I have concluded my five posts on the women I most admire. Now, I want to spend just a little time talking about what I learned from these women.

1. Former Texas Governor, Ann Richards: She started a new career in her early fifties after she and her husband divorced. She also entered an arena, politics, where men traditionally ruled--Ann Richards set an example for me that women can succeed if they are brave enough to walk alone. I divorced when I was 48, left with a seventeen-year-old about to enter college and a thirteen-year-old entering the 8th grade. I had no money and could expect little or none from my ex-husband. So, I jumped into a man's world, becoming an insurance agent. I spent four years on the road, traveling all over western Oklahoma and northwestern Texas. Along the way, I became an All-Star agent, one of the top five for my company with an agent base of some 2,500. At the time I was one of only two women working as an agent for this particular agency.

2. My grandmother: As I mentioned in the article, Grandma Higgins was God's personal messenger sent to save those with whom she came into contact. Grandma didn't "cut any slack'; she would look people straight in the eye and tell them pointblank that they were going straight to hell if they didn't repent, confess, and be baptized. She never stopped loving a person who didn't listen; but she never gave up on them either. I could go on and on about what she taught me; but , to sum it up, she taught me to be brave and never to be afraid to witness for God over and over and over again. One never knows when he will finally say the one thing that registers and saves a person's soul.

3. Anita Hill: From Anita Hill I learned that lies and immoral behavior are not acceptable and should be exposed . There are those who do not understand. Some think I am "mean-spirited" when I actually am so totally opposite. But through these women's examples, I have learned to be "strong-spirited". I do not allow those with other agendas than my own to intimidate me through threats, name-calling, and rants.

4. Karie Ross: From Karie I learned that a teacher never really knows the extent to which he affects a child's future; and he should guard that privilege with the utmost care and respect. I am proud to be a woman who excelled in a man's profession, just as Karie did before me. It taught me to be tough. I have thick skin. I can handle criticism and recognize it for what it is--jealousy and fear, punctuated with lies and half-truths. That is not to say it doesn't hurt me. It does. I am human, and it stabs at my heart to have people call me names and threaten me. But, now, I am strong enough not to believe it is true just because someone says it is. I know the real truth, which is that I must complete what I didn't have the courage nor the strength to complete in the past.

5. Eunuce Kennedy Shriver: From Ms. Shriver I learned that is not who you are but what you are as well as what you can become that is important. I have a little saying that I have used from time to time, "I have always been grateful that I was born white, protestant, and in the United States." It has made my life so much easier on many fronts. But it all means nothing if I do not have a purpose in my religion, my heritage, and in my country to work for the good of all people.