Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Being considered a trailblazer is not something Warsaw's Jean Northenor ever thought about.
But her inclusion in the 2001 edition of "Indiana's Trailblazing Women" makes it official.
The book, an engagement calendar which is the second in a series, was compiled and written by Judy Singleton, an Indianapolis businesswoman. Singleton said she did it to recognize the accomplishments of Hoosier women.
"You had to have broken a gender barrier. You had to have been the first, had some strong presence in the state," said Singleton of her criteria for deciding who to include in the book.
Singleton said Northenor is a trailblazer because "she's broken some political barriers as well as business barriers. I'm involved in politics and business and of course I'd heard her name."
Northenor, who is executive vice president of Lake City Bank (and the first woman ever promoted to an executive level at LCB) is cited in the book as the first woman chairman of the Kosciusko County Republican Central Committee, the first woman member of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the first woman elected to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Merit Board.
She also was Kosciusko County auditor, and has received not one, but three, Sagamores of the Wabash, Indiana's highest honor - from governors Bowen, Orr and Bayh.
She said she doesn't think of the things she's done as being "firsts." "I think of it as things I've been interested in and wanted to do," Northenor said.
About being included in the book, Northenor said, "Obviously, I feel pretty humble about it. If anything I've done during my lifetime and a career that I've been fortunate to have helps other women to know that they can do any job that they are qualified to do, then I've accomplished something. ... I'm just so confident that women can do anything they want to do as long as they're qualified."
The book also recognizes such diverse accomplishments as Indiana's first woman U.S. magistrate judge, first woman disc jockey, first woman firefighter, first woman homicide detective in Indianapolis and first woman president of the Indiana Bar Association.
For more information on "Indiana's Trailblazing Women," check www.trailblazingwomen.com The book sells for $17.50 per copy.
