Every once in a while, I end up in the lobby of Grover Hermann Hospital in Callicoon. Each time I do, I can’t help but stare at the tribute to “Mrs. Charles P. Kautz” in honor of a sizable donation she made to help the small hospital get off the ground. 

Her impact on western Sullivan County has been considerable — babies have been born in that hospital, lives saved in that hospital, loved ones lost in that hospital. 

And yet, she’s been effectively erased, her name (Pauline, for those who are curious) replaced with that of her husband. 

I’ve spent more than my fair share of time in our little hospital in my four-plus decades on Earth, and this Women’s History Month, Pauline Kautz has come to mind more than a few times as I’ve thought about the impact women have had on our corner of the world and the ways in which those impacts have (often) gone unnoticed. 

With that in mind, here are a few female moments in our county’s history worth taking a moment or two to consider. 

1916 — Elisabeth (sometimes referred to in historical papers as Elizabeth) Worth Muller* becomes the first woman to legally acquire a hunting license and shoot a deer in Sullivan County. Nellie Childs Smith passes the bar and becomes the first female attorney to practice law in Sullivan County. 

1930 — Susanna Potsch becomes the first woman elected to a county-wide office, serving as what was then called the superintendent of the poor. 

1945 — At just 25 years old, Alma Florence Soller McLay of Narrowsburg is hand-picked by then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to document the world’s first international criminal tribunal. McLay is responsible for transcribing — by hand — the historic prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg after World War II.

1958 — After being appointed by the governor to fill out husband Robert’s term as Sullivan County clerk after his passing, Jeffersonville-born Millicent Flynn becomes the first woman elected to fill the role. 

1973 — Monica Kean becomes the first woman to be elected to a town justice position, serving her neighbors in the Town of Lumberland. 

1974 — Anne Kaplan becomes the first female mayor in Sullivan County, elected to lead the Village of Monticello. 

1976 — Jean Amatucci Fox becomes the first woman to be elected to the New York State Assembly from Sullivan County, and Jean McCoach becomes the first woman elected as a town supervisor in the county, as well as the first woman to serve on the Sullivan County Board of Supervisors. 

1983 — Monticello’s Judith Kaye becomes the first woman to be named to the New York State Court of Appeals.

1986 — Marion Stackhouse is elected to the role of county coroner, the first woman to serve in the position in county history. 

1993 — Judge Kaye becomes the first woman named as chief judge on NY State Court of Appeals. 

1996 — Leni Binder of Woodridge takes office as a representative on the newly formed Sullivan County Legislature. 

2000 — After 17 years as deputy county treasurer, Olga Parlow runs for and wins election to the seat of county treasurer, making her the first woman to hold the seat. 

2002 — Binder secures a nod to become the first woman to chair the Sullivan County Legislature. 

2016 — As president of the American Library Association (ALA) in South Fallsburg native Sari Feldman leads the first official delegation of American librarians and library supporters to Cuba in 2016 during the short window when American travel to Cuba was allowed by the federal government.  

2021 — E. Danielle Jose-Decker becomes the first woman elected to the position of county court judge in Sullivan County, and Meagan Galligan becomes the first female district attorney in county history. 

2023 — Galligan marks another first as the first woman and youngest person ever elected to the New York State Supreme Court Justice for the Third Judicial District.

(Thank you to Sullivan County Historian John Conway for his excellent reporting over the years, much of which provided facts for this column). *A New York University law school graduate, Muller is often credited as the first woman to pass the bar in Sullivan County, although the date is unknown.