Iris B. Burnham is an American educator who headed the organization that opened the first charter school in El Paso, Texas. She also founded the El Paso chapter of National Organization for Women (NOW) and was a co-founder of the first domestic violence shelter for women in El Paso.
In 2023 Burnham published two volumes of her ABC Mystery Series: “Missing Teacher,” and the sequel, “Turkish Tango.”
In 1977 she became a lecturer in the English department of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). [1]
Burnham, as president and founder of the El Paso chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) was part of the founding group of women who in 1977 created the first shelter for women facing domestic abuse in El Paso. [2] [3] [4] Burnham was working as the board president of the Transition Living Center at the time and stated that there was a need in El Paso to provide shelter and resources for women facing domestic violence. [5] She was also involved with supporting the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). [6]
In 1984, as director of the School for Educational Enrichment (SEE), Burnham received a grant for $200,000 from the Texas Department of Community Affairs to help 163 laid-off workers find new jobs in El Paso. [7] In 1998, SEE opened the first charter school in El Paso, the Burnham Wood Charter School, headed by Burnham. [8] SEE helped students with learning disabilities and behavioral problems. [9] Burnham also worked with at-risk young adults through the Upper Rio Grande Private Industry Council. [9]
In 2015 Burnham retired as superintendent of the charter schools she founded. [10]
Burnham was inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. [11]
El Paso County Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in El Paso, Texas, United States. It opened on May 21, 1942 and was built originally to support a rodeo and livestock show, but later expanded to cater other types of events. A variety of events that have been held at the Coliseum have included hockey, high school graduations, basketball, boxing, circus, concerts, dog shows, flower shows, Ice capades, roller derby, wrestling and more. In addition to events, the Coliseum was also used to temporarily house prisoners of war, braceros and the Texas State Guard.
Henderson Edmund "Harry" "Dutch" Van Surdam was an American football player, coach, and official, musician, composer, bandleader, and superintendent of the El Paso Military Institute.
Lucy G. Acosta was a Mexican-American activist with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). She was a political appointee under various mayors of El Paso, Texas. She was elected to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1987. The Lucy G. Acosta Humanitarian Awards were named in her honor, and have been presented every year since 1993.
The El Paso Women's Hall of Fame honors and recognizes the accomplishments of El Paso women. It is sponsored by the El Paso Commission for Women and was established in 1985. The first inductees were honored in 1990.
Rosa Ramirez Guerrero is a Mexican American educator, artist and historian from El Paso, Texas. She was the founder of the International Folklorico Dance Group. Guerrero has also been active with work in the Catholic Church, and has been called the "Dancing Missionary" in religious circles. She is also known for her multicultural dance programs which have been performed around the country and featured in a film called Tapestry. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame and has an El Paso school named after her.
Delia Villegas Vorhauer was an American Latina social worker, who successfully ran programs to assist the Hispanic communities in Illinois, Ohio and Michigan. She was awarded a presidential medal for her efforts in development. She founded Mujeres Unidas de Michigan as an advocacy group for Spanish-speaking women and as a result of their activism the group sent six delegates to the 1977 National Women's Conference, which was a part of the UN International Women's Year programs. Vorhauer served as vice chair of the delegation to the conference. She authored the Mason Miller Report, an evaluation of minorities and higher education, which became the model for analyzing participation of minorities in colleges and universities throughout Michigan, leading to a state bi-lingual education law. When she lost her sight, due to diabetes, Vorhauer became an advocate for the blind. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1990, the first Latina to be honored in the hall.
Drusilla Elizabeth Tandy Nixon was a community activist and music educator in El Paso, Texas.
Birdie Alexander was an American educator and music teacher. She was a charter member of the Music Supervisors' National Conference. Alexander is credited with laying the foundations of music education in the Dallas public schools.
William Paul Brady was an American lawyer. From 1909 to around 1914, he served as the first district attorney for Texas' 70th judicial district, and from 1917 to 1919 he was the judge for the newly created El Paso County Court at Law. Brady prosecuted several high-profile murder cases as a district attorney, including of Agnes Orner, and in a death-penalty case that has since been termed a "legal lynching" of a Mexican boy charged with killing a white woman.
Joan H. Quarm was an American educator, theater director, and actor. She was a major figure in El Paso theater productions from the late 1950s until the 2000s. She was responsible for creating two theater companies in El Paso, including the first bilingual theater company in the city. Quarm also worked as a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and as a theater critic.
Ruth Ellen Kern was an American lawyer, community leader and feminist. Kern was an early pioneer in law for women in El Paso, Texas. She was also outspoken against myths regarding violence against women, sharing her own experiences with rape with the public. Kern was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and a law suit she filed for an inmate led to El Paso County to construct a new jail with better conditions for inmates.
Jan Herring was an American artist. Herring was based in Clint, Texas and showed her work around the United States. Herring began showing her work in 1950 and worked as an instructor at the El Paso Museum of Art. She was inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame in 1990.
Cynthia Weber Farah Haines is an American photographer and writer. She is best known for her work on documenting Southwest writers and art and life in El Paso, Texas. Farah has also taught at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where she was involved with the university's first film studies program.
Becky Duval Reese is an American curator and art museum director. She is best known for her work as the director of the El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) and oversaw the museum's move in 1998. She was inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame in 2005.
Alicia Rosencrans Chacón is an American politician. She is best known for several firsts in El Paso, Texas. Chacón was the first woman elected to El Paso government when she became county clerk in 1974. She was also the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Ysleta Independent School District Board and as an alderman in El Paso. She later became the first woman and first Hispanic person in 100 years to serve as a judge for the El Paso area. A school, the Alicia R. Chacón International School is named after her.
Sandra Rushing is an American women's college basketball coach. She has served as head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Delta State University, and the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). When she left UTEP, she had the best record for women's basketball in the school's history. Rushing was inducted into the El Paso Women's Hall of Fame in 1999.
Polly Harris was a Texas politician and theater enthusiast. Harris was one of the first women politicians in El Paso. She was known for serving on the City Council and supporting local theater. A senior center in El Paso is named after her.
Myra Carroll Winkler was an American educator and was the first woman to hold elected office in El Paso County.
Belle Christie Ferguson Critchett was an American social activist and suffragist. Critchett was active in Texas, especially in El Paso and was part of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA). She worked with suffragist Maude E. Craig Sampson to increase opportunities for Black women voters. Later, she became president of the El Paso chapter of the League of Women Voters.
A. Louise Dietrich was an American nurse, activist and suffragist who was based in El Paso, Texas. Dietrich came to El Paso in 1902 and stayed to help with the typhoid fever epidemic. In El Paso, she started the first nurses' registry in Texas and also created the El Paso Graduate Nurses Association. She worked at several hospitals both in El Paso and in other cities. Dietrich was one of the organizers and founders of St. Mark's Hospital in El Paso. Dietrich was active with the El Paso Equal Franchise League and later became a president of the Texas League of Women Voters (LWV). Dietrich served as secretary in both the Texas Graduate Nurses Association and the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). After Dietrich's death, she was honored by the Texas House of Representatives for her lifetime of work in nursing and other activism.