The members of the New Jersey Hall of Fame Class of 2017 were inducted on Sunday, May 6th in Asbury Park's Paramount Theatre. The following is a look at the members inducted in the PUBLIC SERVICE category: Mark and Scott Kelly, Clara Maass, and Millicent Fenwick.
Mark and Scott Kelly - Born in Orange, NJ, Mark and Scott Kelly are identical twins and the only siblings to have traveled in space. Scott Joseph Kelly is an engineer, retired American Astronaut, and a retired U.S. Navy Captain. A veteran of four space flights, Scott commanded the International Space Station on Expeditions 26, 45, and 46, and spent a year-long mission in space. Mark Edward Kelly is a retired American Astronaut, engineer, and U.S. Navy Captain. He is the husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, an author of several books, a political activist, and an aerospace executive and consultant. In 2011, Mark co-authored Gabby: A Story of Courage, Love and Resilience with his wife.
Clara Maass - A nurse born in East Orange, NJ, Maass died in 1901 as a result of volunteering for medical experiments to study yellow fever. In 1951, the 50th anniversary of her death, Cuba issued a postage stamp in her honor to commemorate her work with yellow fever, once rampant in Cuba. In 1952, Newark German Hospital, where she had been one of the first graduates, was renamed Clara Maass Memorial Hospital, and it is now known as Clara Maass Medical Center. In 1976, the 100th anniversary of her birth, Maass was honored with a 13 cent United States commemorative stamp. Also in 1976, the American Nurses Association inducted her into its Nursing Hall of Fame.
Millicent Fenwick - Millicent Vernon Hammond Fenwick, who died in 1992 at the age of 82, was a fashion editor, politician, and diplomat raised in Bernardsville, NJ. A four-term Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for New Jersey, she entered politics at the age of 64. She was considered a moderate and progressive within her party and was strongly in favor of civil rights and the women’s movement. After leaving the House of Representatives following the 1982 election, Fenwick was appointed by President Reagan as the U.S. Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. She is thought to be the inspiration behind Lacey Davenport, a character in the comic Doonesbury.
For more on the New Jersey Hall of Fame, visit www.njhalloffame.org
