AURORA | Longtime Aurora journalist, community activist and firebrand Lois Brady Martin is among four women who will be inducted into the Aurora Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame at a ceremony March 18. Other 2017 honorees are Joyce Havice Bradney, Ruby Gardiner and Linda Snelgrove.
Lois Brady Martin may be best known as the founder of the Aurora Sun newspaper, and later as editor, publisher and writer of the Aurora Sentinel, but her community involvement was widespread, according to Ellen Belef, of the Aurora Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame board of directors. Like fellow inductee Gardiner, Martin worked for a community college and a hospital in Aurora.
She met William Martin while she was working as a cabin maid in Yellowstone National Park, and the couple married — a union that lasted for 42 years until the death of Martin’s husband in 1992. After they moved to Colorado in 1955, Ms. Martin served as president of numerous social and service organizations in the region, including the Adams-County Aurora Medical Society, Aurora Hospital Association, the Adams-Arapahoe Women’s Club, the Aurora Rehabilitation Authority, and she was founding president of the Aurora Hospital District, which was instrumental in bringing Aurora its first hospital.
As her daughter, Wendy Martin, said in a statement following her death in November, “Throughout her life Lois was actively involved in social issues and continually broke glass ceilings.”
Her legacy will live on in her many accomplishments and contributions to the quality of life in Aurora, according to Belef.
Joyce Havice Bradney is noted for her sustained efforts to preserve the Jewell Wetlands when the area was slated for residential development. She mobilized dozens of businesses and hundreds of volunteers, including students from nearby schools, and secured grants to purchase the land.
The Jewell Wetlands now serves as a 50-acre urban wetland and outdoor oasis, located close to residential neighborhoods and two schools and featuring trails and a butterfly garden. It offers school children a well-stocked laboratory for environmental education, according to the website for the Trust for Public Land.
Linda Snelgrove is a teacher who works with special needs students at Cherry Creek School District’s Grandview High School. She has been a force behind programs to promote a culture of inclusiveness in the school and the wider community for these students, according to Belef.
Her transition program includes job-related skills to prepare students to be as independent as possible in their adult lives and to ensure a better future. Snelgrove is also very active with Special Olympics.
Ruby Gardiner was a strong advocate for early childhood education in Aurora, establishing her own preschool in 1960, when funding was not available for full-time public preschool. She worked toward helping build a hospital and community college. Gardiner also instituted a story time for youngsters in 1955 that is still featured with great success in Aurora Public Libraries. She passed away in April 2005.
“The four women to be inducted on March 18 exemplify what is best about our community and the role of women in ensuring the quality of life we enjoy today and will continue to enjoy for decades to come,” Belef said in a statement.