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L-R: Veroni, Smith-Skripps, Vizdal, Nelson.
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Feminist Network's 2025 Writing Women in History Honorees

February 11, 2025

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MACOMB, IL - - The Macomb Feminist Network (MFN) has selected Sandra Nelson, Bonnie Smith-Skripps, Kathy Veroni and Marla Vizdal as recipients of its 2025 Writing Women in History Awards. The women will be honored for their outstanding contributions to the local community on Saturday, March 1, during a reception at the Wesley Village Community Center.

Through this award, the Macomb Feminist Network seeks to expand public knowledge and appreciation of individual women whose initiatives, advocacy and engagement have significantly strengthened the local community. Though their community service spans decades and many civic and social organizations, each of this year's honorees has focused most sharply on one or two issues: mental health, animal welfare, women's sports and gardening or local history.

Nelson has shown particularly strong leadership in the field of mental health where she helped establish the McDonough County Mental Health Center. She coordinated presentations before the Macomb City Council and civic and social organizations to ensure the referendum's passage, making critical local funding possible. She continued her support of mental health services for more than 20 years on the 708 Mental Health Board of McDonough County, 10 of those years as chair. Part of her motivation for helping found the county's League of Women's Voters in 1967 was her interest in forming a community mental health board. She is the epitome of a volunteer who makes a difference through compassion, intelligence, persistence and meaningful action.

Smith-Skripps is well regarded for her leadership as a member, then board member, and for the past 10 years, president of the Humane Society of McDonough County (HSMC). She is arguably the Society's most reliable on-the-ground member since she appears every morning, rain or shine, at the county animal shelter (MCAS) to walk the dogs there. She is keenly aware of the need to replace the present facilities with a more adequate shelter and has nurtured partnerships across the county to raise funds for it. She has worked with the HSMC board to create novel approaches, such as Casino Night, to ensure participants have fun while helping to raise money. Bonnie's deep concern for the welfare of animals earned her recognition as the 2017 City of Macomb Volunteer of the Year.

Veroni excelled as the WIU women's softball coach during her tenure there, but she also reached out to the Macomb community by founding the Macomb Magic, an independent women's fastpitch softball team. At home, the team sponsored so many successful events, that it was named an honorary citizen and given a Key to the City. As a Master Gardener (MG) in the University of Illinois Extension program, she brought a willing and generous spirit, organizational skills, a creative imagination, extraordinary stamina and woodworking expertise. Visible testimony to this is the gazebo she imagined, designed and with a friend's help, built on the fairgrounds, but most significant is her ability to see, listen and live as a caring member of a team/community.

Vizdal's experience and enthusiasm for local history were evident when she worked in Archives and Special Collections at WIU, a position that paved the way for her community service as a member of the McDonough County Genealogical Society (MCGS), the Western Illinois Museum (WIM), and the local Historic Preservation Commission. A WIM and Genealogy Research Center volunteer, she regularly applies her experience, writing and editing skills, and reenactment savvy whenever needed. Vizdal has been an MCGS board member, secretary and president and is currently treasurer. Her facility in telling McDonough County's story reflects her compassion and capacity to listen to the people who hold that story in their hearts and minds.

These women join the women who have been honored previously with the Writing Women into History Award: Wanda Black, Mary Ellen Graff, Rosa Julstrom and Beth Stiffler (2010); Constance DeMuth Berg, Marcia Moll and Ruth Parks (2011); Maria Dunstan, Judith Kohler and Donna Werner (2012); Josephine Johnson, Elizabeth "Betty" Kaspar and Janice Welsch (2013); Gordana Rezab, Alice Swain and Mary Warnock (2014); Lois Ganyard, Suzan Nash and Margaret Ovitt (2015); Alice Henry, Alta Sargent and Peggy Scharfenberg (2016); Lorraine Epperson, Debbie Maguire, Pamella McLean and Becky Parker (2017); Sally Egler, Martha Klems, Maurine Magliocco and Paula Wise (2018); Belinda Carr, Susan Lawhorn, Winona Malpass, Essie Rutledge and Patricia Walton (2019); Janine Cavicchia, Patricia (Patti) Jones, Lois Lueck and Sue Scott (2020); Gayle Tronvig Carper, Nancy "Nan" Crossman, Verneata D. Jones and Jill Joline Myers (2022); Brenda Allison, Andrea Henderson and Sandra Mosley (2023); and Cathy Early, Sheila Nollen, Susan Shoemaker and Lin Stults (2024).

Information about these women's contributions to the city and county is available on the MFN website at macombfeminists.org/.

The public is invited to join MFN members in honoring this year's award recipients at Wesley Village Community Center on Saturday, March 1. Reservations are not required.

Following a light brunch at 9:30 a.m., honorees will share their stories of community commitment and civic responsibility. Their stories will also be live-streamed on the Macomb Feminist Network Facebook page.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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