Distinguished Women

Mary Accor was the first woman and African American to serve as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for Cleveland County. She is a retired educator and recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

Ezra Agnes Bridges. Miss Bridges was a Cleveland County educator and community leader. Her leadership left a legacy impacting the lives of a multitude of Cleveland County’s youth. Read more: Education

Ezra Bridges Scrapbook (1916-1980)

(1942-1994), (1959-1993)

Dr. Elizabeth Delia Dixon Carroll was the county’s first female physician and the second in all of North Carolina. She was the daughter of Thomas and Amanda McAfee Dixon.

Adelaide Austell Craver was the President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of First National Bank of Shelby. She also earned the distinction of becoming the first female resident of Cleveland County licensed as an attorney-at-law, after graduating from the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill in 1967. She was admitted to the North Carolina State Bar that same year.

Aileen Watson Ford was notably the first female to hold a governmental position in Cleveland County when she was elected to serve on the Shelby City Council in 1983. She was also the second African American to serve on the council, serving for 12 years, from 1983 to 1995.

Kay Hagan was born in Shelby in 1953. She served as a U. S. Senator from North Carolina from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the NC Senate from 1999 to 2009.

Grace Rutledge Hamrick. Mrs. Hamrick was an accomplished journalist, biographer, and community leader.

Grace Hamrick biography

Margaret Elizabeth “Bess” Gardner Hoey. The wife of Clyde R. Hoey, she was North Carolina’s first lady from 1937 to 1941. She was the sister of the previous governor, O. Max Gardner.

Bess Hoey biography

Edith Ledford Lutz was Cleveland County’s first female to serve in the NC General Assembly. A native of Lawndale, she served nine terms in the House of Representatives from 1977-1994.

Martha Mason was a remarkable woman from Lattimore. After contracting polio, she lived in an iron lung for 61 years. Her amazing fortitude carried her through life to achieve her dream of attaining a college degree and becoming a writer. Read more. . .

Fay Webb-Gardner. The wife of O. Max Gardner, she was North Carolina’s first lady from 1929 to 1933. Read more. . .

Fay Webb-Gardner biography

Elizabeth Love Wilson was the sister of James Love and the wife of Thomas Wilson. Thomas and Elizabeth were the owners of the first Wilson Springs Hotel. Elizabeth, with help from her daughter Sara and son-in-law James O. Poston, kept Wilson Springs going after the death of her husband in 1861. She was a woman a great faith and fortitude. Elizabeth Baptist Church is named for her.