The Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, one of the oldest and largest bar associations in the state of Illinois, was first established in 1914 by nine women lawyers practicing in the Chicago Metropolitan area. It was founded to promote the interests and welfare of women lawyers and also to aid in the enactment of legislation for the common good and in the administration of justice. Its activities have always been divided between burning controversial social and political issues and the practical need to help its members gain employment. The WBAI was one of the first minority bar associations to extend its membership to males.
Charter and Distinguished Members
The Women’s Bar Association of Illinois’ original charter was applied for by Alice C. Edgerton, Martha Elvert, Mary M. Epperson, Elizabeth L. Hoffman (Buchhalter), Eunice D. Martin, Ella Zoelzer, Mae L. Minock, Nettie Rothblum and Charlotte D. White. Its purpose was “to promulgate, promote, advance and protect the interests of women lawyers in the State of Illinois.” The plans for the organization were formulated at a meeting of the charter members in Lincoln Park. In the early days of the Association, its most active work was in connection with an auxiliary organization known as the Public Defenders League for Girls.
Benefactors
The WBAI is fortunate to have generous benefactors who have made it the prestigious organization it is today.
In 1993, Judge Mary Heftel Hooton bequested her estate to the WBAI for a permanent home. The organization was able to acquire a condominium at the Chicago Bar Association building at 321 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from DePaul University Law School in 1943. She was in private practice for many years before being elected a judge in 1976. Her name was first on the judicial ballot. Denied the backing of the Democratic party, she ran as an independent and was endorsed by all three Chicago metropolitan newspapers. She was President of the WBAI from 1976-1977.
In 1994, Katherine Maddux Stimson left the Women’s Bar Foundation a bequest. She graduated from John Marshall Law School in 1944. She was a teacher in Chicago public schools for 50 years and a part-time lawyer. She was a WBAI director and chaired the Family Court Committee and Education Committee. She was a WBAI delegate to the Illinois Commission on Children and Youth and the Illinois Advisory Committee on Education.
In 1966, Cary Ann Bechly donated $100,000 to the WBAI for scholarships to law schools in Illinois. She was a federal tax attorney for Kirkland & Ellis for many years and one of the founders of the Women’s Bar Foundation in 1968; she was the Foundation’s Treasurer.
WBAI Day
With Mayor Daley’s proclamation, Friday March 5, 2004 became “WBAI Day” in Chicago. Approximately 400 WBAI members, dignitaries, and friends gathered at the Chicago Historical Society for a night of celebration. Attendees were surrounded by the WBAI history presented in multimedia forms — from videotaped interviews of deceased WBAI members to a photo collage of recent WBAI events projected on the wall. A framed group photo of twenty-one of the WBAI’s living past-presidents, made especially for this event, was displayed along with forty posters of WBAI past activities interspersed throughout the halls. The forty posters went on display in the lobbies of the Daley Center and the Thompson Center for Women’s History Month after the event. This event allowed the WBAI to raise approximately $12,000.00.
Past Presidents
1914-1915
Nettle Rothblum Loew
1915-1916
Nellie Carlin
1916-1920
Catherine Waugh McCulloch
1920-1921
Esther A. Dunshee
1921-1922
Charlotte D. White
1922-1923
Alice Greenacre
1923-1924
Ada M. Cartwright
1924-1925
Pearl M. Hart
1925-1926
Edna E. Barnett
1926-1927
Mary D. Bailey
1927-1928
Hon. Mary M. Bartelme
1928-1929
Rebecca Willner Liss
1929-1930
Irene V. McCormick
1930-1931
Helen M. Cirese
1931-1932
Mary G. Kelly
1932-1933
Bertha L. MacGregor
1933-1934
Anna Florence Nelson
1934-1935
Edna Devlin Bowens
1935-1936
Elizabeth H. Bushhalter
1936-1937
Elsa C. Beck
1937-1938
Kathryn Barasa Rinella
1938-1939
Marion Marshall Mulligan
1939-1940
Jean Smith Evans
1940-1941
Ellen Nylund Whitsett
1941-1942
Hon. B. Fain Tucker
1942-1943
Charlotte E. Gauer
1943-1944
Eva Pollack Glaser
1944-1945
Helen W. Munsert
1945-1946
Katherine Nohelty
1946-1947
Dorothea Blender
1947-1948
Katherine D. Agar
1948-1949
Coula P. Butler
1949-1950
Jeanne Brown Gordon
1950-1951
Eleanor Y. Guthrie
1951-1952
Bess Sullivan Heptig
1952-1953
Edna G. Perraton
1953-1954
Mary Anastasia Johnson
1954-1955
Alice M. Bright
1955-1956
Alice M. Bright
1956-1957
Thelma Brook Simon
1957-1958
C. Lois Samuelson
1958-1959
Charlotte Hornstein
1959-1960
Jeanne Hurley Simon
1960-1961
Hon. Helen F. McGillcuddy
1961-1962
Esther R. Rotstein
1962-1963
Dolores K. Hanna
1963-1964
Sylvia M. Cervenka
1964-1965
Theodora Gordon
1965-1966
Mary Algerian Pappas
1966-1967
Hon. Rosemary LaPorta
1967-1968
Helen Hart Jones
1968-1969
Elaine Streuschild Blatt
1969-1970
M. Lois Dierstein
1970-1971
Patricia E. Mullin
1971-1972
Georgia Lee Lipke
1972-1973
Helen Viney Porter
1973-1974
Hon. Odas Nicholson
1974-1975
Hon. Mary Ann McMorrow
1975-1976
Dr. Rowine Hayes Brown
1976-1977
Hon. Mary Hooton
1977-1978
Katherine Abraham
1978-1979
Hon. Margaret G. O’Malley
1979-1980
Dawn B. Schulz
1980-1981
Teresa M. Conway
1981-1982
Hon. Loretta Douglas
1982-1983
Hon. Marilyn Rozmarck Komosa
1983-1984
Mary Frances Hegarty
1984-1985
Charlotte Adelman
1985-1986
Hon. Barbara Disko
1986-1987
Susan C. Haddad
1987-1988
Ina Winston
1988-1989
Jacqueline S. Lustig
1989-1990
Jewel N. Klein
1990-1991
H Candace Gorman
1991-1992
Carole Siegel
1992-1993
Nancy J. Nicol
1993-1994
Mary C. Thompson
1994-1995
Susan Fox Gillis
1995-1996
Margaret M. Foster
1996-1997
Susan C. Salita
1997-1998
Hon. Helaine L. Berger
1998-1999
Hon. Debra B. Walker
1999-2000
Sharon L. Eiseman
2000-2001
Karen J. Dimond
2001-2002
Denise Y. Stanlec
2002-2003
Tracey J. Stokes
2003-2004
Hon. Elizabeth M. Budzinski
2004-2005
Lori G. Levin
2005-2006
Dawn Gonzalez
2006-2007
Jennifer Lundy Sender
2007-2008
Karen McNulty Enright
2008-2009
Hon. Jeanne M. Reynolds
2009-2010
Hon. Patrice Ball-Reed
2010-2011
Kathryn Gallanis Matern
2011-2012
Deane Beth Brown
2012-2013
Karina Zabicki DeHayes
2013-2014
Michelle Kohut
2014-2015
Eugena Whitson Owen
2015-2016
Hon. Jessica A. O’Brien
2016-2017
Adria Mossing
2017-2018
Kristin Barnette
2018-2019
Karie Valentino
2019-2020
Corinne Cantwell Heggie
2020-2021
Kathryn Conway
The Full WBAI History
Want to know the full history of the WBAI? Check out WBAI 75 to read about the first 75 years of history of the WBAI, as well as news clippings from the early 1900s as well as biographies and photos of WBAI members.
Former WBAI President, Charlotte Adelman, the WBAI’s archivist and historian for over 26 years, singlehandedly wrote the WBAI 75 – a history book of the WBAI’s First 75 Years thereby reducing the history of the WBAI to writing for future generations to enjoy.
