Lee Weed named Directress Emerita of Marblehead Female Humane Soc

The Marblehead Female Humane Society has honored Lee Weed as “Directress Emerita” in recognition of her 23 years of service as the Society’s Directress.

The Marblehead Female Humane Society is Marblehead’s oldest charitable organization.

In their proclamation and certificate of appreciation, the MFHS board of directors also announced that the MFHS camperships would be named The Lee Weed Camperships and bestowed in her name.

After serving as Assistant Directress from 1994 to 1995, Weed became the 17th Directress in 1995, the third longest term after Mrs. Hannah Reed (32 years from 1823 to 1855) and Mrs. Carleton Brown (35 years from 1942 to 1977).

Most recently under Weed’s organizational leadership, the Society celebrated its 200th Anniversary in 2016, adopting a new logo created by Bob Baker of Baker Advertising and commissioning Marblehead historian and author Robert Booth to research and write “The Women of Marblehead: A Women’s History of Marblehead, Mass., in the 19th Century and of The Marblehead Female Humane Society and Its Activities from 1816 Forward.”

The Society was founded in 1816 to help Marbleheaders who were in need, most frequently the many widows and orphans of men who had lost their lives and livelihood pursuing fishing, merchant and naval careers. The Society still remains true to that charitable mission.

“There has always been need in Marblehead. That need changes. The Marblehead Female Humane Society has had to change to meet that need. That is what has kept the Society relevant and integral to the town for 200 years and will continue to sustain its work into the future,” Weed said.

Barbara Spiess Miller succeeds Weed as the Society’s Directress. With seven years of service as a board member, she previously served as the Society’s Assistant Directress and co-chaired the Society’s 200th Anniversary Celebration Planning Committee. Miller is a member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church and is a nurse at North Shore Medical Center - Union Hospital. She and her husband, Bill Miller, live in Marblehead.

For more information about the Marblehead Female Humane Society, visit marbleheadfemalehumanesociety.org or follow Marblehead Female Humane Society on Facebook.

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