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Show A12 Castle Valley Review, April 2009 Then & Now CEU Celebrates Accomplishments of Women During Conference Kathy Ockey The College of Eastern Utah celebrated their 30th annual Women’s Conference with the theme, “Then and Now” on April 3. Two excellent speakers were invited and the “2009 Woman of the Year” was announced. Terry Stettler was chosen to receive the honor as the “Woman of the Year” with the presentation being made by last year’s recipient, Delena Fish. Terry moved to the area in 1989 with her husband and threes sons. She enrolled one of her sons at the Castle Valley Center, a school for children with disabilities, and has been supporting the school and working as an advocate for people with disabilities for the past 20 years. She was described as “A person that has donated hundreds of hours of her own time, energy, and expertise. She serves on many boards and committees to better the lives of those not only in our area, but statewide.” Many of her causes include: contacting and support for parents of newborns with special needs; establish parent groups that support school issues and provide training for families, parents and siblings; liaison for the school district to help Salt Lake Tribune columnist Rebecca Walsh was the keynote speaker during the conference. Photo by Kathy Ockey Artist Karen Templeton talks about her experience making the Crandall Canyon Miners’ Memorial during the conference. parents become familiar with the services available; appointed a member and eventually president of the Governor’s Board for people with disabilities; and board representative on the State Family Council of Utah. Her employer was quoted saying “She does so much as a volunteer and as a professional to build bridges rather than roadblocks for people with disabilities. She has never felt sorry for herself because of her own son’s severe and multiple disabilities. She never seems discouraged and always has a positive attitude.” Stettler was very surprised to receive the award and sincerely thanked everyone for the honor. Other speakers at the conference were Karen Templeton and Rebecca Walsh. Templeton was chosen to create a memorial for the victims of the Crandall Canyon Mine tragedy. In relating her experiences in creating the memorial she said, “This is the most important work I have ever done.” The monument was done as a “relief” which, she explained is the hardest style of portrait sculpture. This is the method used by Michelangelo in the Sisteen Chapel. She had completed only one other sculpture in this style and it was a small relief of a mother and child. The memorial is titled, “Heroes Among Us,” and she said it was an honor to create a memorial to the miners. She worked closely with some family members of the victims so she could get the miner’s profiles just right and said it was important to do that because “the soul resides in the eyes.” There were many tears during the emotional discussion of her experiences of completing the remarkable monument. Rebecca Walsh was the concluding speaker for the conference. Walsh was raised in Draper and graduated from Alta High School in 1989. She continued her education at the University of Utah, where she studied political science and worked at the Ogden Standard Examiner for a short time. She was hired at the Salt Lake Tribune in 1994 to cover Western Salt Lake County suburbs. Her responsibilities Terry Stettler was named “Woman of the Year” during the conference on April 3. eventually led her to covering Salt Lake City mayors Deedee Corradini and Rocky Anderson. Walsh commented that the theme of the conference was “Then and Now” and she referred to going back further in time to the rise of feminism. Walsh said, “Like feminism itself, I feel conflicted. American feminism is struggling to find a balance between wife and motherhood and other options.” She quoted many things about feminism, equal rights and each woman’s roles as a wife and mother and being involved in the working environment. She reviewed many of the advances in equal rights and quoted many writers, including Betty Friedan, Naomi Wolfe and Judith Warner. |