Civic & Community

Sarah Rebecca Arnold

In 1901 Rebecca Arnold began laying the groundwork for establishing the first Eastern Star Chapter in Cumberland. This organization of “fraternal love and friendship” consisted of 33 charter members and was comprised of the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of the Masons of Cumberland. The city’s first Eastern Star Chapter was officially instituted in 1901 in the Masonic Lodge rooms located in the City Hall – Academy of Music building.

Alta Schrock, 1911 – 2001

Born into a Mennonite family near Grantsville, Alta Schrock pursued learning all her life. Walking five miles to and from school every day as a child, she memorized the Bible, poems, biology and botany. In 1944 she became the first Mennonite woman to earn a PhD, this being in biology, and taught at various universities from 1946 to 1977. She was Professor of Biology at Frostburg State University from 1960 to 1977.

Mary E. Meyers [Frostburg]

Cumberland Times-News

FROSTBURG — Mary E. Meyers, born Nov. 11, 1914 to Catherine Douglas and George Augustus Meyers, a life long resident of Lonaconing and formerly a public school teacher in Allegany County for 36 years, died Dec. 29, 2008 at the age of 94 at Frostburg Village Assisted Living, Frostburg.

Mary Gertrude Walsh, 1893 - 1982