Outstanding Women of Northern Kentucky

Every child loves animals, so it wasn’t unusual that a young Janet Roessler Scanlon would rescue lost and injured animals. It helped that her father, Bill Roessler, supported his daughter’s efforts by buying food and building cages for the critters.

What is somewhat unusual, however, is for a childhood passion to remain a lifetime commitment.

Scanlon’s list of accomplishments is long, varied and impressive. One of her pet projects these days is the Neuterville Express, a program of Ohio Alleycat Resource. According to the group’s website, it has spayed more than 15,000 cats. She helped secure a grant of more than $80,000 to help fund the program, and takes a turn behind the wheel as the bus visits 12 sites in Northern Kentucky.

“I do think (animal welfare) awareness is rising, and that’s a good thing,” Scanlon says. “I know it sounds obvious but the animals have no one else to help them. They didn’t ask to be here.”

Scanlon has visited local schools for years with a presentation that shows why it’s important to have pets neutered.

“I had flip charts that had little heads of cats on them, and explain that if the mama cat had this many kittens, and each kitten grew up to have that many kittens … the kids could see why it was important,” she says.

“If you go to the shelters, you might think you’re not making any progress, but when you see the numbers of how many kittens there are, and then you realize how many more there would be.”

Life can be gratifying when unexpected results grow out of a chosen path.

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Barbara Moran Johnson, who is an associate vice president in Fort Mitchell, was new to the region in the mid-1990s and looking for a way to meet prospective clients.

“I didn’t really know anyone in this community and someone recommended that I get involved with the chamber (Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce),” she says. “That led to other volunteer opportunities. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do it.”

Although Johnson finds time to support a list of organizations that is too long to mention, there are two in particular that are dear to her.

She currently serves as vice chair of the board for Senior Services of Northern Kentucky. “We’re facing many challenges in taking care of our senior citizens with all of the cuts in funding over the years. It’s important that we do as much as we can to help them.”

While Johnson does as much as she can for Senior Services, she says the Yearlings have done as much, if not more, for her. The group, which was formed as an auxiliary of the Spiral Stakes Festival in the mid-1980s, was disbanded in 1991. But the members kept the name and mission: raise money for local charities and college scholarships.

“We spun off and did our own thing,” she says. “It’s a unique organization in that we don’t have staff. We each commit our time to raising money to fund the charity and the scholarships.”

It is honorable work. And it comes with a bonus for Johnson. “I have made my best friends through the Yearlings.”
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Reds fan, mentor, volunteer and a sales executive dedicated to outstanding customer service just about sums it up.

Well, not quite.

There is a lot more to Dale J. Silver than her work at C-Forward and on the executive board of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

For example, as Leadership Northern Kentucky’s coordinator for the World Choir Games, she handled scheduling for the 200 volunteers who worked in five Northern Kentucky hotels those two weeks last year. And as a board member of the Hoxworth Blood Center, she chaired the 70th anniversary celebration, which raised $70,000 toward the purchase of a new bloodmobile.

In addition, Silver volunteers or serves on the boards of United Way, Rosie Reds, Parish Kitchen, and the SCPA Fur Ball Committee.

Recognized as an inspiration and mentor to women of every age, Silver has been making Northern Kentucky “a better place to live, work and play” for over a decade, one nominator wrote.

Silver works with Regional Youth Leadership and Leadership in Northern Kentucky because she says her education in the leadership program was “pivotal” in her life.

“I am very, very passionate about being a volunteer,” says Silver. “I truly believe that we all have to give back.”

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Warmth, food, hospitality and hope — that is what Rachael Winters works to provide the homeless at the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. By her reckoning, if people are treated with respect, they will respect those helping them.

At the age of 19, Winters first encountered homeless people living under a bridge in New York City’s Central Park. It was an awakening for the woman who was raised in rural Indiana.

“It was a very humbling experience, it was clearly their space, I had no clue that I would be working with homeless individuals for my career,” she says.But it became her mission.

“It’s my path. It’s a blessing to provide a place for people to go to.”

A graduate of Ball State University who later earned a master’s in social work from the University of Kentucky, Winters’ honors include the Kentucky Mental Health Institute Staff Award, the NKY Martin Luther King Jr. Award, Northern Kentucky Area Development District’s Outstanding Collaborative Services Award and Northern Kentucky University’s Outstanding Field Supervisor.

She’s a volunteer as well. She mentors at Covington schools because she “wanted to do something totally different” from her career. She thought she might help with reading or math. Instead, she was paired with a young woman who is “very academically talented (and) who needed someone to be there with her.” The student is now bound for college.

“I rely so heavily on volunteers at the shelter that I realize I have to volunteer,” says Winters.

A faculty member in NKU’s Department of Counseling, Social Work and Leadership says the impact of Winters’ message to students is “truly profound” adding, “Students are consistently inspired by Ms. Winters’ work to procure the facility, funding and community support to establish the shelter, as well as her continued leadership required to maintain the shelter.”

Mark Pierce, who was formerly homeless, describes in his nomination how he met Winters on the street. She would bring coffee to the homeless in Goebel Park on cold mornings and he credits her efforts, which led to him to volunteer to help an agency with its computers. He eventually moved into an apartment and has stayed off the streets.

“I was completely sure she had angel wings on under her coat at the time and am sure she still wears them,” Pierce wrote.

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Judge Karen A. Thomas is an innovator in the courtroom, developing pilot diversion programs for teens and those with drug and mental health issues, and a neighborhood volunteer with the East Row Garden Club and the Newport Historic District.

She has also served on the boards of the Brighton Center, St. Anne’s Convent Lay Development, Women’s Crisis Center and the YMCA.

It’s a lot to take on. Thomas says quite simply, “It’s my obligation as a civil servant to make the community better … I make time. It’s important to make the efforts to connect with the people around you to let them know they are important.”

Her titles include judge, adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University and founding member of the board of trustees for the National Association of Youth Courts. She’s active at her alma mater — just four years after receiving her J.D. in 1985 from NKU’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law, she returned to teach. She co-developed and taught at the London, England, program.

Thomas has earned multiple professional titles and awards for her involvement in the community. She became the judge of the Campbell District Court in 1996, where she remains. In addition, Thomas has been the Chief Regional Judge of the Northern Region since 2001.

One nominator summed it up in three words: “leader, diligent and prepared.”

She adds, “Judge Thomas is a warm and nurturing woman who really cares about those around her. That is no small task for any woman with as much on her plate as she has.”
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Mary Bunning

Henrietta Cleveland Inspiring Women

Award Recipient

Mary Bunning’s success at balancing motherhood, politics and passion for arts has been recognized with the Henrietta Cleveland Inspiring Women Award presented by St. Elizabeth Healthcare.

Mother of nine, grandmother of 35 and wife of former U.S. Senator Jim Bunning and an accomplished artist, Bunning says “I do realize how blessed I am.” One nominator wrote, “Jim and Mary Bunning acted as a team — a characteristic learned by a mom raising nine kids while her husband was on the road playing baseball.” Bunning also achieved success through her painting, which was recognized by the White House when one of her paintings was chosen for the poster for the annual Easter Egg Roll.

“When I start on any art piece, I do say a prayer,” she says, “… every detail of a flower, river, leaf, etc. is a work of art. I especially enjoy painting children, maybe because we have so many.”

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