By Eliz Dowdy

The honorees were: Kathleen Davis Bowman, Dorothy Mulkey, Harriet Tyler, Joyce Norwood, Margret Ware and Judge Karen Robinson.

Kathleen hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has managed national and international business for companies including Xerox, Pacific Bell, General Electric, and Bergen Brunswig, Bowman has also served on the boards of directors for several non-profit organizations assisting women and children. She resides in Anaheim Hills with husband Jim. She is a member of Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana where she is active in Children’s Sunday School activities. Perhaps her most outstanding accomplishment is the transformation of the former struggling YWCA to the thriving prosperous WisePlace, a healing oasis for homeless women.

Dorothy Mulkey is a southern girl from Earlington, Kentucky; her father was a coal miner. Mulkey left home at age eighteen to join the Navy; there she met and married the man with whom she would have three children. Mulkey moved to Orange County in 1962, where she worked for Bank of America, United California and recently retired from the former Pacific Bell/ SBC Communications Company. She was the first African American woman hired by Pacific Bell in their main office in Orange County. Mulkey is perhaps best known for filing a lawsuit against three Santa Ana apartment building owners for their refusal to rent to African Americas based on their color, rather than their ability to pay the rent. Although the lower courts overturned the case, undaunted Mulkey took it to the Supreme Court who upheld the premise. It took three years for justice to be served. Mulkey serves with the Telephone Pioneers of America, working with AIDS patients, nursing home consumers and with blind and abused children. She is a member of Second Baptist Church where she serves on the board of trustees.

It is impossible to say African American in Orange County without its becoming inclusive of Harriett Wooderts-Tyler. She has been on the battlefield for civil rights, social rights and human rights in excess of fifty years in the OC. She is a charter member of the NAACP and The Santa Ana Black Historical Society.

Mrs. Tyler came to Orange County in the 1940s, and has never slowed down throughout her adult years. She has served on numerous boards, and advised the younger generation on winning strategies and staying the course for justice for the disenfranchised. She is the recipient of numerous civic and community awards from those organizations that have been on the receiving end of her expertise.

Joyce Norwood has been in the field of education in excess of thirty years, working as both counselor and instructor. She has also served on numerous committees and projects; most notably the Santa Ana College Accreditation Committee. She is a long-time mentor who has facilitated at-risk students transition through community and four-year colleges. She is a member of the Links, Inc. and has served as president of the Orange County Chapter; she also was voted, Link of the Year by her peers in 1994. She has been married for almost thirty-seven years to Richard Norwood and they have twin sons.

Judge Karen Robinson, a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) began a tenure as Judge Pro Tem for Los Angeles County in 1994. In early 1996 she left private practice and joined the in-house legal staff of the 23-campus California State University system. After three years, she was promoted to head the mitigation unit. On March 26, 2003, Robinson was appointed to the Superior Court of Orange County by then Governor Gray Davis. Prior to her appointment to the bench as a judge, Ms. Robinson was mayor of Costa Mesa; upon her appointment she had to resign all elected positions. As a judge she has been elected by her peers to serve as an alternate on the Superior Court Executive Committee. She has received the Trailblazer of the Year Award; was named one of the 103 Most Influential People in Orange County by the Los Angeles Times and was honored with the Community Service Award by the Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce; in 2005 she was honored as the Woman of the Year by Christ Our Redeemer AME Church Martin Luther King Scholarship Award.

Margret Louise Ware was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She came to Santa Anain 1968, and was hired by the Santa Ana Unified School District where she worked for thirty-four years teaching grades 2-8. She was a member of the Black Educators of Orange County and coordinator of the Black History Bowl for eleven years. She was the first recipient of the Bethune Legacy Award from the National Council of Negro Women in 2000. Ware met her husband Max at Johnson Chapel AME Church in Santa Ana. They have been married over thirty-one years and remain faithful members of Johnson Chapel