Co-authors Discuss Remarkable Women of Rhode Island at Tiverton VFW

The Friends of the Tiverton Libraries and the Tiverton Historical Society are sponsoring a presentation and book signing by co-authors Frank L. Grzyb and Russell J. DeSimone on their 2014 book Remarkable Women of Rhode Island. The event is free and open to the public, and books will be available for purchase and signing.

The book explores the lives of a number of extraordinary women who left their marks on history, including such recognizable figures as queem sachem Weetamoo of King Philip’s War, heiress and philanthropist Doris Duke, recent Academy Award Winner Viola Davis, as well as other remarkable women perhaps not as familiar. The book includes accounts of Quaker martyr Mary Dyer; lighthouse keeper and Congressinal medal recipient Ida Lewis; homerun prodigy and trailblazing athlete Wilma Briggs; the first woman appointed on a hospital staff in America, Dr. Anita Tyng; prominent poet and intended wife of Edgar Alle Poe, Sarah Helen Whitman; college founders Katharine Gibbs, Gertrude Johnson and Mary Wales; and several other outstanding authors, artists, athletes, innovators and social reformers.

Frank L. Gryzb is a decorated combat veteran and author of a number of books and articles on Rhode Island history, America’s Civil War and the Vietnam Conflict. Russell J. DeSimone is an independent scholar and author who has written a number of books and articles relating to Rhode Island history. He is also a leading scholar on the Dorr Rebellion of 1848, a Rhode Island voter reform movement.

For further information, call the Essex Library at 401-625-6796, ext. 10 or visit www.tivertonlibrary.org and click on the Friends of Tiverton Libraries newsletter link on the library’s homepage.