eppie" Friedman Lederer; 1918 - 2002; newspaper advice columnist.
     "Marriage is not a noun; it's a verb. It isn't something you get. It's something you do. It's the way you love your partner every day."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eppie_Lederer

Louise Joséphine Bourgeois
Christmas Day 1911 - [updated] May 31st 2010
     Her nickname was the Spiderwoman from her "spider structures' called "Maman" and her career lasted over 70 years and dealt with some of the inner most feelings women have.

Heidi #007

Gilda Susan Radner, 1946 - 1989, actress & comedienne, beloved founding character with "Saturday Night Live". But she also raised awareness about ovarian cancer, from which she died.
     "I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end."

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D., 1926 - 2004; Swiss / American psychiatrist dealing with near death studies and hoped to care for infants and children dying of AIDS.
     "People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_K%C3%BCbler-Ross

Dory the Blue Fish from Disney's "Finding Nemo" sings her little tune throughout the movie :
     "Just keep swimming. Keep swimming. Just keep swim-ming, swim-ming, swim-ming."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Nemo

Mary Barrett Dyer, c.1611 - 1660; was a Puritan converted to the "Society of Friends" and was hanged for simply being a Quaker who kept returning to Boston, Mass... they had a law, you see, forbidding that sect in their city. Such hangings finally forced the Puritans to relent in some of their strictness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dyer

Howard Allen "Anne" O'Brien Rice, 1941 - living, the best-selling gothic-erotica author of such, as the "Vampire Chronicles" and the "Mayfair Witches" series. With the death of her husband of 41 years, Stan Rice in 2002 of cancer, and then some health scares... her writings changed dramatically to begin a series about the life of Jesus.

Audrey Hepburn nee Audrey Kathleen Ruston, 1929 - 1993, not just one of the most successful and famous actresses of all times but a great humanitarian as well. Born in Belgium and lived in the Netherlands under WW II German occupation before moving to London England. She was an accomplished ballerina in her youth... and a representative of UNICEF, using her fame to give 'face' for poor children of  starving nations as an adult.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Hepburn

The Honorable, Sandra Day O'Conner, 1930 - living '10;  had been in a judge in Arizona; then became the first woman Supreme Court Associate Justice of the United States, serving from 1981 when she was appointed by president Reagan, until her retirement in 2006. In 2006, she became the 23rd Chancellor for The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg of Visitors, Virginia. She also serves on The Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center (The story of WE, the people.) in Philadelphia, Pa.

Martha Graham, 1894 - 1991; this award winning pioneer of Modern Dance choreography danced for over 70 years. In 1976, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ford. Her Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest in America, has continues her legacy.
     "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham

Margaret Mead, 1901 - 1978, award winning anthropologist, speaker and writer. Her accomplishments are numerous, so please look up her works...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead

Navy Rear Admiral, Grace Murray Hopper, 1906 - 1992; she is the computer scientist who conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, and this idea led to the invention of COBOL, one of the first computer-programming languages. And when she removed a moth from her computer, she coined the now common term, "debugging". Among her many accomplishments was that they named a navy destroyer after her, the USS Hopper.
     "Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be an entry which reads, 'Information'; for in most cases, the information is more valuable than the hardware which processes it."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Murray_Hopper

Madison #040

Ani Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown), 1936 - living '10; an ordained Tibetan Vajrayana tradition Buddhist nun about which she is a lecturer, teacher and writer. She strives to teach the ability to apply Buddhism to our everyday life.
     "You can't sugar coat pain, you can't run from it, you can't deny it, it's not going to go away. Psychological pain serves a purpose, just like physical pain, you need to pay attention to that wound and take care of it, or else it will fester and get infected. The mere act of paying attention is healing, sending thought and energy to heal."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pema_Ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n

Adeline Virginia Woolf, 1882 - 1941, an author who is respected as an important, literary writer of the last century.
     "If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people."
    "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." --A Room of One's Own, 1929

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne, 1917 - 2010 [updated]. This outstanding woman was more than an  actress and night-club performer; she was also an important civil rights activist.
     "My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman."
      "Always be smarter than the people who hire you."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Horne

Ava Lavinia Gardner, 1922 - 1990; one of the most beautiful, leading lady actresses of her time. Honoured by such as the American Film Institute.
     "First of all, I strip for nobody." --reportedly said to Mike Nichols, 1966, concerning a role in his "The Graduate".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Gardner

Winnie the Pooh : is the book & delightful character of writer, A. A. Milne, 1882 - 1956. Created in 1926, the toy bear of his son, Christopher Robin Milne, became the lead character in this series of stories that involved other of his sons toys as well. It is this character Christopher Robin who says to Pooh -
     “If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh

Joan (Rosenberg) Rivers, 1933 - living '10; the award winning, delightfully witty, smart-mouth and brash, actress, comedian and writer. This is a woman who has gotten right back up, every time something knocked her down. I admire her courage!
     "Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Rivers

Hearts will never be practical
until they are made unbreakable.

The Wizard of Oz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz

Sally Ann Struthers, 1948 - living '10, a comedic, award winning actress perhaps best know as Gloria Bunker Stivic from "All in the Family", "Archie's Place", and "Gloria". She also played the delightful Babette Dell on "Gilmore Girls".
     However there is a serious side to Sally who champions the causes for impoverished children through such groups as, http://www.childfund.org/ (former the Christian Children's Fund).
     "If a man is pictured chopping off a woman's breast, it only gets a R rating, but if, God forbid, a man is pictured kissing a woman's breast, it gets an X rating. Why is violence more acceptable than tenderness?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Struthers

"Little Orphant Annie", a 1885 poem by James Whitcomb Riley, 1849-1916. It then inspired the Little Orphan Annie comic strip created by Harold Gray, 1894 - 1968 and first appeared Aug. 5, 1924 in the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. The rest is 'history' for this spunky, inspiring character.

An' all us other children, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you -- Don't -- Watch -- Out!

Anne Sexton / Anne Gray Harvey , 1928-1974, her poetry is both amazing and disturbing, often revealing her mental troubles and most personal details. Her suicide then was not surprising and one must hope she finally found peace.
     “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.”
    "I have gone out, a possessed witch, haunting the black air, braver at night."
     “Live or die, But don't poison everything.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sexton

Helen Rowland, 1875 - 1950, humorist and writer.
     "A wise woman puts a grain of sugar into everything she says, and takes a grain of salt with everything said to her."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Rowland

Helen Rowland, 1875 - 1950, humorist and writer.
     “And verily, a woman need know but one man well, in order to understand all men; whereas a man may know all women and understand not one of them.”

Elizabeth Ruth 'Betty' Grable, 1916 - 1973, actress, dancer, singer, with such perfect legs they were insured for a million dollars!
     “The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Grable

XXX

Helen Keller, 1880 - 1968, an activist for the disabled, women's suffrage, worker's rights and socialism; lecturer and authoress.
     "I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

"Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway"
by Susan Jeffers

http://www.amazon.com/Feel-Fear-Do-Anyway/dp/0345487427/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278430269&sr=1-1

Mahatma Gandhi // Mohandass Karamchandi Gandhi, 1869 - 1948... the famous non-violent activist.
     "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi

Joan Didion, 1934 - living '10; a prolific writer, I find how she pours her very soul into her words, very haunting. I do think she deserves your attention.
     “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Didion

Lauren Bacall // Betty Joan Perske, 1924 - living '10, a beautiful actress of stage & screen, she put the "X" in SEXY!
    "I am not a has-been. I am a will be."
    "Imagination is the highest kite one can fly."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Bacall

The Lennon Sisters singing quartet group, started out as the eldest girls in a family of 12 children... Dianne 1939, Peggy 1941, Kathy 1943, and Janet 1946. They jumped into their career after singing to an ill Lawrence Welk, whose son they were in school with and just wanted to cheer dad up. Their first hit was "Tonight, You Belong to Me", 1956.
     "I know you belong to somebody new But tonight you belong to me. Although you belong To somebody else, Tonight you belong to me, Although we're apart, You're part of my heart And tonight you belong to me."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennon_Sisters

Mother Teresa // Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, 1910 - 1997. Nuf' said, however I want you to know about a deck of cards with her sayings, that are nice to look at a new one each morning...

http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Teresa-Wisdom-Deck-Inspiration/dp/1577314972/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278509116&sr=8-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa

Rita Mae Brown, 1944 - living '10, poet, writer and activist. Her 1973 book, "Rubyfruit Jungle" and its lesbian theme made her name known.
     "About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all."

I'm the Queen, your the Servant,
and the quicker you get with the program
the better we'll all get along!
                                                                --My Cat

Venus Ebony Starr Williams, 1980
Professional tennis player, ranked World #4 in singles and World #1 in doubles; previously was World #1 in singles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Williams

Serena Jameka Williams, 1981 - living
Professional tennis player, ranked World #1 in both singles and doubles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serena_Williams

Annette Joanne Funicello, 1942 - living '10, this singing actress leapt into fame as a Mouseketeer on Walt Disney's "The Mickey Mouse Club" and later Disney movies. She then went on to star in the popular "Beach Party" movies, teamed with Frankie Avalon. And who can forget all the "Skippy Peanut Butter" TV ads of our youth? As tabloids gossiped she was a drunk, she finally admitted in 1992 to being a Multiple Sclerosis sufferer. In 1993, she opened the "Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Disorders" at the California Community Foundation.

http://www.calfund.org/give/giving_funicello.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Funicello

Maya Angelou, 1928 - living '10; acclaimed author of books in the memoirist style for women of color in America, and best know for her "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sing". Wiki reports her various occupations as "Poet, civil rights activist, dancer, film producer, television producer, playwright, film director, author, actress."
   "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou

Shekhinah Mountainwater, passed of cancer August 11, 2007. Author of Ariadne's Thread. A founding member of the Womenspirit movement. A teacher of goddess-based spirituality.

Moonspell website : http://shekhinah.net/

Anne Dudley Bradstreet (c. 1612 – September 16, 1672) was an English-American writer, the first published American poet, and the first woman to be published in Colonial America. Her work was very influential to Puritans in her time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bradstreet

Rabindranath Tagore, 1861- 1941, writer & musician.
     "Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my own strength. Let me not cave in."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore

Robert Graves, 1895 - 1985, proficient English writer.
     "The supply of good women far exceeds that of the men who deserve them."

Unless we can hear each other singing and crying, unless we can comfort each other's failures and cheer each other's victories, we are missing out on the best that life has to offer. The only real action takes place on the bridge between people.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850 - 1919
American author and poet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Wheeler_Wilcox

Clare Boothe Luce, 1903 - 1987; did it all! ...congress-woman, diplomat, editor,  journalist, playwright, social butterfly.
     “Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes"; They will say, "Women don't have what it takes."

Pericles, c. 495 – 429 BCE, a very important Greek statesman and military general.
     "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

Lillian Hellman, 1905 - 1984, playwright. She has a lot of famous quotes but I respect her because presented before the House Un-American Activities Committee, in 1950 and being faced with 'black-listing', after being asked to 'name names' she had this famous reply --
     "To hurt innocent people whom I knew many years ago in order to save myself is, to me, inhuman and indecent and dishonorable. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions, even though I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group."

Virginia Satir, 1916 - 1988, author of several books on family therapy.
     "We must not allow other peoples' limited perceptions of us to define us."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Satir

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