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Fifty miles west of Washington, DC in the extreme western part of Loudoun County, just over the Blue Ridge from the famed Shenandoah Valley, we have been setting a record daily. It has rained here for the last 18 days! Washington, DC itself had a record 15 straight days of some measurable rain, but the streak that started on April 27th ended on May 11th. Here in western Loudoun we have continued the streak with some level of rain on the 12th, 13th, and today starting at about 1:40 PM. This morning was gloriously sunny-- for a while -- and so I absolutely had to devote several hours to reclaiming the yard from the rain-loving grass and weeds. It is for this reason that Saturday Serendipity this week is posted late and in unusually abbreviated form.
Here are just a few recommended items of interest for your reading pleasure -- especially if you are having a rainy day where you live.
1. Today is the 51st anniversary of the death of Fannie Coralie Perkins. Who, you might ask, is Fannie Coralie Perkins? Well she was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 10, 1880. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1902 with a B.A. in chemistry and physics. In 1910 she earned a master's degree from Columbia in political science and in 1918 she began years of study of sociology and economics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It has been said that she is largely responsible for the adoption of social security, unemployment insurance, federal child labor laws, and the federal minimum wage laws in the United States. If you have heard of her at all, you probably know her by the name she took when she joined the Episcopal church in 1905 . . . Frances Perkins. [By the way, yesterday, May 13th, was the feast day in her honor on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church.]
In 1933, Frances Perkins was appointed Secretary of Labor by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Upon her appointment and confirmation, Frances Perkins became not only the first woman member of the Cabinet, but she was the first woman to enter the presidential line of succession; arguably, therefore, she remains the highest ranking woman in the history of the federal government. You can -- and probably should -- spend a few minutes today reading more about this remarkable woman here.
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| Frances Perkins (1880 - 1965) |
3. Better late than never . . . I learned from a May 6th post by Nancy Messier -- of My Ancestors and Me blog -- that the day after Cinco de Mayo is National Nurses Day and National Nurses Week is always May 6 - 12. As you can see at the linked post, Nancy's mother, sister, and daughter are all nurses. Since my mother, my sister, my niece, and (as of just a week or so ago) my nephew are all R.N.s, I join Nancy in a belated recognition of the accomplishment and service provided by all nurses!
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The photograph of Frances Perkins is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. Unless its author has been dead for the required period, it is copyrighted in the countries or areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works. The image is available from the U.S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID mph.3a04983.
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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew
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What a surprise to see my Nurse's Day post in your list, John! Thanks so much for including it. Congratulations to your nephew and thank you to your other family members who are nurses.
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