F. Ruth “Ruthie” (Jordan) Jackson-Van Epps is a descendant of the Arizona pioneer Jordan family and ranch of Sedona, Arizona and Verde Valley area. For 70+ years she has been sharing Arizona’s story, especially as it aligns with her personal story. Her parents Walter and Ruthie (Woolf) Jordan settled in Arizona’s Verde Valley area. Walter came from a farming and ranching family and Ruthie family settled in Tempe.
Read MoreIndependent historian Susan Deaver Olberding loves northern Arizona history. For over three decades, she has been telling the stories of the area while ensuring the preservation of buildings that illustrate and document a past that could easily be overlooked and destroyed. She continues to write, present, interpret and promote the regions' magnificent history. She merits recognition from the Sharlot Hall Award committee for her many contributions to Arizona history.
Read MoreJoan Faye Meacham of Rio Verde, Arizona, has been chosen as the 2020 Sharlot Hall Award Honoree. For over 33 years, Joan has worked for the preservation of women’s history on statewide and national levels and founded the Arizona Women’s Heritage Trail. Joan enjoyed a successful career on the East Coast before becoming involved in women’s issues. She gleaned much inspiration from suffragist Alice Stokes Paul: “I realized for the first time that there was an incredible history of women in the United States that I and so many other women outside of academia knew nothing about.”
Read MorePeggy Williams Bryant is the 2019 Sharlot Hall Award honoree for her decades-long career in journalism that has left an indelible contribution to the history or Arizona communities. A native Texan, Peggy and her family moved to Fort Grant, Arizona, where she graduated (1948) class salutorian at Safford High School, and was editor of the campus newspaper. She enrolled at Arizona State College (now ASU) where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism (1952) and considered becoming a teacher, but chose journalism.
Christine Marin is the 2018 Sharlot Hall Award honoree for her research and extensive education work in 20th century Mexican-American and Southwest history. A native of Globe, Arizona, she grew up in a colorful, working-class neighborhood of this copper mining community. Born of immigrant parents from Mexico, she was inspired by them both to "Dream Big!" After graduating from the local high school, she went on to attend Arizona State University, where she ultimately received her Ph.D. in history.
Read MoreCatherine H. Ellis is the 2017 Sharlot Hall Award honoree, recognized for her wide-ranging work as a writer, author and historian. A fifth-generation Arizonan, she is a descendant of Mormon Battalion captain Jefferson Hunt, who first marched through southern Arizona in the 1840s. Her family later settled in the northeast Territory.
Sharlot Hall Award Recipient 2016
Nancy fell in love with Arizona and its history as a young adult, even though she was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Minnesota, and being of an adventurous mind and spirit, she headed for the west coast with a friend in 1947.
Read MoreBenson-based Winifred “Winn” Bundy, a historian, preservationist and archivist of Southwest literature, has been named the Sharlot Hall Award honoree for 2015, and will be presented it at the Western History Symposium, August 6, 2016. As a small child, Winn was drawn to books – her first love! – and would follow grown-ups around with book-in-hand demanding it be read to her.
Read MoreSylvia first moved to Prescott in 1948 when her father, Dr. James Soderstrom, was transferred to Fort Whipple. Sylvia attended Washington Elementary School and went through the Prescott school system graduating from Prescott High School in 1955. Sylvia graduated from Arizona State University in Tempe in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Sylvia married Bill Neely, who was also a teacher.
Read MoreReba Wells Grandrud moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Phoenix in 1982. For the next 30-plus years she has been involved in historical research, writing and publishing, as well as serving on a variety of boards and historical societies all over Arizona. She holds degrees from the University of New Mexico in education, Southwest history, and history of the American West.
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