Guild announces 2011 Women of the Year

photo From left, Lynn Anderson, president-elect of the Signal Mountain Community Guild and member of its Woman of the Year Nominating Committee, bestows the honor on both Amy Sowell and Lorraine Humble with Nominating Committee chairwoman Vicki Love at the annual Dogwood Luncheon. Photo by Emily Crisman

The Signal Mountain Community Guild bestowed its Woman of the Year honor on two deserving women at its annual Dogwood Luncheon.

This year's winners are Lorraine Humble and Amy Sowell.

"Both are involved in totally different things on the mountain in such great capacity," said Vicki Love, chairwoman of the Woman of the Year nominating committee. "They are very interested in bettering Signal Mountain and always willing to lend a hand in any project."

The selection of two nominees to carry the title has occurred only twice previously since the first award was presented in 1969.

The theme of this year's Dogwood Luncheon was "The Past, Present, and Future of the Woman of the Year," as the winners represent both the older and younger generation of women involved with the guild.

"We wanted to do a mix of someone who's been established on the mountain for a while with someone who's fairly new to the community," said Love of the committee's decision to choose two women this year. "I don't think [having two women] will be commonplace. New members are going to be a big push next year, so we thought it would be nice to have someone in both age brackets."

Humble is a longtime volunteer on the mountain who most recently chaired the guild's Telephone Directory Committee. As the guild's only fundraiser, the directory's completion was essential to the group's survival. Humble sold the majority of the advertising in the directory, which raised around $18,000.

Humble also works with Lone Oak Community Center, founded a quilting guild and contributes to the Mountain Garden Club. She devotes her time outside of established organizations as well, caring for mentally challenged twins on the weekends, attending to the needs of an elderly lady, as well as helping to raise her brother's triplets, whose mother died when they were 7 years old.

Sowell was nominated for her work on a variety of projects, mostly related to her children's schools and sports organizations such as the Green Giants Swim Team, Thrasher PTA, SMMHS PTSA and SMMHS Sports Boosters.

Much of the community has seen the benefits of Sowell's ingenuity, as she spearheaded the first Signal Mountain Community Rummage Sale and was instrumental in promoting and publicizing the International Baccalaureate program at SMMHS. Her readiness to head any project and ability to recruit others are also invaluable to the community as a whole.

Sowell and Humble follow 2010 Woman of the Year Mary Katherine Austin.

Upcoming Events